VANCOUVER - B.C.'s unionized teachers and their employer will return to the bargaining table this week after restarting negotiations just weeks before the new school year.
Nancy Knickerbocker, with the BC Teachers' Federation, says the two sides met all day Friday and agreed to meet again this week, although no schedule for talks has been established.
Teresa Rezansoff, president B.C. School Trustees Association, says she's optimistic as discussions proceed and notes trustees are working on the assumption school will be back in session in September.
The government's chief negotiator, Peter Cameron, declined to comment.
B.C.'s finance minister has said the provincial government will provide parents $40 a day to pay for child care or tutoring if the teachers' strike isn't resolved.
The disagreement between the province and its more than 40,000 teachers over pay, class size and classroom composition escalated into a full-scale strike that ended the school year two weeks ahead of schedule.