FHE VOICE ¢ OF NRGRTH AND WEST VANCOUVER NORTH VANCOUVER teachers shut down 18 schools, the North Vancouver District 44 School Board (NVSB) of- fice and the board's maintenance yard Thursday in the first phase of rotating strike action to back union contract demands. The North Vancouver Teachers’ Association (NVTA) beean its By Surj Rattan series of rotating strikes at 6 a.m. News Reporter Thursday and vowed to close the districCs remaining 24 schools to- day if no contract settlement is bargain) around the clock, al- reached. though NWVTA) president Linda Despite the strike action, both Watson said the board had said it the school board and the teachers’ would break off negotiations for union continued Thursday to 27 hours on Thursday in order to Across the bridge... YURNTTURE PAGE 20 give NVSB negotiators e chance ta after 6am, PF 4 perintendent Robin Brayne agreed to resume negotiadons at 2 p.m. “This board “wuaranteed that, items remaining to be settled. an be reached in time to forestall a second day of rotating strikes on Friday.’ Brayne said) Thursday with only eight mained opened, but that there was Display Advertising 980-0511 Distribution 986-1337 STRIKING NORTH Vancouver teachers set up picket lines at 18 district schools Thursday, in- cluding Carson Graham Senior Secondary, in a bid to back contract demands. The teachers’ union has said the rotating strikes will continue if no contract settlement is reached. teachers st Schools, board office behind the picket line no instructional program in the 18 schools hit by teachers’ pickets. He added that school maintenance personnel, who belong tu the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), did not cross the teachers’ picket lines. The striking teachers also lost a day's pay because they had “withdrawn theiz services.’” said Brayne. The NVTA has been without a collective agreement since June 30, 1990 and has initiated a work-to- rule campaign. The union held a «§ 4 NEWS photo Mike Wakefietd district-wide ‘study session’” schools for three hours, Watson warned that the union rotating strikes on Thursday if no contract settlement was reached. Both sides have been “Untortunately, job action to convince the board that North Vancouver teachers are i demanding See Teachers pave §