The BC Minister of Labour has re-appointed Vince Ready and Irene Holden as the Industrial Inquiry Commission under Part 1 of the Public Education Support Staff Collective Bargaining Assistance Act to mediate-arbitrate the forty-four collective bargaining disputes between school boards and the CUPE locals representing their support staff. The Act gives the commissioners sixty days in which to achieve settlements in all of the disputes, failing which they have another fifteen days to issue a binding decision settling any outstanding issues. CUPE has responded to the back-to-work legislation by calling for the BC Federation of Labour to review its relationship with the government and the New Democratic Party.
