THURSDAY
S I N C E
1 8 9 5
JULY 5, 2012
Fight Night hangs ‘em up
Vol. 117, Issue 129
110
$
Page 10
INCLUDING H.S.T.
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF
Trustees back teacher contract
ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALM SALMO
MONTROSE
SUMMER FUN IS FINALLY HERE
Road work ahead BY BREANNE MASSEY Times Staff
BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER Times Staff
Despite overwhelming school trustee support province-wide for the B.C. Teachers’ Federation contract extension Wednesday, nobody is coming out a winner in the settlement, says a local trustee. Mark Wilson said the two-year deal—ratified by 85 per cent of the province’s school boards—means stability for the next year, but it did nothing to bridge the divide between teachers and their employers. “Nobody really won in this one,” said Wilson, who taught school for 35 years in the district. “The whole process was tainted from Day One.” “Nobody He pointed to mediator really won Charles Jago as not being as in this unbiased as he should have been in dealing with the disone.” pute. The teachers’ union MARK WILSON also argued that Jago was biased and didn’t have the qualifications necessary to fill the post. As a result, the deal imposed a two-year wage freeze on teachers, which had already been accepted by school support staff and other public sector unions in B.C. The B.C. Public School Employers’ Association held a vote for trustees as the final ratification of the deal. Last week 75 per cent of voting members of the BCTF accepted the contract. The two-year contract—one of which included a work-to-rule campaign—includes improved benefits and seniority provisions, negotiated under a provincial government policy that said any wage increases must be offset by concessions elsewhere in the contract. Wilson did not dispute the province’s hard line approach. “That’s the way it is right now, and that is the way the economy is going,” he said. “But … the BCTF asked for too much and the province was giving away nothing. It was a tough year to be a teacher.” With the new contract set to expire in June of next year, just a month after a provincial election, Wilson anticipated the next round of negotiations that begin in the fall would provide some balance. “I’m hoping it’s going to have some workforce ease when (teachers) come back in September, after being legislated into something they don’t want,” he said.
BREANNE MASSEY PHOTO
(From left) Sheena Nichol and her two-year-old son Luke met up with Amber Marshall and her son Bently Davis, 3, to enjoy the warm weather at the Montrose Spray Park on Wednesday afternoon. The water park should get plenty of use over the next few days with summer temperatures settling in across the region.
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Minimal traffic in Montrose created an easy solution for road repairs in the community this year. The Village of Montrose carried a motion to repair damaged roads in the community with a durable asphalt seal (micropaving) for $30,000. It will cost roughly $10,000 to prep the construction sites once they have been determined. “It’s got a polymer additive in it and there’s more oil so if you have a road with bumps and cracks in it, they’ll show right through,” explained Kevin Chartres chief administrative officer for the village at its regular council meeting on Tuesday night. “It’s not going to look like a brand new road.” Three possible areas are being assessed for road maintenance including 5th Street to 9th Ave South to 7th Ave; 10th Ave to 2nd Street to 3rd Street; and 8th Ave to 2nd Street to 3rd Street. However the bus route is not a candidate for this project because micropaving is not suitable for roads that “need to be rebuilt.” The village expects to determine which location to procure and will use a $30,000 model as a template for a pilot project to determine whether it could be used on larger road maintenance projects next year. The village expects road repairs to be completed at the end of August or early September.
Contact the Times: Phone: 250-368-8551 Fax: 250-368-8550 Newsroom: 250-364-1242