Teachers Awarded 4,97 by Owen Corcoran The Arbitration Board which deliberated on the Board and Association presentations in mid- December has brought down its decision. The significant changes are: — “a 4.9% increase to basic teacher salaries, school administrator allowances and the isola- tion allowances.” — “a ‘grandfathering’ of the Long Service Allow- ance to cover teachers with five years of service in the Stikine on September 1, 1983.” — ‘and approval of the Board’s proposal that the S.T.A. administer the contractual money for Professional Development. In accordance with the dictates of Bill No. 28 (Compensation Stabilization Act) the Board must now submit the new compensation plan to the Commissioner, Mr. E. Pec, for his review. It is expected that Mr. Peck’s decision will become public on/about February 7, 1983. This decision is significant because of its impact on the 1983 Provisional Budget which must be finalized on February 15, 1983. Lay-offs Averted CASSIAR RESOURCES PROGRAM Because the Cassiar open pit operates on a phase pro- gram where waste is removed from one phase, while ore is being mined from the previous phase, there is a period of some 2% years when waste is being mined ahead of the ore. The rate of mining the waste is scheduled so that when the ore runs out in the one phase (phase 8 ore is presently being mined), then the waste is removed from the ore in the subsequent phase (phase 9). In the summer of 1982, the waste program was shut down for a month longer than the mill. Mill feed coming half from the low grade tailings pile and half from ore mined in the pit. Because of the tight economic situation, and the high cost of stripping ore it was decided in the lat- ter part of December, 1982, to review our waste removal requirements and to look at deferring some of the waste stripping. When the news was released on the Section 38 program, Cassiar made application to be included and on January 13th we were advised that our application would be approved and the Commission would sign it on January 18th. The effect of the program is that employees employ- ed on the waste stripping and the support for the waste stripping will be able to continue to work and receive their full wages, $240 from the Unemployment Insurance fund and the remainder from the Company. The period of the program is for 4 months. BACKGROUND: In an attempt to create jobs or reduce lay-off, the Canadian Employment Immigration Commission has in the last 6 to 8 months, come up with a number of pro- grams. The Job Creation Program, under Section 38 of the Unemployment Insurance Act, which Cassiar Resources had applied to participate in, is the latest of those and was announced by Judy Erola in late December 1982. The program is aimed predominantly at Mining. Under the program Companies can participate in waste stripping, ore delineation, ore development, mill cleanup and other projects which would otherwise not be done or would be deferred by the Companies until a later date. Continued on Page 2 Workers buried by snowslide On January 8, 1983, two Cassiar Resources em- ployees were buried in a snowslide while working on the tramline repairs. Bob Takahashi and AI- bert Rahall were pulling a rope across the base’ of a snow crest when the crest gave way and slid down the steep slope into the gully below, carry- ing the two men along with it. They were buried for about 15 minutes. Fortunately, Bob and Al- bert were not seriously injured. Cassiar Courier the Voice of Cassiar Country FEBRUARY 1983 __ 10 cents “Belt tightening likely Sherry Sethan, Chairman, Stikine District School Board | Since education and its administration seems to be at the forefront these days, we interviewed Sherry Sethan, Chair- man of the Stikine School District Schoo! Board regarding education in this District. Question: The Arbitration Board has handed down a 4.9% increase to the Stikine teachers for 1983. Does this mean some of the School Board employees will be laid off in this District during 1983? ANSWER: The award settlement has now. gone to the Stabilization Board for review. If the 4.9% wage increase, along with the other benefits awarded, is approved, there will be approximately $75,000 shortfall in the 1983 bud- get and it is likely some layoffs will occur. It is to be not- ed that this $75,000 is the difference between the 2.5% offered by the School District and the 4.9% awarded, If this award. is upheld the priority of the Board will, as in the past, be to maintain the present quality of education. QUESTION: Why are administrators part of the B.C.T.F.? ANSWER: School administrators are part of the B.C.T.F. because they are teachers and if they were not part of the B.C.T.F. they would not be able to be utiiized as teachers, as sO many of them are. QUESTION: There is a rumor that administrators will not be included in the B.C.T.F. in the New School Act. Do you think this is a good idea? ANSWER: There are pros and cons but | have not looked into it deeply enough to make a qualified decision. QUESTION: We understand that the Chief Executive Of- ficer and the Assistant Superintendent were both due wages increases on January 1, 1983. Can you tell us the percentage of increase they received? ANSWER: Salaries for all senior administrators were fro- zen by the provincial government prior to Bill 89 being passed. According to the agreement between the Stikine } School District and the senior administrators, they were 4 to receive the same increase or decrease as the teachers yon January 1, 1983. However, prior to negotiations with the S.T.A. the senior administrators put forth a proposal to the School Board to voluntarily take a 0% wage in- crease and this was accepted. It must be noted that Bill 89 does not affect teachers only — all school board em- ployees must take 5 days without pay during 1983. QUESTION: What is your opinion of the recent statistical report (printed on Page 9 of this issue) regarding how the Stikine School District compares with all other districts? ANSWER: | think reports like this are very good because | they make us aware that we cannot sit back. It is our prime goal to provide quality education. However, as in any statistical report, this report is not 100% accurate. QUESTION: Student Achievement — It appears that in this area we are below the provincial average in all areas except Grade 12 Science and Math. ANSWER: We must remember that the student achieve- ment for Grade 12 could be high because there is only one Grade 12 class in the District. Regarding the other grades, the District has a number of low achievers; a fact we will have to take a close look at. The Education Com- mittee will want a report on this. If we took a group envir- onmentally and socially comparable from different dis- tricts and compared them academically we might receive a truer average. | would suggest to the Board that we study and compare each individual school within the district against the provincial average. QUESTION: Financial — One of the reasons for the high costs in the Stikine District is because of the large area it covers. How much money was spent in 1982 on admin- istration and school trustee travel? ANSWER: For the period of April 1, 1982 to December 31, 1982, $15,570 has been spent on Trustee travel and $18,000 on administration travel. QUESTION: Teacher subsidies also add to the high costs in the Stikine School, District. What are their subsidies and are they the same throughout the district? ANSWER: The Stikine District pays 100% of all employ- ees medical, dental, extended health benefits and group ‘Tife insurance. Each teacher gets two paid’ trips to Van- couver per year for themselves and their dependents. Ten month non-teaching employees are paid $120 towards travel and twelve month non-teaching employees get one paid trip per year to Vancouver for themselves and their dependents. From September 1, 1982 to December 31, 1982 the rent paid monthly was $90 for furnished houses or trailers and includes all utilities and maintenance. On January 1, 1983 the monthly rent was increased to $150 and on June 1, 1983 it will be increased to $200.00 monthly. The School District absorbs ll costs over and above this rent collected. QUESTION: In a B.C.S.T.A. statement on this report a reason given for the cost variation was that different dis- tricts have elected to have different kinds of educational services. Does the Stikine District offer some educational services which are not normally offered in a school district? ANSWER: We offer the following programs which are funded partly by Special Education and partly by the Operating Budget: : Northern Native Studies Program (Lower ‘ $ 7,000 Post and Telegraph Creek) Tahltan Language Program (Telegraph Creek) 15,500 Alternate Education Class (Telegraph Creek — one full-time teacher) 35,000 Additional L/Asst. (1.7 E.T.E. Teachers) 59,500 We also provide “Choices’’, a personalized computer car- eer counselling program, which is available to every school in the district. One of the problems the Stikine District faces in cutting costs is that we do not have many “frill” programs. QUESTION: Teacher Experience — 62.9% of the teachers in the Stikine have four years or less teaching experience. Does this not contradict the statement made by one of the Stikif® District school trustees “The salaries that the teachers are paid here are the highest in the province be- cause we're trying to get the best ones we can to an area where few people want to settle’’? ANSWER: Our scale even for the lower groups is the high- “est in the province in order to get the best teachers pos- Continued on Page 12