Times
Festive Offering
The Langley
Call Him Coach page 25
T u e s d a y ,
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School district has funding for wage hikes MONIQUE TAMMINGA Times Reporter
Langley School District has budgeted to pay for negotiated wage increases for its support staff, says board of education chair Wendy Johnson. “We had directed our secretarytreasurer to create a savings plan to find the money within our budget,” said Johnson. “We paid off our deficit in June so we don’t have a lot of money but we have enough.” She stressed that the money used to pay for the wage increases will not impact classrooms. “But our savings plan we are proposing still needs to be approved by the Ministry of Education,” said Johnson. “Ideally government should pay for wage increases but we are given this framework,” she added. A tentative two-year contract has been reached between the BC Public School Employers’ Association and CUPE BC, effectively halting a strike of 33,000 unionized public school staff in the province. On Tuesday, teachers had been told (by CUPE members) to expect a strike as early as Monday. CUPE BC represents 27,000 of the set-to-strike workers. The new deal provides union members a 3.5 per cent wage increase over the two years of the contract —one per cent on July 1, 2013 (retroactive), two per cent on Feb. 1, 2014, and 0.5 per cent on May 1, 2014. The deal, which would begin on July 1, 2012, is set to expire on June 30, 2014. Both sides have yet to ratify the deal.
Dan FERGUSON/Langley Times
Riding to fight cancer. Left to right, Langley RCMP Constables Keith Rogers, Karen Cyer and Craig van Herk are wearing beads that record the number of times they’ve ridden and the names of the children they are riding for among other things.
Child’s smile is only reward Cops for Cancer rider needs Langley RCMP officer marks 10th year of involvement with fundraising bicycle ride MONIQUE TAMMINGA Times Reporter
On Thursday morning, rain or shine, the Cops for Cancer Tour de Valley ride to fight childhood cancers will launch its nine-day, 800 km ride, in Langley. It will mark Langley RCMP Const. Craig van Herk’s 10th year of involvement. He hasn’t ridden for the past several years, but has been behind the scenes organizing and providing support along the way. Despite the incredible number of hours it takes away from family time, van Herk
said he likely will be involved for another 10 years — for one very good reason. “When you meet a kid going through all the horrible things cancer brings to them and you see them smile — well that’s just it for me. “A smile from a child is great motivation to keep riding, to keep fundraising.” And raise funds, police do. Last year, Cops for Cancer Tour de Valley raised $420,000 for pediatric cancer research and for the Canadian Cancer Society’s Camp GoodTimes. Over the years, Cops for Cancer across
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B.C. has raised more than $27 million, much of that also going to support families. “We interact with these kids and you realize how important the ride is. They have experienced more than all of us and they smile through it. Their courage . . . the way a child takes on cancer is like nothing we adults could do.” This year there are 10 junior team members either going through treatment or working through recovery. continued, PAGE 4
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