Education assistants and other support staff in the Greater Victoria school district return to the bargaining table today in an effort to avoid a strike set for Monday.
Brad Hall, president of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 947, said the provincial government seemed uninterested in a proposal the union submitted Wednesday. Talks are slated to resume at 10 a.m. in Victoria.
“With any luck, we’ll be able to hammer out a deal,” he said. “We’ll go as long as it takes.”
The union served 72-hour strike notice on Wednesday, putting its 800 members in a position to walk out at 7:30 a.m. Monday if talks falter.
The Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association and the CUPE local that represents tradespeople would refuse to cross the picket line, effectively closing schools.
District superintendent John Gaiptman sent a letter to parents on Thursday, advising them that principals and vice-principals would be on duty in the event of a strike, but there would be no classes or regular supervision.
“With this in mind, I am asking parents to find alternate arrangements and not to send their children to school during this strike,” he said.
Local 947 is the only CUPE local in the province to reject a framework deal between the union’s provincial bargaining team and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association. The agreement was ratified by 56 other CUPE locals.
The provincial framework called for a staggered 3.5 per cent pay increase over two years. Local 947 members objected to proposed changes to their prescription-drug benefits package.
The union local voted 137-61 on Dec. 4 to reject the deal.
