BCTF denies drafting leaked document detailing strike plans
Posted March 5, 2014 7:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – The long-standing animosities between British Columbia’s unionized teachers and the Liberal government have surfaced again with the release of a document that outlines the union’s strike plans.
BC Teachers’ Federation President Jim Iker denies the document was written by the union, but Education Minister Peter Fassbender says the paper was leaked to the government by a union member. “All I can tell you is when I saw it, it concerned me. But again, document or not, the bottom line is, please BCTF bring your proposals to the table so we can negotiate, carry on with the strike vote, I absolutely respect that process.”
Fassbender says he’s concerned the document lays out a three-phase plan that includes rotating strikes followed by a province-wide strike.
Iker says he finds the timing of the document release perplexing as it comes when contract talks are set to resume and teachers are in the middle of a strike vote.
Iker suggests that the government wrote the document, because it is distributing the paper, but he confirms that a positive strike vote would give the BCTF support to launch job action.
Fassbender says he strongly denies the government had a hand in producing the document.
