Local teachers are facing a lull in their dispute against the government, but that doesn't mean the battle is over.
"Right now, Prince George teachers are not picketing in School District 57, but we do have some plans for political action," said Tina Cousins, the president of the Prince George and District Teachers' Association. "We are on strike and the issues are still there, even though we're on summer vacation."
Cousins said she wasn't able to discuss what form that action would take, but she did say the association was hoping to do some advocacy work once per week. Local teachers have also been writing letters and visiting their MLAs.
Meanwhile, School District 57 is taking advantage of the summer break.
"Right now pickets are down," said Brian Pepper, the school district's superintendent," so our regular maintenance work is continuing. We were a few days behind but we're moving ahead now. Our [Canadian Union of Public Employees] office staff are in, so we're doing our summer work. So right now, it's almost business as usual."
The work includes cleaning the schools and applying for grants.
"We're moving into a usual pattern for the summer," Pepper said. "We'll see what lies ahead of us and deal with that as it comes up."
What the teachers would like to see in the future is the provincial government engaged in mediated, meaningful and fair negotiations, Cousins said, adding "the government has been still balking at the idea of mediation without having conditions being put on it."
"The government is still entrenched in positions that are unfair and unreasonable, as we see them," she said. "We need mediation and we need both parties to come to the table and get this deal done, because everything's in limbo for September."
