VANCOUVER - Ten unions are voicing their support for B.C.'s striking teachers by calling on Premier Christy Clark to accept the union's proposal to end the dispute with binding arbitration.
The B.C. Federation of Labour has sent a letter to the premier with its opinion that the government's rejection of the path to settlement means the province is responsible for keeping schools closed.
The letter is signed by 13 individuals on behalf of B.C. unions, representing a combined 350,000 members, and they urge the government to immediately stop pointing to their contract settlements as the obstacle to getting a deal.
Education Minister Peter Fassbender has repeatedly stated the B.C. Teachers' Federation must draw up an affordable contract proposal in order to be fair to other public-sector workers.
The government maintains the union wants a deal that gives teachers double the wages and benefits of what was recently bargained for other public-sector unions.
As teachers go without salary or strike pay because the union's coffers are long-depleted, the union for BC Hydro workers is asking its membership to draw $100,000 from its benefit fund and set it aside as a collateral so the BCTF can secure a loan.
Meantime, financial co-operative Vancity has created a strike-relief plan for members that includes loan consolidation, mortgage payment deferral and extending credit.
