February 25, 2014 - 11:17 AM
VANCOUVER - The B.C. Teachers' Federation says it will hold a strike vote next month to pressure government into negotiating a new contract acceptable to the province's teachers.
Union president Jim Iker says negotiations have gone nowhere over the past year, and the province continues to ignore a court decision ordering them to restore contract provisions on class conditions.
Iker says the strike vote will take place between March 4 and 6, and any possible job action will occur in stages.
He says the potential job action will not include immediate school closures, or impact extra curricular activities or report cards.
The court ruling last month said legislation retroactively removing issues such as class size and composition from collective bargaining was unconstitutional.
The judge also concluded that the province tried to provoke a strike by teachers and awarded the union $2 million.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014