There ya go. You don’t get your way by talking so you gotta use an iron fist. Theres democracy for you.

Prepare for a major public sector strike coming up fast!

They should just walk off the job period. They can’t throw them all in jail. Funny thing about it is the College’s across B.C. just settled a 2 year net zero contract which expires in March.
So this isn’t going away.

should be a general strike until our unelected premier and this moron are gone and scambell and the rest of these dirt bags are held finatialy and criminaly liable 4 their actions they were not given a mandate 4 the hst infact they defrauded the b.c. tax payers last election when that scum-bag scambell said it wasn’t even on the radar these pigs give themselves a huge raise and pention increases but cut everyone else crusty the clown needs to go scambell should be jailed but was sent to england by ass…. harper and now these facests want to polute the skeena to give our oil away

Dragon – you forget that the teachers union doesn’t talk either. They made a bunch of absolutely rediculous demnds and then dug in their heels. It is a two way street. Irjays rant is proof that our schoolinng needs work. Can I buy a period?

Sad day for the education system. Teachers are going to pay and so are the students. Privatization of the system will be coming soon.

“Can I buy a period?”

I’d be happy with some capitalization, or the occasional comma… yeeshka.

Negotiation? There has been no negotiating going on in the teafchers dispute. The government has a zero increase position, the employers group know that, does nothing at the table, this farce of a report is put together (likely a long time ago) and Abbott already has the legislation set to be introduced in the legislature. As Simpson said the other day, the bill(s) will be introduced, Clark will wait for Disx to scream out that he’d give teachers a raise, and Clark calls an election for this year. The government had no intention of negotiating with teachers. The Liberals are the ones using kids as pawns, not the teachers.

The teachers at the private schools aren’t complaining.

Private schools get to pick and choose their students. The teachers in those schools do not deal with special needs students or students that come to school hungry or without adequate supplies or clothing. The class sizes in private schools are smaller as well. They cater to an elite group of students – those whose parents can pay.
Teachers should at minimum get an increase to the level of cost of living increase.

Private schools get to pick and choose their students. The teachers in those schools do not deal with special needs students or students that come to school hungry or without adequate supplies or clothing. The class sizes in private schools are smaller as well. They cater to an elite group of students – those whose parents can pay.
Teachers should at minimum get an increase to the level of cost of living increase.

yellowcanoe you got it right. Boomer I see you don’t know the difference between a private and public school.

My3Centsworth privatize, then what do you do with the special needs, hungry and disadvantaged students?

Boomer what you are saying is the Private School teachers are riding the coattails of the public school teachers. They don’t have to fight for their benefits, they just get what the public school teachers get or better.

St. Georges in Vancouver
“Day School Tuition: $15,800 – $26,800
Boarding School Tuition: $37,470 – $48,250″
I wonder what their teachers make?

“My3Centsworth privatize, then what do you do with the special needs, hungry and disadvantaged students?”

That’s the problem with privatizing the system. The ones that need the help sure won’t get it, unless their parents can afford it of course.

Interceptor, I agree. Teachers federation don’t wanna talk unless there’s money coming for the dues. You know, I used to swell with pride when I got my report card, (and sometimes not) but it was cool to show your parents how good you were doing. What I’m hearing from students is they now have animosity toward their teachers, but you know the teachers are there for the students, yup, riiiight.
And Dix? No, last time I was on a picket line was due to the NDP not giving 1,1 and 2. We got 0, 1 and 1.So if Dix whines and I’m sure the Fed labour folks will be right behind him, they’ve all done the same thing. Legislate them please.

Easy there people ,all I stated was that the private school teachers aren’t complaining. Don’t try to think for me.

No way ,try looking a little closer to home when you start talking about tuition. Cedars is somewhere between $3000 and $5000 per family .I can’t remember the exact amount . That is why I have given a broad range. 1 child or ten ,it doesn’t matter. Checked into it a few years ago. That is the price per family not student. I doubt that they would kick a family out for having a special needs child.
Are you sure that the teachers at Cedar’s get the same as public school teachers?

I believe that private schools do not get the same funding per student from the province as the public schools do.

I would like to see the public system have better funding. As taxpayers we are either going to pay now or later. I prefer now. We will pay for education, rehab or prison .I think smaller class sizes and more help for the students that need it is the answer.
I don’t understand how paying somebody more will make them a better teacher. Hire additional teachers and aids . If my taxes went up a few hundred dollars a year to pay for it that would be OK with me.

If the Gov’t legislates them back to work like they did with the HEU, then hopefully labour will pull the pin and have a general strike. This Goverment needs to learn that they can’t try and balance a budget on the backs of the working class while they continue to increase the wages and perks of MLA and there administration.

“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

my wife made 30% less at a private school unions have been busted in bc i guess people like the new roof on bc place better than quality education

I think that it would be a fair statement that any Government, or Union Workers in BC are not too hard done by.

Teachers in BC make a good wage. Trying to pay them the same as Alberta, and Ontario is a farce. It not that our teachers are underpaid, its that Alberta, and Ontario teachers are over paid.

Good one Palopu?

Thats like saying my house is good enough….its the nieghbors house that is too nice!

Eiowe how many in her classroom, how many special needs, how many with no support at home, how many come to school hungry in her class? Working in a private school she most likely works in a sanitized environment.

Palopu so it is alright for a worker to receive poor pay and no benefits so the employer can skim it all off the backs of the workers. Do you have a suggestion on how much teachers and employees should make? I take you have knowledge on this subject. I suppose the dept you can blame on the workers and not the fiberal corruption.

Teachers wages are a decade behind in cost of living alone. They also had to go to university and get a degree. They also have student loans an bills to pay. Don’t be knocking them for asking for more money. The RCMP make more than they do with very little traing (that’s obvious in some cases) get much, much better pensions. Sawmill labourers make the same as teachers or more. Don’t belittle teachers; if it wasn’t for them, you wouldn’t be posting here or reading.

I have no opinion on who is bargaining in good or bad faith. From what I can tell teachers in this province are being paid very well considering the hours they work in a year. On an hourly rate they earn far more than what the parents of the children they teach are earning on average.

I think that the Provincial government has got what it wanted, an excuse to force teachers back to work and revenge for the teachers’ strike a few years ago. How dare those buggers refuse to knuckle under, eh?

One thing has always amazed me, and that is the relationship of the so called “private” schools to government. It appears to me that they are state subsidized profit centers rather than privately funded institutions. After all, they do get a major amount of money from the provincial government for each student, so there is no way in hell that they are really “private”.

A private school, by definition, is one that the student’s guardians pay for. In the BC system, they pay some, but get a truckload of money shoveled into their pockets by the Ministry of Education to pay the rest. We are constantly closing schools because there are not enough students for the public system, at lest that is what we are told, so why do we give scarce dollars to elitists who think themselves better than others.

It is time that private schools were truly private. It is time we stopped subsidizing elitist education. If the guardians of these students want to use tax money for their education then let them attend the public system, otherwise let them pay the whole cost of their elitist education out of their own pockets.

Why should my tax dollars be used to subsidize their elitist attitudes in a country that prides itself on the principle of equality? Stop giving them a subsidy and use the money to run the public system properly. Perhaps there would be enough money in the system to fund it properly if that were done.

Mediation is OK so long as its not in relation to a pay increase? The government isn’t negotiating, they are dictating. The longer this government stays in the more vile it becomes.

“Why should my tax dollars be used to subsidize their elitist attitudes in a country that prides itself on the principle of equality? Stop giving them a subsidy and use the money to run the public system properly. Perhaps there would be enough money in the system to fund it properly if that were done.”

Correct me if I’m wrong. The parents that send their children to private schools pay the same amount of income and property tax as everyone else. The provincial government gives the private schools less funding per student than the public system. So,who is subsidizing whom. (please feel free to correct my use of the words who and whom)

How you can say the parents are elitist is beyond me. I know of several parents having very modest incomes that send there children to Cedar’s. Some are just barely scraping by. No my child does not go to Cedar’s . Looking back I wish she did.

“can I buy a period?” Hilarious!
But can we hold out for Spelling?
Spelling? can you HEAR me? Spelling!
Sing out if you hear this, Spelling!
metalman.

I think Matt Pearce should dress in black and prance down Victoria street to draw attension to the horrific devastation of BC society due to the heinious fact that there are higher paid teachers in other parts of the country.

This has been engineered by the Liberals from the get go. Of course the report says there is little chance of a negotiated settlement. The Liberals will not allow a cost of living increase while they are ready to sit back on their nice fat pensions as soon as they get kicked out.
As for those who think teachers work short hours, think again. My son’s girl friend is a teacher and she is at work before 8 AM and seldom leaves till 5. Then she sits and marks most of the evening and weekends.

Teachers do have my respect. But I have to have more facts on both sides. I think it is counter productive to put a zero increase on teacher’s wages before any negotiations are done however. That approach sounds Very much like the administration of Gordon Campbel where he talked and British Columbians listened.

Did anybody really expect any other outcome considering who’s running the Education Ministry?

George Abbott and the Premier is equal to Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro.

I think the problem is on both sides. My husband has been working in a bargaining unit for over 25 yrs and I don’t remember him ever getting more that 2% in a year. Some years were zero increase…but never did they get over 3%.
Teachers deserve a raise like everyone else but the 5% they were asking is over the top for my tax dollars. You don’t make up for the zero years – at least not where we work, but 1or 2% would be reasonable.

Those of you who think that 0% is fair seem to forgot that this amounts to a pay cut. Why should they take a paycut? What good reason is there for demanding them to do so?

Boomer, your use of who and whom was correct.

We all pay health taxes for hospital care, but there are no hospitals available except those run under the authority of the MOH. In fact, society has decided that it is improper for those willing to pay part of the costs to be given preferential access, but in education some people think that is alright. I do not. How is that any different.

Guardians who CHOOSE to send their wards to “private” schools are making a personal choice, whatever their reason. They, not I, should bear any increased cost that arises as a consequence of that. Their wards have the right to attend the public schools and be educated there, so why should I be forced to pay extra taxes so they can have special benefits.

By the way, I did not say they were an elite. Everyone is equal in Canada and there is no elite. I said they had elitist attitudes and wanted an elitist education not available to others. Perhaps comprehension needs attention rather than grammer :-)

What are the increased costs that arise as a consequence of private schools? The funding per student,from the provincial government is less than per student in the public system.

Perhaps, Boomer, But the public system has to ensure it has the capacity to absorb any private student who’s guardians decide they no longer want to educate their ward in a private school. That means the public system has to have more places than students or, alternatively under this government, crowd in students so that classes have too many students for a teacher to productively teach.

In effect, the taxpayer is in the position of having to pay for a place in the public school system and at the same time is forced to subsidize the private schools. People who want that kind of education, whether for social or religious reasons, should pay for it temselves and not on the taxpayer’s dime.

I can’t argue with logic like that. I didn’t know that guardians of private school wards don’t pay taxes.