This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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The B.C. government and the teachers are still engaged in the blame game as the time passes and the empty space in their negotiations persists. The B.C. Teachers Federation is scheduled to hold a membership vote today on binding arbitration, although the provincial government has already refused the proposal for resolving the dispute.
Vernon Teachers Association president, Heather Malcolm, mentioned that “binding arbitration is the quickest way to bring an end to this long and difficult dispute.” It was added that “if government agrees to take our dispute to an independent third party, teachers and students can get back to school.” Whereas on the other hand, Education Minister Peter Fassbender stressed that “I asked Mr. (BCTF president Jim) Iker to put the idea of suspending the strike to the BCTF membership so we could get into serious discussions about wages and benefits and bring the BCTF into the affordability zone and then into meaningful mediation with Mr. (Vince) Ready and find a negotiated settlement.” Fassbender added that “but the BCTF is still asking for nearly twice as much as what other public-sector unions have settled for and they are still demanding a $5,000 signing bonus. That’s not affordable and it’s not fair to other unionized employees.”
In addition to that, Fassbender stressed that he is opposed to binding arbitration because “when the NDP government settled with the doctors through binding arbitration, it had a huge impact on the budget of the province and on all of us as taxpayers.” He alleged that “if Mr. 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 (today) for the ability for the executive to suspend strike action. That’s my challenge to Mr. Iker.”
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