Shuswap Your Classified Connection / Vol. 25 No. 9 Friday, February 28, 2014
Market News
Teachers to take strike vote
Inside Shuswap
A3 Gold medallist
Shea Weber’s play thrills hockey fans. Plus South Shuswap A8 Sports A21,A22
By Tom Fletcher BLaCk Press
Chase
A19 Strike fest
Bowl-A-Spiel attracts one hundred. Plus Powerless A20 What’s On A20
Flyers z Askew’s z Canadian Tire* z Coopers* z Future Shop* z Home Hardware* z IDA Drugs* z Jysk* z London Drugs* z Michaels* z No Frills z Pharmasave* z Real Estate* z Rona* z Superstore* z Safety Mart* z Safeway z Save On Foods z Shoppers Drug Mart z Smart Source z Source* z Staples* z Tru Hardware* z Visions* z Walmart z Zimmer Autosport*
Pop of colour
James murray/market news
n Klaire and Monja Jespersen have their hands full as they walk out of the Mall at Piccadilly on Saturday afternoon with two large bouquets of balloons.
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B.C. teachers will vote on a mandate to strike March 4-6, B.C. Teachers’ Federation president Jim Iker said earlier this week. “Unreasonable proposals” from the province’s negotiating team include wage increases lower than what other public sector unions have received, and a continued refusal to put class size and special needs support limits back into the contract, Iker told a news conference in Vancouver. Education Minister Peter Fassbender said wage negotiations “have to start somewhere” and after a year of bargaining, the BCTF has yet to present a wage demand. He declined to provide specifics of the government offer, but said classroom conditions are on the negotiating table. “Clearly we’re at the table with class size and composition,” Fassbender said. “Our negotiators presented a package of proposals. We are still waiting to see the full proposal, including the wages, from the BCTF.” Iker confirmed the union has not yet made a wage proposal, after a year of negotiations to replace a contract that expired in June 2013. The union described the government’s offer as a 0.5 per cent increase on ratification, not retroactive to the past year, making three years with no increase. “The proposal is followed by another zero for the 2014-15 school year and then various ones and point fives over the next four years,” the BCTF said in a statement. Iker said any strike action would be phased in, and would not immediately include forcing teachers to stop extra-curricular volunteer work, withholding report cards or walking off the job. Peter Cameron, appointed last year as chief negotiator for B.C.’s 60 school boards, said Tuesday he is surprised the union is going to a strike vote without tabling its complete position.
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