BCTF, provincial government, talking about resuming negotiations

VANCOUVER – It remains unclear if B.C. students will return to classrooms in September, but teachers and their employer are talking about resuming negotiations.

Education Minister Peter Fassbender says the province is ready to resume talks. But he also says mediation can’t work until teachers move into the government’s ‘affordability zone’.

Two potential mediators refused to step in to the talks earlier this month.

The Vancouver School Board is calling for outside intervention in the dispute, believing an industrial inquiry commissioner, who could issue a public report on necessary solutions, should be brought in.