RICHMOND, B.C. -- Veteran mediator Vince Ready has walked away from talks between British Columbia teachers and their employer, smothering hopes of parents that the school year would start on time.
The province's 40,000 public school teachers went on strike two weeks before summer vacation in June, and ongoing job action had many worried the start of school would be put on hold indefinitely.
Now that Ready has left, Peter Cameron, the government's negotiator, said the current round of talks is over.
Ready is widely regarded as one of the best labour troubleshooters in the country, and many had hoped his involvement would break an impasse between the two sides.
He brought both Jim Iker of the teachers' union and Cameron together for two days of talks exploring the chance of mediation, which many parents hoped would prevent the start of the school year from being derailed.
Cameron says Ready walked away because both sides were too far apart for mediation to begin, which means school will not start as usual on Tuesday.
"This is effectively terminated," he said. "We think we have been very frank with Vince."
"It will not start on time," Cameron said, referring to the school year.
Cameron says both sides will be waiting for Ready to determine when they are close enough to begin discussions again.
Ready said after leaving the meeting that he had been trying to establish a framework for negotiations, but that had not worked out.
"I just see no basis at this point for meaningful notations or mediation, so I've just declared an impasse," he said. "I just don't see an agreement here at this point."
Prior to discussions with Ready, Iker and Cameron met with Education Minister Peter Fassbender, who proposed that both parties put aside the most contentious issues and start mediation.
The issues Fassbender referred to are teachers' grievances, which stem from an ongoing legal battle between the union and government.
Earlier this year, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled in favour of the union, saying the provincial government violated the union's bargaining rights when it removed provisions related to class size and support from the teachers' contract in 2002.
The government is appealing the decision.
Teachers have asked the government to create an annual $225 million fund to deal with contract grievances related to the court case, but the government wants to suspend the possible impact of the grievances until the appeal process has finished.
Fassbender's proposal was to leave grievances out of bargaining and let the courts settle the matter.
That would allow negotiations between teachers and employers to be focused on the key issues.
There was little progress during the summer regarding the sticking points, which were class size, pay and the amount of support staff in each class.
The government has said it will not legislate teachers back to work, but has proposed giving parents of children aged 12 and under $40 a day to help with daycare costs should the strike continue.
