Education -
Local school
divisions join
bargaining group

By Dave Dormer
Staff Reporter

It’s nothing personal, just business.
The Foothills School Division board of trustees used Marlon Brando’s famous line from The Godfather as their reason for joining the newly formed School Boards Employer Bargaining Authority (SBEBA), a growing group made up of 12 boards from around the province.
Started by the Buffalo Trail School Division, the group will negotiate with the Alberta Teachers Associations (ATA) on behalf of member boards.
To join, boards must have their current agreement expiring on Aug. 31.
“This is to depersonalize it all,” said FSD board chair Jerry Muelaner. “We certainly don’t want the teachers to think this is a shot against them, against their leadership or against their bargaining team. It’s not whatsoever. ”
The move was somewhat surprising, though, considering Muelaner told the Western Wheel recently he felt the local relationship between teachers and the board was positive and he expected this round of negotiations to go smoothly.
“It can change,” he said of the relationship the board has with the district’s 400 or so teachers. “With 55 school boards having their collective agreements all expiring at the same time, we’ve come to believe there is something afoot.”
Muelaner added trustees voted in favour of the move as a potential cost-saving measure.
“By doing this, we will save money because we’ll all share costs of bargaining, so there is a monetary component. But it’s not just about that. It’s about ourselves trying to fix what the government seems reluctant to want to do, which is Recommendation 81 of the Learning Commission.”
According to a backgrounder prepared by the board, in 2003 the Alberta Commission on Learning recommended a new approach to collective bargaining, outlining four key elements including establishing a legislated employer bargaining association to negotiate agreements with the ATA.
The Alberta School Boards Association then urged the government twice in 2005 to adopt the change, but was rebuffed.
When told FSD voted to join SBEBA last week, Foothills ATA Local 16 president Greg Poile was skeptical it would be beneficial to either side.
“To my knowledge I don’t know they have the authority to just go ahead and form a bargaining authority on their own,” said Poile. “I don’t understand how that would work in the real world. They could choose to try and take the same collective agreement and get it passed by 12 local associations, but it remains to be seen on the ground how that’s going to shake out.”
Poile added he’s anxious to see just how this move impacts negotiations.
“Currently, each of the of 12 divisions has their own set of collective agreements with their own set of clauses. It sort of begs the question, are they going to change 11 other agreements to look like ours? Are they going to change ours to look like one of the 11 others?”
Christ The Redeemer Catholic School officials also voted in favour of joining the (SBEBA) at a special board meeting last week.
Corporate secretary Ken Power gave many of the same reasons for the move as FSD trustees, saying he hoped it would streamline the negotiation process.
“When it comes to collective bargaining, the board had accepted the recommendation of the Learning Commission that a provincial employers bargaining association be established so when the opportunity to become part of that came up the board felt it was the right thing to do. It offers a more efficient bargaining process,” he said.
Power added that many of the agreements signed between boards and teachers around the province are largely similar in structure.
“The differences aren’t dramatic and, therefore, bargaining as a group would allow for an efficient approach to creating a collective agreement that meets the need of teachers and the board.”
Power also previously said he expected negotiations to go smoothly.
“I don’t think the board’s decision to join should be perceived that there is a bad relationship with teachers or bargaining in the past has not been a productive exercise. We’ve always been able to reach an agreement with our teachers.”
Either side can initiate contract talks beginning 150 days prior to their current contract expiring, which is April 4.

Beneath the Arch fights to save hall

Colin Hay performs at a recent Beneath the Arch concert on March 9. Organizers of the concert series are concerned the loss of a hall will jeopardize their program.

Rumors were to blame for a disgruntled group confronting Turner Valley town council on March 5.
Members from Beneath the Arch crowded into council’s meeting to voice their opposition to closing the Flare ‘n’ Derrick.
Rumors had been circulating through town that council was going to make a decision on Monday regarding the fate of the Flare ‘n’ Derrick and that it could be closed by early summer.
“We understood two things, that council was considering closing the Flare ‘n’ Derrick, possibly as early as this summer, and secondly, that they were going to make that decision tonight,” said Holly Quan, director of Beneath the Arch.
“A lot of things are happening really quickly, but I don’t think that’s an excuse for not getting the information out to the community. You know obviously we’ve heard a few rumors that aren’t necessarily correct and we’ve sort of based our presentation tonight on that information which proves to be incorrect I guess, or not well founded.”
Because of these rumors Quan felt that council could have done a better job of communicating with the public and Beneath the Arch.
“They’ve got a number of different ways of communicating information and the best one is the phone. They know who we are, there’s nothing wrong with picking up the phone and getting in touch with us,” said Quan.
Organizers of Beneath the Arch told council they are concerned about reneging on the commitment they’ve made to performers that are booked in advance.
Each year the society organizes up to seven concerts per year.
In addition, she told council, Beneath the Arch concert series creates economic spinoffs for the community.
It creates repeat business by bringing people to the local businesses,” said Quan. “Closing the Flare ‘n’ Derrick is premature. We would be faced with finding a new venue.”
When councillors explained that it’s expensive to maintain the building, Quan argued that cost should not matter because it is a community building.
“It’s not supposed to make money, it’s a service. Council has the obligation to support the Flare ‘n’ Derrick. It must remain in operation until you find other venues,” she said.
In response, councillors wanted tax payers to consider the expense of keeping it in operation.
“How much money are you willing to commit to an old building?” asked Coun. Barry Williamson.
The mayor attempted to calm the angry crowd by saying council had no intentions of leaving Beneath the Arch without a venue and council also sees the value in the concert series.
“We don’t want to lose Beneath the Arch either. We are a responsible group whether you believe it or not. Please keep that in mind. We will do everything we can to keep it open,” said Mayor Marj Straub.
Nothing concrete has been decided regarding a new community centre in Turner Valley, but a committee has been formed by various groups in the area and preliminary discussions have begun in regards to options.
Council assured members of Beneath the Arch it will look to see how long the hall can be used, but council said that unless there are health risks, they are not going to leave the community without a hall.

By Pamela Keith
Staff Reporter

Two Okotoks residents have been charged with 26 counts of fraud in connection with an Internet auction scam.
Okotoks RCMP conducted a search at a local residence on Saturday that was a result of an ongoing police investigation that began in 2003 following reports of more than $30,000 in fraudulent activity conducted through the Internet-based company eBay, an on-line auction company, and buysell.com, an Internet-based classified advertisement company.
According to police, the investigation began in July 2003 when an American resident from North Dakota reported to the Okotoks RCMP detachment that in May 2003 he had participated in an on-line auction through eBay. The man had apparently been declared the successful bidder of a notebook computer for $1,500US, however, after conversing through e-mail with the seller and providing payment, he never received the item.
Police reported that the man made several attempts to contact the seller, but had no success and contacted the Okotoks RCMP to report the incident.
Further investigations resulted in a total of 26 allegations of fraud, which surfaced through victims contacting the Okotoks RCMP, victims calling their own police detachments or municipal police forces, the Ontario Provincial Police Program, Phonebusters and RECOL (Reporting Economic Crime On-Line).
The remainder of the 26 alleged victims, who are from various points within Canada, the U.S, Mexico and the United Kingdom, had participated in on-line auctions as well as through eBay or responded to advertisements on Internet based websites that facilitate buy/sell activity.
The items in question from the on-line auctions included digital cameras, notebook computers, expensive electric guitars, iPod portable devices and a plasma television set.
“They (the victims) are definitely angry that they have been taken advantage of, but to this point, they are more relieved and satisfied that they can see results now,” said Okotoks RCMP Const. Grant Kneller. “Of course they want their money back, but they are pleased to find out that this was finally going to be settled.”
As for purchasing items on-line, Kneller said the risk of becoming a victim of fraud will always be there.
“As far as I can tell, everything with ebay was done according to policy,” he said. “That’s always a risk when you are buying something unseen from somebody in another province, country or continent.”
As a result of the fraud investigation, police have charged Aaron William Vassie, 33, and Christa Nicole Vassie, 29, of Okotoks with 26 counts of fraud. The pair has since been released from custody and will make their first appearance in Okotoks Provincial Court May 1.
The police investigation into the incident is still ongoing.

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