简体中文
The Premier of Canada's British Columbia in Christy Clark on Wendesday urged public school teachers across the western province to end their strike, cut their demands and return to the negotiating table.
At a news conference in her Vancouver office, Clark said Education Minister Peter Fassbender of the provincial government had been making tremendous efforts to resolve the contract dispute between the government and the B.C. Teachers Federation (BCTF).
"I do also recognize there are no easy fixes for this and there are no shortcuts to making sure that we can achieve long-term labor peace in the classroom for kids," said Clark.
The premier said the gap between the two parties was still wide and the teachers' demands were too high to be accepted by the government.
"They are still demanding twice as much as other public sector workers have received," said Clark. "The teachers union needs to come to the table with a proposal that is realistic," she noted.
"Other public sector employees who work just as hard have settled for far less. They didn't get a 5,000-dollar signing bonus and they didn't get unlimited massage and an extra day off each year," said Clark, adding "This dispute needs to be resolved at the bargaining table. It needs to be resolved by our negotiating teams."
The teachers in the province's public schools have been on strike since June, demanding more pay and smaller-sized classes for students. As the negotiation collapsed on Aug. 31 with no concessions from either side, there is no hope of ending the dispute that has kept more than 550,000 students out of classes for the start of the school year.
