THURSDAY
S I N C E
AUGUST 15, 2013
1 8 9 5
Vol. 118, Issue 128
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PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
Job action to spill into school year
CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY
Local CUPE pushing for 2 per cent wage increase for its public employees BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
SHERI REGNIER PHOTO
Crews from Emcon Services were knee deep in dirt as they dug down the side of Highway 3B across from the Warfield pool, to replace drainage culverts Tuesday.
The buzz about local beekeeping BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
Bee keeping is sweet and not just for honey anymore. The art of apiculture is a growing trend in North America and people in the West Kootenay are joining in the movement. The number of managed hives across Canada was 576,000 in 2009, which was 5,600 more than in 2008 according to Statistics Canada’s most recent report. For several years scientists have fretted over the future of bees, and during the fall of 2006, beekeepers around the country reported
massive losses in their colonies. Bees were flying away, leaving their hive and live queen behind. Becoming a honey bee steward is more about supporting a sustainable ecosystem that collecting nature’s nectar, according to Ootischenia resident and beekeeper Anne Stoltz. In 2007, after watching a documentary about the decline of the honey bee and how critical the tiny animals are to food supplies worldwide, Stoltz and partner Paul Taylor have been keeping bees.
“I got up off the couch and said ‘that’s it,’ we are keeping honey bees next year,” said Stoltz. “I took a course that winter and the next spring we started.” The pair relocated to the Castlegar area from Victoria, and brought not only their bees but their passion for the cause. Soon after they started to run Kootenay Beekeeping Supplies out of their home. “It’s more than a hobby,” said Stoltz. “It’s a lifestyle that includes gardening, attention to food sources and the environment.” Stoltz said keeping bees is interesting because honey
bees are considered animals and are free to roam, and not “like keeping a dog in a fenced yard.” “It’s about providing an ideal environment for them so they want to stay and forage for nectar and pollen. If all goes well and you manage the hive properly, they will stay with their queen.” And what a beauty the queen bee is, added Stoltz. “I call her the super model, she’s elegant, lean and has a gorgeous long torso.” Honey is the only sweetener used in the Stoltz/Taylor household. See BEEKEEPERS, Page 3
Picket lines might be the centre of discussion instead of postsummer gossip when students return to classes in a few weeks. Cherryl MacLeod, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 1285 board president, just returned from a bargaining session in Vancouver. Negotiations with the BC Public School Employers’ Association, the bargaining arm for the boards of education, reached an impasse and talks broke off indefinitely. “We were asked to come back to the bargaining table,” said MacLeod. “But it quickly became apparent they hadn’t really done their homework and there was no point in us being there.” CUPE voted in favour of strike action in May, including most of its 230 local members, after a collective agreement with education workers expired over a year ago and no new contract was settled. The first provincewide strike action happened in June, when local custodians dropped their mops
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to take part in a study session with fellow CUPE members inside J.L Crowe Secondary School and Rossland Secondary School. Since that time, bargaining has stalled, and the main stumbling block is CUPE’s demand for a two per cent wage increase. “We haven’t had a wage increase since 2009,” said MacLeod. “I don’t think our wants are unreasonable and we have waited a long time since our contract expired.” Although CUPE hasn’t officially given a date when full-scale job action will begin, picket lines will be up as early as mid-September if a settlement isn’t reached with the more than 27,000 education workers in the K-12 system. “No one wants to disrupt classes,” explained MacLeod. “But if we are not asked back to the table by Labour Day weekend, a total strike and walkout will happen with a total shut down of the school district.” If talks resume by then, and CUPE is allotted the two per cent wage increase this fall, the school district may be thrown into a tailspin as a result. School District 20 (SD20) just completed a contemptuous process to balance its 2013/14 budget, which included school closures. SeeDIFFICULT Page 3
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