Resident's trees spared by beetle /3
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2005

Cougars Flooding hits send Deines East Coast home /12 of U.S. /16

Boston Legal wades into fish farm debate /6

80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 57 CENTS A DAY)

Telus, staff reach deal
VANCOUVER (CP) -- Telus Corp. and the Telecommunications Workers Union agreed to a contract agreement late Sunday, ending a lengthy strike at Canada's second-biggest phone operator. The company and union said in a joint release they had reached a memorandum of settlement on a five-year deal to end the walkout, which began July 21. Financial terms were not revealed pending a ratification vote, expected to be completed by Oct. 23. The union said it supports the contract and is urging its members to endorse the new deal. The package concludes a five-year process of merging six separate collective agreements into one at the Vancouver-area company, which had merged separate predecessor companies Telus and BC Tel into what is now the biggest phone operator in Western Canada. The deal covers a national bargaining unit of about 14,000 employees, predominantly located in British Columbia and Alberta. The two sides said the tentative contract provides Telus (TSX:T) and its workers the flexibility the company has sought to compete more effectively against bigger rival Bell Canada and other competitors. The company and union called the deal a collective and constructive way forward. "Together, we were able to negotiate an agreement that benefits Telus, our team members, our customers and our investors," said Darren Entwistle, president and CEO of the company. "It is my hope and desire that this marks the beginning of a positive and co-operative relationship." Bruce Bell, president of the union, said the agreement is also good for unionized workers at the company. "We are pleased that we have been able to reach a negotiated tentative agreement that we feel is good for our members," he said. "Their support has allowed us to work hard on their behalf throughout this difficult period." Telus said it expects to bring back workers who have been off the job within three days after the new contract is ratified. Telus is the largest telecommunications company in Western Canada and the second largest in the country behind Bell Canada, a unit of BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE). Telus has $7.9 billion of annual revenue, 4.7 million network access lines and 4.1 million wireless customers.

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

WHERE THERE'S SMOKE... -- Scouts taking part in the Basic Outdoor Survival Skills camp made a fire to boil water Saturday at Camp Hughes. Troy Santos, 11, left, Tyler Affleck, 11, Tyler Anderson, 10, and Ashtin Duguid, 11, took part.

No end in sight to teachers' strike
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff The teachers' strike is now in its second day with no clear end in sight. All sides in the dispute are pessimistic that a resolution of any kind is near. "It certainly appears very, very unlikely that there will be school (in the immediate future)," said Prince George district superintendent Dick Chambers over the weekend. "In fact, I'd say unless something absolutely extraordinary happens there will be no school Wednesday or in the foreseeable future. There really are no indications of any progress on the situation so I am anticipating no school (over the next several days)." Karen MacKay, president of the Prince George District Teachers' Association, confirmed that picket lines would be up again today, but could not confirm anything beyond that. "It is basically a day-by-day thing," MacKay said. "We had a lot of support on Friday, we had a lot of other unions come out and be with us, a lot of parents stood with us... I think most administrators are pretty understanding, for the most part. Nothing (confrontational) has happened that I have heard about." Parents haven't been confrontational towards either teachers on the picket line or government, but frustration is already growing, according to Jim Yurkowski, chair of the District Parent Advisory Council. He said DPAC does not take a political position in these matters, but the lack of school Friday and today, with no end in sight, inflicts some pain on local families. "There is certainly getting to be more concern,

Union facing huge fines
VANCOUVER (CP) -- B.C.'s 42,000 public school teachers vowed to continue their illegal strike on Tuesday, despite a court ruling that the union was in contempt of a court order and the threat of fines in excess of $150,000 per day. The continued job action by the teachers threatened to prevent B.C.'s 600,000 students from attending classes on Tuesday. The teachers' union plans to go before the Labour Relations Board on Tuesday to ask it to reconsider its earlier ruling that the strike is illegal. On Sunday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Nancy Brown ruled the union was in contempt of court for not abiding by the board's ruling. Brown is expected rule on Thursday how the union should be punished for defying the court order. Both sides dug their heels over the weekend with the union renewing calls for the government to sit down and hammer out a deal. B.C. Labour Minister Mike de Jong, however, refused to negotiate with a group he says is flaalthough the weekend has given people time to perhaps better organize themselves with childcare, but the concern is growing," Yurkowski said. "We are very frustrated it has gotten to this point. I have no idea which side has the most to lose by a long (strike). Right now, the kids are losing and that is the biggest concern. There is nothing positive about this, zero, and hopefully it won't last past this week, but I don't know what the solution might be." grantly breaking the law. "The next step is for the union to rethink its position, to stop breaking the law and go back to work," said de Jong. Nazeer Mitha, a lawyer for the B.C. Public School Employers Association, speculated Brown would fine the union more than the Hospital Employees' Union was fined in a similar case last year. In May 2004, the court fined the HEU $150,000 a day after it was found in contempt of court when workers picketed B.C. hospitals. However, Mitha said in the HEU's case, workers were still maintaining essential service levels at the hospitals. He also said the union stopped the strike after the fine was levied and the leader apologized. However, there is no formal apology forthcoming from the B.C. Teachers Federation to the court and it has completely withdrawn its services. "So under the circumstances, I would suspect the judge will be inclined to grant a higher amount than $150,000," Mitha said on Monday. MacKay said teachers are firm on their demands, which is not that a contract be signed before they return to work but that the government commit to discussions on three topics -- a return to collective bargaining, fair wages, and a cap on teachers' class sizes and the case loads of education support workers (school counsellors, librarians, learning assistants, etc.). Education minister Shirley Bond announced on Saturday that she was willing to sit down with

the B.C. Teachers' Federation and other education stakeholders for a roundtable session to discuss issues like class size and learning conditions. "There are now three doors of communication for the BCTF and other education stakeholders to address their concerns and advance their interests in meaningful ways," Bond said. "One is the new learning roundtable, the second is the Industrial Inquiry Commission led by Vince Ready to fix the bargaining system, the third is the budget consultation process currently underway across the province. I encourage the BCTF to use these opportunities to address their issues so we can see our children back in the classroom as soon as possible." MacKay said she does not yet know what the BCTF's view is of the roundtable offer. She is more skeptical about some of the other statements made last week by the government, claiming that B.C. teachers are third in salary and benefits behind only Alberta and Ontario (MacKay believes there are other provinces higher than B.C.) and that teachers' wages increased 7.5 per cent since 2001. "OK, but in the meantime they took away our class limit, so our workload increased. It had a negative effect overall," MacKay said. "And that extra money was downloaded onto school districts, so local school districts had to find the money for most of that raise, not a payment from the employer. That all happened when Christy Clark was minister of education. The last raise was July, 2003, it was just a cost of living adjustment, and we have not had a contract since June 30, 2004." -- See PARENTS on page 3

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Skills shortage worries chamber
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff The Prince George Chamber of Commerce agrees with a new report that shows small business in B.C. being hurt by skilled labour pressures. "It certainly is no surprise," said local chamber president Myron Gordon. "We know there is a skills gap and a labour shortage, which are two separate issues but they are part of the same problem. That is to say, we have a shortage of people going into these key trades and we have a gap in the skill level of the workers who are out there." The report, entitled The B.C. Skills Force Initiative, was a survey that polled 1,557 small businesses in the southern half of the province over the summer, mostly in rural areas. Respondents indicated the skills gap and labour shortage were jeopardizing their abilities to expand their business. In other words, the clients and customers are there for them but the appropriate employees are not. The report also indicates respondents feel there is a disconnect between the education system and the employers' needs. In other words, government is not acting enough to train people for these identified job openings. The survey was conducted by the B.C. Chamber of Commerce and the provincial Community Futures Development Association. One of the recommendations they make in the report is to implement regional small business advisory boards to give more concerted punch to the message from small business to pertinent education facilities. This is something Gordon said is being done by the local chamber but could use all the help it can get. "We are trying to affect positive change on several levels, one being helping colleges and training centres get their programs up and running," said Gordon. "We know places like CNC are critical in filling some of these voids. For them to gear up their welding programs, machinist programs, plumbing programs..., that means getting the funding in place for these institutions to do that. We take that message as much as we can to all levels of government." The main highlights of the survey showed:  Over one-third of respondents reported that they had job vacancies in "difficult to fill" positions.  Overall, 29 percent of respondents identified areas with high rates of turnover.  The most frequently reported reason for difficulties in filling jobs was the lack of qualified applicants.  Respondents identified life skills (53 percent) such as "attitude" and "punctuality" as being a key skill shortage area followed by technical skills (29 percent) and problem solving skills (25 percent). -- See ISSUE on page 3

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INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . . 18 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 City, B.C. . . . . . . 3,5,13,16,18 Classifi ed . . . . . . . . . . . 20-23 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . 18 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6,7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15,16

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

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FIRST PITCH -- Dave Barry, president of Prince George Senior Baseball, throws the opening pitch to Mayor Colin Kinsley during the unveiling of the new baseball park. See story on page 11.

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