Teachers’ strike about Liberals playing politics: Cummins

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – This upcoming week could cause headaches for parents with school-aged children.

As of Monday teachers are on strike. It’s set to last three days with classes resuming by Thursday.

Many schools plan to open with a skeleton staff with limited supervision for children who do get dropped off. The province has been urging parents to make other arrangements. Yesterday, students across the province walked out in support of BC teachers.

BC Conservative Leader John Cummins is weighing in on the situation. He believes this is the BC government’s way of playing politics. “I think its intention is to return the teachers to the job. I think they believe if the teachers walk off there’s going to be a negative public reaction and I think it’s just going to heat things up.”

He thinks the legislature should have sat through the weekend to pass Bill 22 and keep teachers on the job. “That’s been the problem. This has been allowed to fester for too long and at this point, I think the real issue is to make sure the teachers stay on the job.”

Cummins says while teachers should have a say in class sizes and classroom matters, it shouldn’t be included at the bargaining table with wages and benefits.

Teachers have been conducting job action since school started in September.  They are demanding a wage increase of 15 per cent and protesting the government’s refusal to budge from its commitment to negotiate public sector contracts that don’t include cost increases.

The Liberal government has said it will not push through legislation to impose a contract, ending the strike. MLA’s will return to the legislature Monday afternoon to continue debate on this issue.

The BC Teachers’ Federation and the BC Public School Employers’ Association have met nearly 80 times at the bargaining table for almost a year but have not hammered out a contract.

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