B.C. Views Imagining an NDP government. p6
‘Add corner lot to Jackson Farm park’. p14
THE NEWS
Arts&life All about youth at the ACT. p19
www.mapleridgenews.com Wednesday, April 25, 2012 · Serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · 50¢
Teachers expand ban on volunteering by R o b e r t M a n g e l s d o r f staff reporter Teachers across the province are halting all extracurricular volunteering after voting to adopt the B.C. Teachers’ Federation’s Bill 22 action plan last week. The action plan is the BCTF’s response to the Liberal Government’s back-to-work legislation, which ended the teacher’s job action last month, and opens the door for a possible illegal walk-out in the future. While the Maple Ridge Teachers’ Association voted to ban volunteering for extracurricular activities last month in response to Bill 22, that ban was voluntary. The provincial ban, however, is mandatory for all union members, and those who defy it could face disciplinary action. Teachers across the province voted 73 per cent in favour of adopting the plan. See Teachers, p8
Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS
Kite family Natasha Gorji played a member of the Kite family on Earth Day in Memorial Peace Park on Saturday, demonstrating an outdoor family activity. See story and more pictures, p3.
Extra Foods strike ends after 3 years Workers agree to six-year contract by R o b e r t M a n g e l s d o r f staff reporter After three and a half years, the Extra Foods in Maple Ridge will reopen next month after workers voted to accept a new sixyear contract last week. After close to three and
a half years on the picket lines, the employees of Extra Foods in Maple Ridge are finally going back to work. The picket line in front of the store came down at 3:30 p.m. on Friday to the cheers of striking workers after employees at the store voted 93 per cent in favour of accepting a new six-year contract with Loblaw Companies Limited, the parent company of Ex-
tra Foods. Under the new contract, workers at the store will get a small bump in pay, retroactive to 2004. In December 2008, 75 employees at the store went on strike after rejecting a contract offer from Loblaw that would have seen their wages cut nearly in half. United Food and Commercial Workers union members had been working at the store under an
expired contract since 2004, with long-time workers making in the $20-perhour range, with benefits. The contract Loblaw had initially offered would have seen most workers would top out at $11.90 per hour, with no benefits. See Strike, p12 Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS
The pickets were down Monday at the store in downtown Maple Ridge.
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