Tentative deal reached between teachers and government

News1130 Staff September 16, 2014 4:47 am

RICHMOND (NEWS1130) – A tentative deal has been reached in the BC teachers dispute.

Mediator Vince Ready has not yet released details of the tentative agreement, which was reached around 4 a.m. He says the government and teachers worked very hard to get to this point, but won’t say which side moved on what.

“The parties are going to meet later [today] and finalize a few of the outstanding details. But generally speaking, [there is] tentative agreement,” Ready told reporters this morning.

“I’m not at liberty to disclose any of the details, nor will the parties until they finalize them,” he added.

More details are expected later today.

Teachers still have to vote on the tentative deal, so it’s unclear when kids will be back in class.

The breakthrough in negotiations comes on the fifth day of talks at the Delta Hotel in Richmond between the BCTF and the employers’ association with the help of mediator Vince Ready.

Negotiations resumed last week under increasing pressure from the public and suggestions by the government that legislating an end to the dispute was an option.

Last Wednesday, the BCTF voted overwhelmingly to end their dispute if the government agreed to binding arbitration — something the government firmly rejected.

Teachers launched full-scale job action two weeks before the summer break and students have missed more than two weeks of their new school year.