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Thursday, February 27, 2014 X Volume 27 No. 23
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Teachers will take strike vote next week By Dale Bass
STAFF REPORTER
dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
Kamloops teachers will join their colleagues around the province and cast ballots in a strike vote next week. Jason Karpuk, president of the Kamloops-Thompson Teachers’ Association, said he expects the turnout to be greater than it has been in the past for such votes. The three-day voting period will run from Tuesday, March 4, to Thursday March 6. The provincial results will be released in the evening on the final day of voting. Karpuk said teachers are angry at the “complete disregard for the court challenge” the B.C. Teachers’ Federation launched — and won — to regain the right to bargain classroom size and composition. (The provincial government prevailed in B.C. Court of Appeal yesterday when the court suspended the ruling, paving the way for Victoria to appeal the decision. See story on page A2). In her January ruling, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Susan Griffin declared the government’s decision to remove that right to have violated teachers’ rights. It was the second time the courts have dealt with the issue. After the BCTF won its first challenge, the provincial Liberal government enacted new legislation that was almost the same as the former law, leading to the second challenge. Karpuk said during the last round of bargaining, there were concerns about how government negotiators were approaching the joint meetings, but no one wanted to call it bad-faith bargaining. In her ruling, Griffin condemned the Christy Clark government for deliberately trying to provoke a strike, something Karpuk said has further fuelled teachers’ anger. He said he found the local-bargaining segment of the overall contract talks to be
positive and he was left with the impression Kamloops-Thompson school district administrators wanted to make a deal. “But, all the strings were being pulled by the province,” Karpuk said. “I think, if you were to talk to the other locals [in other school districts] you would find the same thing.” Karpuk said a successful strike vote would require the BCTF to give 72 hours’ notice before any walkout — but he doesn’t anticipate it coming to that point now. “If I was on the other side, I’d try to cut my losses, find some common ground,” he said. “The government needs to distance themselves from the court ruling. It doesn’t have the public on its side.” The BCTF’s contract with government expired on June 30, 2013. BCTF president Jim Iker said the union still intends to bargain. “The strike vote’s intention is to put the pressure on the bargaining table,” Iker said. “And we’re encouraging government to provide the necessary funding.” If the vote ends up leading to job action, Iker said it will not immediately include school-wide walkouts, nor will it initially impact extra-curricular activities or report cards. The union said the BCPSEA has tabled unreasonable proposals, including: • New language that would again strip all provisions on class size, class composition, and staffing levels for teacher-librarians, counsellors, special education and other specialist teachers. • A salary offer that starts with a 0.5 per cent increase on the date of ratification that is not retroactive, zero per cent for the 2014–2015 school year, followed by increases of one and 1.5 per cent over the next four years.
WHEN DID OUR ANCESTORS SMARTEN UP? TRU’S KARL HUTCHINGS ELABORATES ON PAGE A7
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