BC Government Introduces Bill To End Teacher Strike; The Education Improvement Act

The BC Government has introduced Bill 22, legislation to end the BC teacher’s strike.

Bill 22 , called the Education Improvement Act,  suspends the teachers’ strike action and sets a "cooling off" period, appoints a mediator to facilitate bargaining, and implements a new $165-million Learning Improvement Fund and other enhancements to K-12 education.

Bill 22 imposes a cooling off period and suspends the teachers’ union strike action while calling on the assistance of a mediator. The legislation does not impose a new contract. Rather, it extends the previous collective agreement to cover the mediation period, with the goal of reaching a negotiated agreement by the beginning of summer. If there is no agreement, then the mediator will issue a report by June 30, 2012 with non-binding recommendations.

The Bill imposes very severe penalties for failing to comply.

See Bill 22 here;

http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th4th/1st_read/gov22-1.htm

You can find the Feb. 23 report on the status of BCTF and BCPSEA negotiations (the Hughes Report) at:

www.gov.bc.ca/citz/reports_publications.html

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