Tribune
WEEKEND FRIDAY JANUARY 25, 2013
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VOL. 24 NO. 4
REACHING 10,675 HOMES WEEKLY
MARIE SHARPE STUDENTS VISIT WITH MOOSE MASCOT ON REACH A READER DAY Sir Read-a-lot the moose mascot from Cariboo Chilcotin Partners for Literacy visited with Kindergarten and Grade 1 students at Marie Sharpe Elementary School on Thursday, Jan. 24, during CCPL’s Reach a Reader day in Williams Lake. The children learned the slogan, “Readers are Leaders” and participated in the action story Going on a bear hunt. Monica Lamb-Yorski photo
Mayor Kerry Cook sells Tribune for CPPL fundraiser....Page A5
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City workers take strike vote Sunday MONICA LAMB-YORSKI Staff Writer The union representing more than 100 city employees in Williams Lake will be holding a strike vote on Sunday, Jan. 27 at the Coast Fraser Inn. John Dube, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 882B service representative, said Wednesday the union has been without a contract for eight months. There are 105 to 110 members,
some part-time, some seasonal, and some full-time, Dube confirmed, adding the union and employer have met on a few occasions, but are not close to working out a deal. “We met last Monday, Jan. 21 and were still very far apart, and walked away from the table,” Dube said. “We haven’t even talked money yet. The employer wants to trash our collective agreement and have us give them rollbacks and we’re not agreeing with it.”
Dube said the union’s difficulty with the employer wanting to cut costs is that management receives more benefits when a contract is negotiated with his union. In a press release issued Wednesday evening the city said it is hopeful a strike won’t occur and the union will come back to the table so the parties can continue negotiating a collective agreement without disruptions to the community. “In the event of job action, an essential services plan will be in place to minimize the impact to
the community,” the press release stated. “The city recognizes that it has excellent employees and is aware that these processes can create uncertainty and stress within the workforce. “The city is looking to negotiate a fair package for both sides and has made its position very clear to the union that it is willing and able, to negotiate on all items.” The city will be applying to the Labour Relations Board for a mediator.
BCTF spurns government “peace” offer TOM FLETCHER Black Press The B.C. government’s proposed new bargaining framework for teachers has been rejected by the B.C. Teachers’ Federation. Premier Christy Clark and Education Minister Don McRae unveiled their proposal Thursday, calling it a new path to a 10-year agreement to “labour peace” with the province’s 40,000 public school teachers. The proposed framework calls
for pay increases based on an average of nurses, post-secondary faculty and other government employees, and a separate “education policy council” to administer funds for classroom support. Clark and McRae stressed that it would offer teachers a formal role in policy decisions, and a voice in allocating a “priority education investment fund” that would rise to $100 million by the third year. BCTF president Susan Lambert said the proposal was shared with
her Wednesday, and she considers it a “non-starter.” Removing class size and special needs support issues from union negotiations is unacceptable, she said. “It’s quite ludicrous that government would hold out a 10-year deal in trade for giving up bargaining rights that we have fought long and hard for in the courts,” Lambert told CKNW radio. “We fought a 10-year battle to achieve a decision that, yes, teachers have a constitutional right to bargain working con-
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ditions.” The union has another legal action in process, based on a precedent-setting ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that overturned parts of legislation passed by the B.C. Liberal government in 2002. That case is to go to B.C. Supreme Court next fall. Clark said the intent is to elevate discussion, not to achieve a longterm deal before the May election. See GOAL Page A3