107th Year - Week 37
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
www.interior-news.com
Single Copy • $1.30 ($1.24 + 6¢ GST)
PM 40007014
PEP RALLY SKI UNDERPASS A new underpass built for safer skiing.
SPORTS/A12
REELING IN ANGLERS Events meant to hook tourists and locals.
OUR TOWN/A24
WINNING BIG A Hazelton man becomes a millionaire
THREE RIVERS/B2
INSIDE LETTERS A7 SPORTS A11 COMMUNITY A19 OUR TOWN A24 THREE RIVERS B1 CLASSIFIEDS B4
Teachers on strike and their supporters wave to passing motorists along Highway 16 in Smithers during a rally Friday. The gathering coincided with an offer by the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation to go back to work if the province agreed to binding arbitration, an offer the province soon declined. Read more about the strike and its effects, as well as things to keep kids busy on pg. A19-21. Chris Gareau photo
Strike enters its second week By Chris Gareau Smithers/Interior News
B.C. students are into their second week of extended holidays after an offer by the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation to enter into binding arbitration was turned down by the province on the weekend. Teachers and their supporters waved to
passing motorists on Highway 16 in Smithers at a rally Friday afternoon. “The biggest frustration for teachers is that the Liberal government refuses to bargain class size and composition, which is our big concern. They put obstacles in our way to divide our membership and to divert attention from that big issue,” said Bulkley Valley Teachers’
Union president Ilona Weiss at the rally. The federation had been calling on premier and former education minister Christy Clark to get involved in the negotiations. Weiss was not happy with what she finally heard from the premier last week. “I listened to it out on the picket line with several of my members, and there were a lot of untruths
Friday Only! see last page in A
All Clothes & Footwear
with what she said. We were not very pleased with her announcement. She seems to be skirting the issues, and now she’s not even talking about class size and composition. She just referred to it as composition,” said Weiss. Teachers have been going without a regular paycheque since June. “There was initially a strike fund but because the BCTF has been
fighting this battle for 12 years we received three days of strike pay since June. So we’re doing this purely on a voluntary basis. We are not receiving any money and we have basically given up our paycheque to save public education. That’s what we feel like we’re doing right now,” said Weiss. “We feel it’s in trouble.” See STRIKE on A2
50
% OFF
List Price!