THE “OICE GF NORTH AND WEST VANCOLIVER

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56 pages

Office, Editorial 985-2131

W. Van teachers to stage
work-to-rule campaign as
contract talks bog down

WEST VANCOUVER (teachers will begin a work-to-rule
campaign on Jan. 4 to protest the lack of progress in con-
tract talks with the West Vancouver District 45 School
Board (WVSB), the president of the teachers’ union said

Friday.

Meanwhile, a school board of-
ficial said there is no money to
offer District 45 teachers this year.

West Vancouver Teachers’
Association (WVTA) president
Wayne Rowley said his member-
ship would begin its ‘action
plan” by withdrawing all volun-
teer services.

“This will be our sixth mcnth
without a contract, and we're not
pleased with the pace of negotia-
tions,’? Rowley said.

He added that the union will
continue to bargain with the
WVSB despite the work-to-rule
campaign.

Rowley said he could not
release any details of what the
union is seeking in a new collec-
tive agreement hecause of a news
blackout agreement between the
union and the WVSB.

But WVSB superinterident Doug
Player said Friday that the school
board cannot offer its teachers a
wage increase.

“Everybody knows in education
there is no money. We’re still pay-
ing off a deficit," said Player.

District 45, he said, plans to
pay off its current $500,000
budget deficit with a $250,000
payment this year and another
$250,000 payment in 1993.

Rowley said he understands that
the schoo! board has budget prob-
lems, but he said that the school
board also has its spending
priorities wrong.

“Sometimes they’re spending
money on items that we don’t
think are a priority. An example
of that are lap-top computers for
administrators. We could hire
more teachers for classrooms with
that money.”’ said Rowley.

Under the fast two-year collec-
tive agreement between the
WVTA and the WVSB, which ex-
pired in June, West Vancouver
teachers received a 14% wage in-
crease.

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

Current annual West Vancouver
teacher salaries range from
$33,387 for a teacher with three
years’ experience to $60,076 for a
teacher with a master’s degree.

Player said the WVSB does not
hire teachers with less than three
years’ experience.

The average District 45 teacher
salary, he said, ranges from
$49,757 without benefits to
$58,286 with benefits.

“The bulk of our teachers have
a lot of experience,”’ said Player.

West Vancouver teachers cur-
rently work 192 days per year.
Five of those days are profes-
sional, or non-teaching, days.

North Vancouver District 44
School Board (NVSB)  superin-
tendent Dr. Robin Brayne said
Friday that contract talks with the
North Vancouver Teachers’
Association (NVTA) ended this
week for the Christmas break.

Negotiations are scheduled to
resume in early January.

“Both sides have exchanged
proposals,”’ said Brayne.

Salaries for North Vancouver
teachers currently range between
$30,856 a year for a teacher with
no experience to a maximum of
$61,086 for a teacher with a
master’s degree.

During the current school year,
North Vancouver teachers will
work a total of 187 days, in-
cluding five professional days.

In February 1991, the NVSB
and the NVTA reached a two-
year collective agreement retroac-
tive to 1990 which gave North
Vancouver teachers uw 14% wage
increase over the life of the con-
tract.

That contract expired in June.

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FIRST-YEAR Emily Carr college student Jason Godding stands behind his
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