Decision expected Judge set to deliver verdict in murder trial. Page 7 In pictures Nanaimo celebrates Empire Days parade downtown. Page B1 rawking around Music fundraiser supports education fund. Page 3
Number 13 proves lucky Page 20
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Teachers start rotating strikes
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Lack oF bargaining progress with province will see classes cancelled on tuesday (May 27). By Karl yu the News bulletiN
At an impasse with the B.C. government at the bargaining table, teachers in B.C. will begin rotating strikes, with Nanaimo district teachers set to picket on Tuesday (May 27). Schools will be open but there won’t be instruction and buses won’t run, Dave Hutchinson, school district CEO and superintendent, said in a letter to parents. He asked parents to keep children home for safety reasons. School will resume as usual on Wednesday (May 28). Mike Ball, president of the Nanaimo District Teachers’ Association, said the move from the first stage of job action, which included limited supervision and no contact with administration, is due to a combination of factors. “The lack of progress at the table has triggered the escalation to Phase 2 but
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The lack of progress at the table has triggered the escalation to Phase 2.
because their wage offer is significantly lower than our proposal and they’re not dealing with class size and composition at all, that has caused a lack of progress, which has triggered the escalation,” Ball said. Negotiations are set for today and tomorrow (May 22-23), meaning there will be opportunities to avert next week’s strikes, according to Ball. “Part of the reason of not having the escalation until next week, it throws it back to government to say, Look, you’ve got two days to fix this. See ‘NEGOTIATIONS’ /11
TAMARA CUNNINGHAM/THe News BUlleTIN
Staff captain and second-in-command Michele Bartolomei stands on the top deck of the Grand Princess shortly after the vessel docked in Nanaimo last Friday. Bartolomei, who lives in Nanaimo, believes the city can become more of a cruise ship destination.
Cruise ship officer sails into home port of Nanaimo By Tamara CuNNINgham the News bulletiN
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taff captain Michele Bartolomei stood at the bridge of the Grand Princess as the ship glided toward the Port of Nanaimo. He woke up early for this, excited to be sailing home after three months away from his wife and sons. He looked over at the panorama of “Gabriola Island and all the places.” “It was really nice,” he said.
A few miles off Gabriola he spotted his first pod of whales and their calves. By 7 a.m. the Italian-born staff captain and second-in-command was on standby to manoeuvre the vessel into Nanaimo’s $24-million terminal. It would be the first time he’d bring a cruise ship into his home harbour. “You get the butterflies in your stomach because not many ships are coming here,” he said. “The company has 18 ships and you are
in one of the ships that is coming to your home town.” The Grand Princess, a 17-deck vessel carrying more than 2,000 passengers, docked in the city last Friday. It stopped in Nanaimo for 16 hours – the longest cruise ship stay in our local berth – as part of a four-day repositioning cruise between San Francisco and Vancouver. It was the last leg of the journey for Bartolomei, who is now on a two-month break with his family.
See ‘SHOPPING’ /14
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