Victoria A2 Terrace Review — Wednesday, June 12, 1991 by Michael Kelly The Ministry of Education has expressed the intent to make col- lective bargaining for teacher con- tracts provincial rather than focal. In an announcement June 6 Educa- tion Minister Stan Hagen said the process of having over 70 different contracts being negotiated around the province has created too many ~ probiems. Terrace District Teachers’ Union president Rob Brown reacted to the announcement by noting a number of ways in which the provincial government has made local bargaining more difficult over the past two years, including the introduction of the Compensa- tion Fairness Commission and other legislative limitations specifi- cally concerned with teachers. "It’s a strange situation this year," Brown remarked. "In previous years a number of districts would settle and that would set a frame- work for other settlements. This year there were strikes all over the place, some of them long, pro- tracted strikes. Now suddenly the government comes up with this. "If trustees were given power and control local bargaining could be very effective. The government has gone out of its way to create this situation." | School District 88 board chair- man Edna Cooper said with some reservation, "I think it is probably a good idea. Financially, it would be more economical for the prov- ince as a whole." She added, however,- that the success will depend on what sort of plan the government comes up: with. "The problem is that each district has ‘its own contract, the broad issues are the only similar- ity." If the system is changed, she said, it should go totally provin- cial, not “two-tiered". With the province bargaining wages and benefits and the district still bar-' gaining working conditions, she said, nothing would improve. Local districts would have more control over bargaining if they had power of local taxation and greater autonomy in other areas, Cooper agreed. But local property taxation has always made up a very small component of the total operating herrace budget, and Cooper emphasized that she is in favour of maintaining the provincial equalization sysicm for school financing, The relative richness or poverty of individual districts would otherwise depend ‘on their tax bases, a situation which, for example, would leave Terrace a relatively poor district and Kitimat a wealthy one. “The province always has the strings," she said. Sam. Lim, a communications officer for the Ministry of Educa- tion, said from Victoria that the announcement is an expression of intent and that no details on the program have been established. The government is asking school districts, trustees, teachers, admin- istrators and their provincial asso- ciations, along with anyone else who has an opinion on the matter, to contact the Ministry of Educa- tion before the third week in. August. The ministry intends to bring in legislation governing the provincial bargaining system in the spring of 1992. The new system would start in bargaining for the 1992 contracts. The agreement recently signed by School District 88 and the Terrace District Teachers’ Union expiresin | June 1992. Lim said the ministry is looking for ways the bargaining process can incorporate local and regional differences in teaching conditions, methods of dispute resolution, and suggestions for representing local school boards in negotiations. They’re looking for a provincial model, he said, adding, "The gov- ernment always gets the blame in any model." The ministry, Lim claimed, is in part responding to local wishes. A poll of school trustees a few days prior to the B.C. School Trustees Association annual general meeting in May indicated that 61 percent of the trustees polled wanted the province to take over negotiating with the teachers. ; A statement June 7 from the B.C. Federation of Teachers appears to contradict that poll. The BCTF says a resolution at the BCSTA meeting said trustees agreed to enter into a "collaborative process" for bargaining but added, "...we do 4535 Greig Avenue, Terrace, B.C. V8G 1M7 SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM a 1 year — $39.00, plus GST Close Up magazine, $10 extra in Terrace and Thornhill '1 Cheque (1 Money Order [1] MasterCard = (1 Visa : Please send a subscription to. Ao yo . Name Address Expiry Date Postal Code | this form tor Phone _. Mail or bring this form to: Seniors in Terrace and District $30.00 |-. Seniors outside Of Tertace and District $33.00 Out of Ganada $100.00 Terrace Review 4535 Greig Avenue, Terrace, B.C. V8G 1M7 Victoria moves to scrap local teacher bargaining not at this time support any model. including provincial bargaining, and believe it is. necessary to explore all options." The BCTF is opposed to provin- cial bargaining. The statement ‘says, "The BCTF has long sup- ported a local bargaining system because it is most likely to respond to the particular needs of local school districts and teachers." The BCTF also takes issue with Hagen’s claim that a provincial system will reduce the number of . school days lost due to disputes: lost days this year as a percentage of instructional days came to 13 percent; one day of a province- wide strike, the federation claims, would lose five percent of instruc- tional days. The BCTF also believes, how- ever, that the legislation will never come to pass. The Social Credit government must call an clection no later than November of this year and the BCTF says the So- creds will not survive that election as the governing party in B.C. | Flairwaves would like to welcome back] Cindy Koopmans to their professional styling team Cindy invites all her customers and friends to drop in. tier hours will be: Mon. & Tues. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wed. & Thurs. 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. a ‘ . Gold fields update Mergers among junior mining companies operating in the Stikine Arch may be under way, according to the June 3 issue of the Northern Miner. The national mineral industry newspaper reports that Canarc Resource is working on a proposal to acquire 37 percent ownership of Suntac Minerals. Canarc has several claims in the Eskay Creek area north of Stewart, all of them in the early stages of exploration, and. Suntac holds an option to acquire 60 percent of the Polaris-Taku property, @ former gold producer northwest of Telegraph Creek near the Alaska border. Tenajon Resources, operator of the SB property just north of Stewart, is negotiating a merger with Royal Scot Resources. ‘Tenajon has already struck an agreement with Westmin to have the SB ore processed at Westmin’s Stewart gold mill, and the intent of the merger would be to bring ore from Royal Scot’s Summit Lake property into the processing agreement. Geddes Resources expects to require at least $500 million in financing to develop the Windy Craggy copper and gold property in the extreme northwest corner of B.C. In the company’s first quarter report Geddes president Gerald Harper told shareholders that Warrior International Lid. has been retained to provide financial advisory services on the mine development. Geddes is also researching the possibility of building a slurry pipeline to the port in Haines, Alaska, where the concentrate will be shipped out. Harper said the pipeline would be a significantly cheaper way of shipping ore concentrate than trucking the material. North American Metals continues to experience difficulties with its Golden Bear mine near Telegraph Creek. In its first quarter report president Jack Thompson told shareholders the compnay sustained a $1.8 million net cash loss and had to write down its investment in the mine by $24 million. Gold production at the mine averaged $559 per ounce but gold averaged only $416 per ounce selling over the first quarter. In an effort to cut production costs North American decided early this year to shut down its underground operation for a minimum of 16 months, forcing it to lay off 44 employees. The mine will now concentrate on developing a less expensive open pit operation. Thompson announced the 1991 exploration budget for the surrounding mineral zones will be $1.2 million. R.E.M. Lee Hospital Foundation, 4720 Haugland Ave. Terrace, B.C. V8G 2W7 A thoughtful way to remember is with an In Memoriam gift to the R.E.M. Lee Hospital Foundation. Donations are gratefully accepted at the above address. Please include the name of the deceased, your name and address, as well as the name and address of the next-of-kin for an acknowledgement card. 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