VANCOUVER - The head of British Columbia's teachers' union has turned the screws on the provincial government to agree to binding arbitration and settle a teachers strike that has kept half-a-million students out of class.
Jim Iker addressed masses of teachers, their supporting unions and members of the opposition New Democrats at a rally in downtown Vancouver Friday evening.
He repeated his call for binding arbitration after getting a negative response by Education Minister Peter Fassbender to the union's proposal.
Friday was the first time the teachers' union has proposed such a settlement method in its decades of combative history with B.C. governments of all political stripes.
If the government agrees, both sides would mutually agree on a person who would hammer out contract details that everyone would be compelled to accept.