B.C. school employers renew bid to dock teachers' pay
Teachers' union calls request outrageous
CBC News
Posted: Dec 14, 2011 7:41 AM PT
Last Updated: Dec 14, 2011 7:40 AM PT
The B.C. Public School Employers Association intends to make another attempt to cut teachers' salaries while the B.C. Teachers' Federation job action continues.
The association wants the Labour Relations Board to reconsider its decision not to cut teacher's salaries by 15 per cent while the BCTF refuses administrative tasks.
CEO Hugh Finlayson says the BCTF should pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries and benefits because teachers are refusing to perform the "normal activities" of teaching.
"And with those normal activities, you are being paid for those," he said. What we have said is look, this is a BCTF strike. There should be an equal pressure put on the union and that's what the 15 per cent remittance from the union to the employer is for."
Finlayson says those normal duties include attending staff meetings, doing student assessments and preparing report cards.
A date for the LRB hearing has not yet been set, but the union says even the request for a review is outrageous because teachers are meeting all requirements of essential service legislation.
The employers association wants a second opinion, saying it must have some way to pressure the BCTF to negotiate an end to its four-month strike.
The two sides have been bargaining since last March. They concluded their 62nd day of bargaining on Monday and have now adjourned until the first week of January.
With files from The Canadian PressShare Tools
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