‘SEES ETE RCPS RRR RRR RCE PEP RO Raw eee THE CHANCES of Terrace and area public schools shutting dawn March 27 appear stron- “ger after the schoo! district’s support staff : voted in favour of striking if the district doesn’t -.feach a settlement they consider fair, says the ‘ president of the local Canadian Union of Pub- : lic Employees (CUPE) which represents the « workers. ‘ — Norrey Kendall said union members in Ste- ; wart, Terrace, Hazelton, Kitwanga and Kiti- ' mat voted last weck 96 per cent in favour of ‘ taking strike action. Kendall added that if bargaining with the school district doesn’t improve to what union * members consider satisfactory, support work- * ers will join 47 other CUPE locals across B.C. in a strike March 27. That’s next Monday, the : first scheduled day of classes after spring Kendall, said. meetings ; ‘last week with | school district ptaft werglinproductive, “We're not making: any progress,” Kendall: « said. “We're not getting to the issues. [t seems like there's a lot of delaying.” -s 5 1) oo f TERRACE ROTARY Club members and the Terrace Midget Hockey team ioad outdated medical equipment from Mills Mem- orial Hospital into a moving truck. Terrace Rotary is shipping the supplies to hospitals in developing countries. Organizer Alan Union ready to close schools But acting school district superintendent Sharon Beedle said meetings last week were positive, resulting in achieving an essential services agreement. Beedle said CUPE agreed nat to picket the REM Lee Theatre next week if there is a strike so that it could be used by the Pacific Northwest Music Festival. The union will also allow the district to collect all the equipment from schools that festival organizers will need. The school district’s 394 school support staff, which include special services assis- tants, janitors, noon hour supervisors, school secretaties and any other support staff, are bar- gaining for better wages, job security, pay equity, benefits and pensions, One of the contentious issues dates back to when Kitimat and Terrace merged into one « School district. » ‘Right now. there.are two support worker contracts in:the district — one for Kitimat sup- ‘port workers and one for Terrace, Hazelton, Stewart and Kitwanga workers. School district administrators want to create The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 22, 2000 - A3 News In Brief Hampshire said the equipment will go to rotary club members in Third World Countries who will ensure the equipment gets to the ‘right hospitals. Hampshire said the equipment will help save lives and make an enormous difference to the communities it goes to. one equal contract for everyone by removing previously bargained benefits that Kitimat workers receive, Bul instead of eliminating special benefits from Kitimat workers, CUPE wants particular working condilions and language to apply to everyone, CUPE and the school district met again yesterday and will be back at the bargaining table today. Kendall said: “We’re hopeful we can get down to the nitly gritty.” Beedle said the labour dispute wasn’t origi- nated lacally. “The initial problem that led to 47 CUPE locals to take strike votes is the failure to get a provincial table to bargain at,” she said. “CUPE is using the failure to get a provin- cial agreement to force the provincial! ogee ae Schodl Gistricts.. across B. ray “could “alse on strike starting Match 27; disrupting the edu: cation of more than 340,000 school students in elementary, middle and secondary schools. ve smaller governments, a reduction in business taxes government into, Mayor divvies up work MAYOR Jack Talstra has given out new assign- ments to city councillors for the year 2000, Here are the appoiniments to external committees: Lynne Christiansen: Advisory Parks and Recrea- tion Commission. Val George: Communily Facilities Society, li- brary board, Land and Resource Management Planning Board. Rich McDaniel: Seniors Advisory Commission, Yellowhead Highway Association. David Hull: Social Planning Commission, Chamber of Commerce and service clubs. Jack Talstra: Terrace Economic Development Authority, Skecna Treaty Advisory Committee. Ron Vanderlee: ‘Transit Advisory Commission, RCMP Community Consultative Committee. Olga Power: Riverboat Days Committee, Beau- tification Society. Forest centre opens A 34.6 million complex to increase information on growing trees has opened at the University of Northern B.C. in Prince George. The 7,900 square foot lab contains four green- houses and a lab and was built with monies from the university, the forest industry and various gov- ermments, The ead contribution of $500,000 came from Ike Barber, the chairman of Slocan Forest Products Lid. His name is on the complex. Speeders watched JUST OVER 46,000 vehicles were checked during 459 hours of volunteering last year by northern in- terior groups worried about speeding. Speed Watch groups operate electronic speed reader boards that show drivers how fast, or slow, they are going. Results province-wide last year show approxima- tely 60 per cent of B.C. drivers were driving at or below the pasted speed limit when passed by a Speed Watch reader board, The idea of the program is to encourage people to slaw down and prevent accidents. Across B.C., more than 1.5 million vehicles were checked during 19,000 volunteer hours. Tax drops sought AN OPINION poll conducted by a pro-business group supports the idea of personal income tax re- ductions. The poll, conducted for the B.C. Business Sum- mil, also indicated people want less red tape, and more access for companies to the province’s land and resources. Market Explorers talked to 550 people last De- cember to-come up with the poll results. The. 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