SD board of trustees issues letter to parents re: teachers strike
Dear parents and guardians: As you are likely aware, the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and the BC Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) have not been able to make significant progress over the summer months and so the possibility of schools opening as usual following Labour Day is uncertain. The Board hopes that the...
COMMENT: Lessons from Mount Polley
B.C.'s economy – already facing what seems like the perfect economic storm of stagnant job growth, an acute skills shortage and the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision on First Nation land title claims – can now add one more low pressure system into that mix: the Mount Polley Mine disaster. In its wake to date: government...
NDTA protests Kootenay Lake School Board 'celebration' meeting
The two sides in the BC Teachers’ dispute have been sitting under a Maxwell-Smart-like "Cone of Silence" for the past two weeks hoping a lack of public rhetoric or media mudslinging would put an end to the strike/lockout that has shut down public schools in the province since June. Wednesday, at the foot of Hall Street, that...
No movement in impasse between city and union workers
The impasse between the City of Castlegar and its union workers seems as relentless as ever today, after the second day of labour action. While not fully on strike per se, CUPE 2262 has issued a ban on overtime work as a first step after issuing 72-hour strike action notice on Friday, Aug. 15. Chris Barlow, city director of...
City responds to CUPE's 72-hours strike notice
In the same week that Local 2262 requested the City to return to the bargaining table, Union Employees have issued 72 hour strike notice. “The city is concerned that the Union continues to represent that it is the city that needs to come back the bargaining table when it was the union that booked out the mediator, will not ...
City CUPE workers serve 72-hour strike notice
The following is a press release issued by CUPE Local 2262: CUPE Local 2262 city workers have filed 72-hour strike notice with the BC Labour Board. The 34 workers have been without a contract since February 2013. This marks the first time in 60 years that the union has been forced to a strike in its contract negotiations with...
Wearing my historian’s hat
“I am under no obligation to be the person I was five minutes ago.”--- Facebook poster ( no author ) Pessimism, the incidence of violence, and progress Is there evidence that humanity is on a historical course toward a progressive, better future? Every reader of this column by now understands I am a pessimist, I do not perceive...
COMMENT: Crony capitalism alive and well at Mount Polley
This weekend, the Vancouver Sun reported that Alberta billionaire Murray Edwards helped organize a $1 million fundraiser for the B.C. Liberal party at the Calgary Petroleum Club last year. Rapidly becoming a household name in B.C., Edwards of course is the controlling shareholder of Imperial Metals, which operates the Mount...
LETTER: Gov't to blame for Mount Polley disaster
Dear Editor,I read with horror the article Mount Polley Disaster published in the The Boundary Sentinel on August 6, 2014.I have been following the news on the Fraser River Imperial Mines tailing pond contamination. I see that the government treated this toxic tailings pond with the same the extreme carelessness I have observed...
Staff shortage means truncated hours for Castlegar health centre lab
The following is a press release issued by Interior Health: Due to temporary limited staffing availability, the Castlegar and District Health Centre lab will close an hour early next week. Out-patient (drop-in) lab services will be available from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Aug. 11 to 14. Alternate out-patient laboratory services...
