What to expect Monday from the B.C. teachers’ strike: More bargaining and a startling video
Talks to continue
The weekend bargaining session that saw representatives from the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association in talks behind closed doors at an area hotel will continue Monday. It’s the longest the two sides have met since the start of September in their efforts to resolve the strike that has postponed the start of the school year for more than half a million students.
As the parties left the table early Monday morning, where mediator Vince Ready was also present, they maintained a media blackout on their talks, saying only that they planned to resume negotiations later in the day.
More rallies
According to the website Rally for Change, there are three events being organized for Monday:
- 10 a.m., Victoria: An independent rally “to support human rights” will take place at Lansdowne Middle School
- 10:30 a.m., Maple Ridge: Protesters will gather for an independent rally at the MLA office of Maple Ridge-Mission rep Marc Dalton (33058 First Ave.).
- Noon, province-wide: Children and seniors in particular are being asked to join the picket lines across the province and bring a lunch. Organizers of this rally “support proper funding of public institutions, facilities and programs.”
At 6:30 p.m., another group is calling for protesters to show up with pots and pans to make noise for public education on the Cambie Street Bridge in Vancouver. This will be followed by a candlelight vigil. The organizers want participants to use the hashtag #potsandpans for social media updates, and more details can be found here.
An unexpected lift from Mother Nature
Perhaps this isn’t the kind of thing that can be expected to happen again, but this video from the picket lines posted Sunday shows a rather strange sight amid the hot late-summer weather. We knew things were being whipped up into a frenzy, but not like this.
With a report from The Canadian Press