Are the Liberals Ready to listen?

Vince Ready, BC's mediation superstar, has been appointed to facilitate the BCTF teachers dispute with public school employers and the Liberal government.

Right now the clock is ticking towards a major labour shutdown in the Lower Mainland (some CUPE locals are advising their members it could be on Friday). Further penalties at the Supreme Court of BC (also scheduled to come down on Friday) will only escalate the situation to a General Strike. This page says the impending panic (plus polling numbers favouring the BCTF) upgrades Ready from Facilitator to Mediator by the end of the week.

Ready's appointment is good news only if the Liberals have learned from their past mistakes with him, ie. actually following his recommendations. In 2001, Ready mediated a three-month long dispute between CAW bus drivers in Greater Vancouver and Coast Mountain Bus Company/Translink. The Liberals responded by rejecting his mediators report, claiming it was beyond the employers ability to pay. Of course, Translink was able to find money from Victoria for management bonuses and the RAV line. However, three months later, The Fiberals passed back-to-work legislation which was almost identical to Ready's original report.

Is Gordon Campbell's phobia surrounding such terms as "give and take" and "negotiating" going to cheat BC students out of more weeks of school the same way commuters were cheated out of a dozen weeks of transit service?