N.S. news: Teachers union focusing on deal after strike mandate [Video]

HALIFAX –

The overwhelming strike mandate that unionized public school teachers in Nova Scotia gave themselves this week is a signal to the provincial government that it needs to get serious at the bargaining table, says the head of their union.

Ryan Lutes, president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, told reporters Friday the 98 per cent of members who voted Thursday to support a potential strike shows that teachers have no confidence in the government’s handling of public education.

“Really that’s a referendum on public education and it’s a referendum by the people who know it best, the teachers in our schools,” said Lutes. “Teachers are angry, they’re frustrated and they are burnt out.”

The union president told reporters Friday that while the focus of his 10,000-member union is on getting a deal, the government has to be a willing partner that’s serious about addressing teacher priorities. Lutes said the union …