THURSDAY February 27, 2014 Vol. 29• No. 17 ••• $1.25 inc. G.S.T.
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Her voice back, Irish singer Mary Murphy launches her latest CD next month at the Little Red Church. page B1
Comox Valley skiers competed well at their provincial championships. page B10
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SHARKS ON ICE Despite school closures, Sharks were in full swim training Monday — until coach Kris loosened the training reins. The senior squads hopped out of the pool and went for a quick break in the snow! From left, Michael Jung, Josh Dolman, Ben Neufeld, Jarod Thereault, Juliana Bartemucci, Brooke Lamoureux, Emma Neufeld, Jordyn Ryan, Gabrielle Wolfe and Amelia Elder. PHOTO BY TARA RYAN
Teachers casting ballots in strike vote next week Renee Andor Record Staff
B.C. teachers will cast ballots next week in a strike vote, but if job action happens it will be a phased-in process, according to Comox District Teachers’ Association president Steve Stanley. The BC Teachers’ Federation announced the strike vote will be held Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with results announced Thursday evening. If teachers vote in favour of a strike, the union has
90 days to start some parts of the province on sort of job action. days,” continued Before we went to the third stage or different Stanley said if job Stanley. action is taken, it would a full closure of the whole school district “Before we went to the not affect student learn- across the province, that would require third stage or a full cloing initially. sure of the whole school another vote. Steve Stanley district across the prov“The first stage … would be just where ince, that would require we don’t do staff meetings, and things,” Stanley explained. another vote — so there would those kinds of things, where we This stage could last a month, have to be another strike vote take away some services, but they but it’s hard to say, he added. before we went on a full strike.” don’t impact … students at all, “The plan that we have right According to the BCTF, the BC and we’ll continue to do report now calls for the second stage to Public School Employers’ Assocards and coaching extracurricu- be rotating strikes so there could ciation has tabled “unreasonable” lar activities and those kinds of be minor disruptions to different proposals that include new lan-
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guage that again removes class size, composition and staffing levels from the contract. The BCTF also says the proposed salary increases are less than the 3.5 to four per cent other public sector workers have received under the government’s “co-operative gains mandate.” The current round of bargaining talks with teachers has been going on for a year, with more than 40 sessions at the bargaining table.
writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com