NORTH Vancouver teachers have no immediate plans to follow West Vancouver's lead in suspending extracurricular volunteer work - but that could change after Spring Break, according to the union.
Speaking to the North Shore News Tuesday, North Vancouver Teachers' Association president Daniel Storms confirmed that a West Vancouverstyle bell-to-bell initiative had been discussed by members at a meeting last week, but that no motion had been tabled. For now, the association is taking a "wait-and-see" approach to the issue, he said.
"We're still in a holding pattern," said Storms. "It's a little bit of a hedge at this point: Is this the best strategy?"
Representatives will have a clearer idea once they have heard from the BCTF at the provincial organization's annual general meeting - slated for this weekend - and after the North Vancouver local has consulted more fully with its members, he said.
"It doesn't mean there isn't that grassroots support here, it just means it may not have mobilized its way up into our organizational structures," said Storms.
It's hard to say whether the local would support the initiative if it were put to a vote, he said, as opinions at last week's meeting were mixed.
The West Vancouver Teachers' Association announced Friday it was advising members to suspend volunteer involvement in all programs outside of school hours through to the end of the 2012-13 school year to protest the province's Bill 22.
The legislation, if passed, will end all strike action for six months and appoint a mediator to negotiate a new teachers' contract within strict guidelines. It forbids the mediator from considering any proposals that would limit class size or increase costs to the employer.
