KELOWNA, B.C. – A deal worked out between the B.C. Teachers Federation (BCTF) and B.C. Government during a marathon bargaining session will be brought forward to Okanagan teachers Thursday morning.
“There will be a sigh of relief that for six years, this is done,” says Susan Bauhart, president of the Central Okanagan Teachers Association. “Because teachers are done. Seriously. They’re ready to be back.”
Bauhart says teachers will have a day to look at the offer before casting a ballot.
“The language will be released on the BCTF member portal for them to see, ” says Bauhart. “Then at the meeting we’ll go through the fine points and then the vote will happen.”
It’s known that the six year deal includes wage increases and addresses class composition, but full details are not expected to be released until after the deal is put to vote across the country.
Bauhart says teachers have already begun calling to see if they can get into schools to prepare for students.
She’s been telling them to, “be patient a little bit longer, a little bit longer.”
The Central Okanagan and Vernon school districts expect vote results by Thursday evening, which would allow teachers into school for Friday and students by Monday.
Those plans are tentative.
- Life in the forest: How Stanley Park’s longest resident survived a changing landscape
- ‘Love at first sight’: Snow leopard at Toronto Zoo pregnant for 1st time
- Carbon rebate labelling in bank deposits fuelling confusion, minister says
- Buzz kill? Gen Z less interested in coffee than older Canadians, survey shows
“We have to wait to see if there is a back to work plan that was part of the negotiated settlement,” says Central Okanagan Superintendent Hugh Gloster.
When it comes to how three weeks of missed classes will be made up, Gloster says they’ll begin with direction from the B.C. Government.
“We’ll have some work to do, in terms of seeing whether there will be adjustments made,” says Gloster. “Things like semesters, whether we balance out semesters, things like government exams: do government exams get adjusted at all? So all of those things have to be looked at.”
Gloster says it’s unlikely the school day will be extended because of the impact on other worker schedules in the schools.
All Pro-D days in the province have been cancelled for Monday and Tuesday.
Central Okanagan schools will begin with a half day, except for Kelowna Secondary School which will have a full day of classes to begin.
KSS students will be dismissed before noon on Wednesday instead, to accommodate the national student leadership conference that afternoon.
The original KSS schedule had students missing two days of classes for the conference.
Picket lines prompted organizers to move most of the event to other venues.
With school rescheduled for the week of September 22nd, the conference will only impact KSS Wednesday afternoon.
The teacher vote in the Central Okanagan takes place at the Evangel Tabernacle church on Gordon Drive, 10 a.m., September 18th.
Comments