NEWS Great times at the fall fair Pages 6 and 11.
SPORTS Big weekend for the Posse Page 2
OPINION
Princeton, we need to talk Page 4
SPOTLIGHT $1.10 Includes TAX
The Similkameen
Volume 65 Issue 37
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Proudly serving the community since 1948 • www.similkameenspotlight.com
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Princeton teachers take to the street Andrea DeMeer publisher@similkameenspotlight.com
If honks, hoots and waves are anything to measure by, the people of Princeton are firmly sided with teachers in their protracted labor dispute. More than 50 teachers, support workers, friends and members of the public gathered in the town square Friday for a picket line that had all the flavour of a street party, up to and including a barbecue and free hot dogs. Richard Jensen was out to support the Princeton District Teachers’ Union along with his five-year-old daughter Eden. He is a new teacher at Princeton Secondary School. “We just moved here from Winnipeg. I took a $6,000 a year pay cut to work here,” he said. Jensen said he has first hand knowledge that British Columbia classrooms lack the investment and resources found in other parts of Canada. He said the lack of funding for special needs students is particularly concerning. Shawna Torres, a Grade 3 teacher at John Allison School in Princeton, said the labour battle is stressful for several reasons. “I’m okay financially right now but I know that others are not.” She said she believes the government is trying to demonize teachers through comments in the media. “It’s hurtful and really distressing.” While everyone in downtown seemed to enjoy the rally, the government and the teachers’ union sparred throughout the day and into the weekend. Education Minister Peter Fassbender rejected the B.C. Teachers Federation’s call for binding arbitration to end the strike. He said the BCTF never gave the province a detailed written proposal and the union’s insistence on several preconditions would have tilted arbitration in its favour. “It became very clear that it was another empty effort to give parents and teachers a false hope that there is a simple way to resolve the dispute,” Fassbender said
Andrea DeMeer
Natalie Yurkowski, 10, and Kaelen Druck, 9, were enthusiastic about being on the picket line in downtown Princeton Friday. The girls attend Vermilion Forks Elementary School.
Saturday. BCTF president Jim Iker urged the province to agree to arbitration and leave class size and composition to be settled by the courts, promising the union would then hold a membership vote on suspending the strike and returning to work. Fassbender said binding arbitration hands over control to a third party and risks an outcome that compromises B.C.’s balanced budget and unacceptably damages the province’s finances. The last use of binding arbitration by the province in 2001 led to a surprise $400-million increase in fees for B.C.
Weather Watch Wednesday
High 15/Low 7
doctors that prompted the government to raise the provincial sales tax by 0.5 per cent. Fassbender remained firm that the province wants a negotiated settlement in line with the pay raises accepted by other government unions. “The BCTF leadership is trying to avoid having the tough conversation with their members about what is realistic and achievable at the bargaining table.” Iker reiterated the offer Sunday, calling it a “fair, workable, and pragmatic plan to end the strike, open schools, and get children back into classrooms.”
He said his only precondition is that the province drop its proposed E80 clause, which allows either side to dodge the effect of a future appeal court ruling against them on class size and special needs resources. “Their attempt to bargain their way out of their two court losses has been the biggest obstacle to a settlement,” Iker said. Prior to the BCTF offer, government negotiator Peter Cameron said arbitration was undesirable, not just because of the financial risk to government, but because it takes the decision out of the hands of both the government and the BCTF. With files from Jeff Nagel, Black Press.
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Saturday
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Sunday
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