VANCOUVER — Union protests supporting striking teachers will target southeast British Columbia Wednesday, but not Teck Cominco's lead and zinc smelter in Trail, labor officials said on Tuesday.
Union officials have picked the province's Kootenay Region as the next target of protests that shut down public services in the province's capital of Victoria Monday and northern city of Prince George Tuesday.
The B.C. Federation of Labor said the planned job action on Wednesday would include rallies in several communities, but would not involve disruptions at health-care facilities or the Teck Cominco plant.
The Trail smelter, which produces about 3 percent of the world's refined zinc, restarted operation this month after having been idled by an 11-week strike.
The federation is staging the protests in a bid to force the provincial government to reopen negotiations with the teachers union.
The province's 38,000 teachers walked off the job Oct. 7, to protest a government imposed contract that extends a wage freeze and rules on class sizes until next summer.
A court has declared the strike is illegal and a judge is scheduled to rule on Friday on possible fines for union leaders. The province has also appointed a special prosecutor to consider possible criminal sanctions.
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