School District 43's 2,200 teachers will attend study sessions Wednesday to vote on a proposal that would end their walkout if they get an agreement from the B.C. government to enter into binding arbitration.
Coquitlam Teachers' Association president Charley King said today that schools could open Thursday if the government accedes to the BC Teachers' Federation request, which includes removing a contentious E80 clause teachers fear would nullify their class size and composition court rulings.
"Rather than waiting around for government to take leadership, we're going to just do it," King said of the vote, adding that a majority of "yes" votes would ensure that schools could open immediately if at some later date the government agrees to the arbitration process.
But as of Tuesday morning, there was no indication that the government was considering binding arbitration. In a prepared statement, Education Minister Peter Fassbender called on teachers to instead end their strike and reduce their demands to get into an "affordability zone" that could be mediated by Vince Ready.
In his statement, Fassbender explained that his reluctance to enter into binding arbitration stems from a previous dispute with doctors in which the then NDP government had to pay out a settlement which Fassbender said "had a huge impact on the budget of the province and on all of us as taxpayers."
