Vote on ending strike, not on arbitration, says Fassbender
NEWS/ SCHOOLS — Education Minister Peter Fassbender says the B.C. Teachers Federation should be asking teachers to vote on suspending their strike, not on agreeing to binding arbitration.
Teachers vote Wednesday on whether they support binding arbitration, even though the provincial government has already turned it down.
Fassbender said Monday he was clear that binding arbitration “is not in the cards in this dispute, period.” He said when the NDP government settled with doctors through binding arbitration, it had a huge impact on the provincial budget.
“If Mr. (BCTF President Jim) Iker is serious about wanting to get a settlement, then I am asking him to do what I asked him to do a week and a half ago. Ask the BCTF members this Wednesday for the ability for the executive to suspend strike action. That’s my challenge to Mr. Iker.”
School was supposed to start for the new academic year a week ago.
About 200 teachers rallied in front of the School District 73 office before Monday night’s school board meeting and sang Solidarity Forever during the meeting, reports Kamloops This Week.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
This interview seems to say all there is to know: http://globalnews.ca/video/1554649/former-crown-prosecutors-legal-perspective-on-e-80
LikeLike
While I certainly do not support the present government, Iker is an idiot. I really don’t believe that the teachers ( read BCTF } want to settle any more than Factbender does.
LikeLike
Mr. Iker does not inspire confidence, but he has the pressure of 41,000 teachers needing a pay cheque just like everyone else. As well, teachers would much rather be in their classrooms than on the picket line. Yes, teachers do want out of this mess but not at the cost of compromising their principles to get a deal.
LikeLike
Mr. Fassbenderr is wrong and immoral to demand that the teachers abandon their twice-won court defense as part of bargaining. Arbitration will determine a settled, and probably fair, salary schedule, and leave the law-suit to the court. His government is clearly afraid of both the court decision and the involvement of an impartial third party.
Sad, but quite typical of authoritarian governments everywhere.
LikeLike
Is this all there is for today’s news on this important matter, Mel? Another press release from Fassbender/BC Liberals gets posted on your blog. Is this part of a campaign?
Why don’t you take a position on the fact the BC supreme court rules against your beloved anti-teachers/do no wrong(as if) BC Liberals twice. Why don’t you Mel? Why don’t you?
LikeLike
I think what both the education minister and BCTF president have to say about the strike is important, so I publish them both.
LikeLike
I would say that Mr. Factbender is an idiot if I were not painfully aware of the Liberal agenda concerning public education.
LikeLike