Teachers, government have a deal
UPDATE — Striking teachers have reached a tentative deal with government negotiators.
Mediator Vince Ready announced the good news shortly after 4 a.m. today (Tuesday) at a Richmond hotel where talks between the B.C. Teachers Fderation and B.C. Public School Employers Association have been going on night and day for the past four days.
No details of the deal were released and won’t be until everything is finalized, Ready told reporters. The two sides are to meet again today to polish up the deal.
“Everybody is a bit tired now,” Ready was quoted as saying.
It’s expected to take several days for districts around the province to get schools ready to open. Both sides must first ratify the deal.
A tweet quoted government negotiator Peter Cameron as saying he is very happy with the agreement. Education Minister Peter Fassbender is expected to make a statement shortly.
NEWS/ TEACHERS — There was no dramatic news from mediated talks between the B.C. Teachers Federation and government negotiators Monday, but maybe it’s a case of no news being good news.
(File photo)
At the least, things haven’t completely fallen apart. Mediator Vince Ready wasn’t telling reporters whether there was any progress, and the BCTF and B.C. Public School Employers Association were sticking to a media blackout.
A Globe and Mail bargaining-watch blog reported at 7 p.m. that a lot of reporters had left the Vancouver hotel where bargaining was taking place — in separate rooms — and others were taking turns waiting for something to happen.
Some were reported planning to stay until midnight or even later.
In the meantime, media were filling up space in their stories with a lot of background to the months-old strike that has now extended well into what was supposed to be a new school year.
School District 73 superintendent Karl deBruijn hasn’t issued any updates to parents since Sept. 1, the day before classes were supposed to start. And teachers are still a familiar site on the picket lines at Kamloops-Thompson district schools.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
What a relief for those involved, particularly the students!
Now we need to get a Premier and an Education minister who will enact legislation to establish an automatic dispute resolution system that discards the outmoded adversarial system so dear to the hearts of ideologues both in governments and in employee groups.
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