Go for it. This could be the final nail in the lieberals coffin. We are behind the teachers and hopefully they have the guts to stand up to this dictatorship and do a full scale STRIKE. Maybe everyone else will join in and force crusty to call the election NOW.

Yea lets support them and their demand for a 15% wage increase. I am sure everyone will gladly dig a little deeper in their pockets to come up with the $2 billion.

The teacher’s leadership has better herb than the students and are using it like it is still the 70’s. One just has to look at one of the original demands to see how out of touch with reality they are- 10 days paid leave if a friend or acquaintance passes away.

Also the 15% wage increase will leave a nice pattern for all the other government contracts that are upcoming.

Keep with the net zero! If the government workers want a raise then they will work a little harder at the bargaining table to find saving elsewhere. A good example of this is the liquor store workers talking about opening the stores on Sundays…new revenue can be put towards wage increases.

They better hurry before they are stripped of their right to strike.

I wonder where they would find 40,000 teachers if they all decided to quit?

“Go for it. This could be the final nail in the lieberals coffin. We are behind the teachers and hopefully they have the guts to stand up to this dictatorship and do a full scale STRIKE. Maybe everyone else will join in and force crusty to call the election NOW.”

Who’s this “we” you’re talking about? Seriously, how many taxpayers do you honestly think support the outrageous demands they’re making?

Give them a small raise (~1%) and laugh at their other demands.

What they are asking for sounds reasonable to me http://www.bctf.ca/NewsReleases.aspx?id=24886.

3% for cost of living per year plus 3% for an actual rasie to bring them on par with the rest of the country. If they need to find the money, look to the health care system they waste plenty there.

Funny, teachers were always talking about the kids, it’s the kids we are there for.
Now it’s all about we want more money. They are well paid, and as far as 15% goes, their union is so unrealistic in all of their demands, no wonder the government won’t negotiate. Parents don’t cater to spoiled brats either.

“Lonesome” Could you tell us how you came up with $2B.and what do teachers make per. I’d just like to know as I don’t know which side of the fence I am on. I certainly do understand that government has and does over tax the poor and midle class.

And let’s not forget that they’re also demanding a year’s salary upon retirement. That’s really going to help the kids.

The highest taxed provinces have the lowest paid teachers so it isn’t about the taxes it’s how those taxes are spent.

http://www.nucleuslearning.com/content/canadian-teacher-salary-rankings-provinces-and-territories

their demands are utter nonsense!
see:http://taxpayer.com/blog/06-09-2011/bc-taxpayers-cant-afford-teacher-demands and click on the link at the bottom to see what other provinces pay their teachers.
i don’t get a huge pay increase every time i want one or 5 years of maternity leave,or a platinum handshake at 55, though i did my 4 year stint at university. is it the vancouver and lower mainland teachers that are making most of the demands? 45k a year to start and up to 74k a year is a pretty great wage for people in and around the pg area. remember when teachers chose their careers, it was because they loved children etc. not because they wanted big cash and there seems to be a lot of forgetful people these days

“is it the vancouver and lower mainland teachers that are making most of the demands?”
According to one teacher friend I have yes, that is most of the problem

Surefire
The $2b is costs as quoted from the government side. The teachers, using the “new” math do not factor the compounding effects of the raises etc, over the term of the contract to figure costs- so they come in under a billion. I prefer the former as it is the what will be actually coming out of the public purse.

porter said “look to the health care system they waste plenty there.” I’m sure when the health care negotiations start they will say there is plenty of waste in the education system. Always easier to look across the fence than in your own back yard.

lone… I work in the healthcare system. I am looking from the other side of the fence.

I’m sure it will fly with the doctors, nurses, and other health care workers when their turn comes to hear “we removed all the inefficiencies from the system and used the money saved to fund a 15% wage increase for the teachers….sorry nothing left for you”

This is a bad situation for everybody in-between.

What the teachers are demanding in their contract is over-the-top, but stripping their right to strike (right or wrong) is full-on dictatorship from the Liberals… which is exactly what I would expect from a low-life like George Abbott.

Their last contract they got their raise and they also got $4000 signing bonus. They don’t mention anything about that. Teachers keep saying it for the kids but in truth it’s for themselves and nobody else. They are loosing support everyday this drags on. I sure don’t want to pay any more in taxes knowing they will be back looking for more(money and time off) when they have to negotiate in the future.

I have a problem with the 15% increase. I too have taken higher education, paid as I went while working and raising a family. It is tough but it can be done. There are many a single parent that have gone that route.

It is ones choice in my opinion to further your education. I feel we need to put a rein on the “entiltement, poor me and I am better than you” thinking in our society (just my opinion). Recently, the company I work for agreed on a 2,2,2% over three years and this contract was over due.

I do agree with the teachers on the class sizes etc, (the working conditions). I certainly would not want to be a teacher now adays when they have little authority over the behaviour of some students (to put in nicely).

If I could work for a start of $45,000 a year just out of school I would jump at the chance instead of the minimum wage that some graduates are getting coming out of the higher education system. With summers and holidays off……

I do not agree with the under handed tactics of our governments………..I read somewhere where or school ratings have dropped……

20 years I have been in this province and 20 years of BCTF BS. Unbelievable that these BCTF clowns don’t get tossed by the teachers. They are forever unrealistic, combative and frankly, a pack of liars. They are destroying the public perception of a once honorable career. This job action isn’t for the students, anybody with an ounce of common sense can see that.

Ya, go to war teachers, hell even quit or move to a province that pays more. Dress in purple tommorow and green the next day. Just make sure you take Matt Pearce with you.

Children learn by example. So it is said. Should be interesting concerning the next generation of our youth and their demands.

I’m confused. In 2008 the current elected provincial government justified giving themselves anywhere from a 22-43% raise. Not over the course of a few years but in one lump sum that was retroactive as well. One of the lies that that attached to the outrageous raises was to hire “the right people for the job to make BC great again”. So here we are 4 years later and we continually hear of all the improvements to our province such as the mining, gas, and the overwhelming success of the Olympics, that these great people have accomplished. So….why is there no money for the people whom work with the children, the sick, and the old of this province. Why does this government feel the middle class people of this province should accept “net zero” rises when they were able to give themselves such massive undeserved raises to themselves?

People can whine and complain about teachers salaries and the upcoming public service and nursing contracts that are about to expire. Go ahead and whine about the lazy union members that are caring for the children, the sick, and the old. And while you’re doing that think about where the middle class wages come from, about weekends, paid holidays, statutory holidays, medical coverage, and everything else that unions have fought hard to get for the working people. Yup complain away and go to your employer and tell them you don’t want the holidays, the wage, the statutory holidays, and weekends with your family and friends. Tell them you don’t want that because the lazy union’s members of the past have fought hard for these benefits and you don’t want to be associated with those lazy union members. Go work your 7 days a week 12-14 hour days for below minimum wage because that is what you would have without the union movement.

I owe dick to the union movement. Go ahead and delude yourself that unions benifit all mankind. That line only works in the union hall with all the worker bees justifying why they should get 10 days paid leave with the death of a friend.

what union give 10 days paid leave for the death of a friend?

Why are they not voting on impossible strike action?

funny you didnt agree to opt out of the stat holidays, paid holidays, weekends, hours of work, and wages in Canada. Maybe rich families and land owners like the king’s and queen’s of the past just decided to pay people good middle class wages. Ya your probably right!!! Yup go ahead and bash the union’s and let us know how your choice to disengage from standardized wages goes for you. Keep us posted and update us how your wage of 3 dollars a day works out for you.

The union can only stick to their guns on the wage hike if the union members vote on it and the teachers did.

I believe they dropped their demand for 10 days off for the death of a friend. Does give an idea of the mindset of the BCTF, wayyyyy out in left field. If they had got it I can see one of them becoming a volunteer at the hospice house….never have to work again.

Unlisted, not everyone works for a wage. I haven’t had a paid holiday in 20 years. I work stats as if they were a regular day.
Their usefullness has long past yet their mandatory dues keep getting collected. This leads the union brass to find something to justify their dues such as supporting friendly political parties, perhaps organize an boycott on Israel, extort your employer to the point of bankruptcy knowing the taxpayers will bail you out (read Auto), jobs for life ensuring a paycheck for the incompetent.

Sweatshops in Canada are long gone, so should mandatory dues. Again, I owe the union movement nothing.

Another one of their demands is 8 days off whenever the teacher wants….in the real world that is called vacation. They already get the summer off in addition to Christmas and spring break holidays.

They also want seniority to be the only factor on whether a teacher gets a position, if they have the qualifications or not. Hope this idea does not spread or you might end up with a baggage handler flying your plane because he was senior to the pilot. Explains a lot when there is the equivalent of a baggage handler standing at the front of some classes.

Have several friends that are teachers and they don’t ever mention wages as being a problem. The biggest complaint I here from them is that they can’t discipline a student without ramifications

It bothers me to think that a group of people that are so detached from reality are teaching children. Self-entitled whiners wouldn’t last a week in the real world.

Sock it to them teachers. You have the support of tens of thousands of other union and non union people in this province!

All these teacher bashers here would be crying in their beer if they were in your shoes. Because it isn’t them looking for fairness, they think you don’t matter and they could care less about anything that doesn’t benefit them personally.

“Unlisted, not everyone works for a wage. I haven’t had a paid holiday in 20 years. I work stats as if they were a regular day”

Thats why you’re so vocal against those in unions. You’re jealous! You don’t get what others have fought for and received and you are jealous!

It’s perfectly clear now!

“”is it the vancouver and lower mainland teachers that are making most of the demands?”
According to one teacher friend I have yes, that is most of the problem”

Get outta here! The greatest percentage of teachers are located in the lower mainland and they have the loudest voice.

Thats almost hard to believe. Imagine if that were the case in a provincial election. Or even a federal election where the majority of voters reside back east and have the loudest voice.

How dare those that are in the majority think they have the right to be heard over others.

“20 years I have been in this province and 20 years of BCTF BS. Unbelievable that these BCTF clowns don’t get tossed by the teachers”

News Flash!!!!

The “teachers” are the “BCTF”

It’s quite hilarious to see that so many think that the “UNIONS” are some kind of alien entity sent here from outer space and that they have complete control over their subjects by the use of special alien control rays eminating from a distant galaxy.

Unions are the people that belong to them.

Maybe go back to school and learn of what you speak about prior to doing so.

How dare the Liberals say to the workers of this province “Close your eyes. What you see is what you get”

How much did they give themselves for a wage and benefit increase?

Got nothing but respect for teachers, but they are already well paid with a defined pension plan! As a taxpayer I feel they are already being compensated more than the average worker in this province. Has nothing to do with Unions or teachers, it has to do with fairness of pay for work,and they have to come back to the pack that are paying them. Dragonmaster you need to take a pill!

Where else do you get paid leave of 10 days because your friend died? Where else would you get 15%. Holy cow. Then the boy comes home and says “Why are they gonna strike, they’re already well paid” He sees it, doesn’t understand it. Yah, unions are okay, but sometimes they get a little ridiculous.
I’ve known good teachers, know a few that should be working filling potholes too.
Grow up, you’ll get what you get now, perhaps down the road you’ll get more.

Sorry Dipper Dragon, i’m not jeolous of unions. I just am tired of paying increased property taxes and income taxes to pay for all the perks the public sector get.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU&feature=player_embedded

http://www.bctf.ca/publications/NewsmagArticle.aspx?id=24151

I hope no friend of yours dies slim and your boss says sorry no time off to attend their funeral.

Conservatism at its finest!

A province running on all cylinders, minning, forestry, oil and gas, haven’t even heard fishermen complaining. Here we sit a province that is working to capacity, everywhere you go employers looking to find people.

Yet we have a government in Victoria that is broke! A government that when everything is flat out working at full stream, they have absolutely no money.

Yet here we are still paying the HST and they still have NO MONEY!

LUCY!!! Someone’s got some ‘splaining to do!

You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet boys and girls. Wait’ll the unions get control of the province again as they say they’re going to do in the next election !!
It’ll be right back to the old days — constantly somebody somewhere on strike, or threatening to strike, and threatening to shut down the whole Province if their demands are not met.
I’ve been there and done that for far too long back 15-20 years ago, and dread the return of those very dark days for this Province !!
Unions have their place in society, just like any other faction, but when money becomes the controlling focus, and power becomes the “enforcer”, sooner or later it enevitably gets out of hand.
The old saying “give and inch and they’ll want a mile” rings true every time.