The BC Teachers Federation’s second round of rotating walkouts targeted the Sunshine Coast Tuesday, as the BCTF and the province headed back to the bargaining table.
Louise Herle is president of the Sunshine Coast Teachers Association. She says the teachers remain optimistic a deal is possible before the end of the school year.
Herle also says they’re anticipating a favourable ruling from the Labour Relations Board on pay cuts and other issues tied to the partial lockout. That ruling is due Wednesday afternoon.
It’s also expected the BCTF may announce Wednesday what its plans are for job action next week.
The walkout meant another day without classes, or any other school activities, for kids. SD46 Assistant Superintendent Greg Kitchen says they’ve been able to manage fairly well on the other days to balance the teacher job action with the requirements of the partial lockout to minimize impact on students. However, there has been some impact on extracurricular activities in the past week.
Kitchen says events are being assessed on a case-by-case basis, and at this point no decisions have been made about plans for a June 5th open house at Gibsons Elementary to showcase the new school.
Qualicum teachers are due to walkout on Thursday.
(Photo courtesy Sunshine Coast Teachers’ Association)
