Sick and tired of classes being disrupted all the time by the various unions. Remember when unions were needed because of life threatening working conditions? Now all they are good for is filling their own pockets with money. Just as bad as the evil companies they are supposed to protect workers from.

And therein lies the why Clark wants a ten year contract with this union that uses our children and our children’s future as a bargaining ploy.

cost of living increase contract, ten years, 12 month school term.

In all fairness, they do deserve holidays so let’s make the school year 11 months.

Ah yes, extend the “ah, finally we got rid of the kids again” period for parents who do not deserve children.

How about parents taking the 2 months plus Xmas and Easter to educate their children in the ways of the world and be reminded of why they had children in the first place.

So cmdrjoe what is your solution?

I thought the ten year deal was for the teachers only. I don’t think CUPE fits into it as they are a separate union.

Why the warning? Just do it.

Four years without a raise? How many are at the top level? 20% or so??

On top of that, the ones who are at the top level have their teaching procedure down pat and have become quite efficient at it so their hourly rate has been going up. Those who have not, do not deserve a raise anyway.

It is the poor teacher who is just starting out and has the same contact hours as senior teachers who have the lowest per hour pay. As they get better at it they get more compensation per hour of input in addition to getting an step raise every year.

To me it is not as bad as they make it out to be. We need a bit more reality and truth in presenting this to the public.

CUPE education workers’ collective agreements throughout the province expired over a year ago. It has been more than four years since the education assistants, clerical staff, trades, custodians, bus drivers and other workers represented by CUPE received a wage increase.
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How many of the readers have seen their living and personal expenses remain static for the past four years? And how many of you would be satisfied with an employer that refuses to talk to you about your rate of pay?

So, in the face of rising expenses and an employer that refuses to discuss wages, of course the workers (unionized or not) are unhappy.

I would suggest that Clark is also using the children as a bargaining ploy to gain public support to justify bullying a trade worker or a janitor into a ten year deal.

And for the record, can anybody tell us how many class hours have been lost in the past ten years versus the class hours delivered?

Both sides are feeding us myths and we continue to buy into the emotions. Maybe it is time to get past the rhetoric and examine the facts.

“27 thousand education workers in BC”

What is an education worker? School custodian? Teacher’s Aid? Maintenance staff?

gus .. this issue does NOT relate to teachers .. CUPE represents the support and operational staff .. janitors, electricians, office staff, etc.

it would be interesting to compare the rates of a School District office worker or Electrician with the City, the University, the College along with CanFor, Husky Oil rates …

Sorry, my mistake.

However, in taking a look at the CUPE site there are several positions which actually do relate very closely to teaching in that they teach children, especially those with some learning disabilities, first nations, etc.

There is a 2012 white paper calling for standards for Education Assistants who fall under CUPE.

That is a shocking revelation to me that there are no standards for those who deal with the most vulnerable. In some other countries those actually have the highest education level rather than the lowest.

What gives?????

anotherside, compare office workers with the pay scales in doctors, dentists, foresters, engineers, lawyer, etc. offices and the ones you named, have it made in the shade as far as work pressure, compensation and benefits.

Office/ clerical staff for SD57 is $20.78 – $21.75 according to thier job posting. Custodial is $18.75 per hour. Does anyone have comparison numbers?
http://www2.sd57.bc.ca/jobpostings/Active%20Postings/S0554E9F7-0554EE15

Posted by: anotherside on August 13 2013 12:19 PM

How many of the readers have seen their living and personal expenses remain static for the past four years? And how many of you would be satisfied with an employer that refuses to talk to you about your rate of pay?

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How many readers are sucking at the taxpayers teat like the CUPE members are? Seriously, I’m tapped out, I have nothing more to give them. If they are not happy with their jobs I suggest they look elsewhere.

How many readers are sucking at the taxpayers teat like the CUPE members are? Seriously, I’m tapped out, I have nothing more to give them. If they are not happy with their jobs I suggest they look elsewhere.
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And they will, in Alberta, in Vancouver, and so on … take a look at all of the recent news stories at this site outlining strategies to recruit more skilled workers
to the Prince George community …

At the risk of stating the obvious (and being inflammatory), if you aren’t happy with the quality of life in your community, you also have the option to leave … not a very empathetic point of view

I, for one, enjoy the quality of life within our community and do not expect government workers to receive less than “fair” pay to provide the services we request … if I can’t afford the current level of taxation, then a more honest option would be to request a reduction of services … I really don’t want the cheapest worker to be providing services to our kids

The Walmart promise of “more for less” is really just a race to the bottom … good luck to the winner of that race. (sarcasm)

new school year coming up… same old same old

Some of you are missing the point. These folks as well as teachers have been taking cuts for several years. They are not even getting cost of living increases. The Liberal government has made a sham of the idea of negotiating. They just say take the 0 0 and 0 or we will legislate you back to work. In the meantime the politicians get wage increases and pension benefits every year.

“And they will, in Alberta, in Vancouver, and so on”

We have to remember that the salaries of “education workers: as they call themselves and teachers are very close to each other no matter where they work in the province.

What is not very close is the single highest cost of living item for most people, housing.

The take home pay after income taxes and housing is paid for is considerably higher in places such as PG than in the GVRD, Kelowna, and the southern Island plus all the Calgary, Edmonton and Fort Coke or whatever they call it.

For those who do not get that little but important fact, I would not want them near my children to teach them anything.

Now, if you want to pay that huge premium for the other amenities of those cities, then that is another matter. It is those people we need to capture and a few dollars more after the income taxes are taken off will not do any good.

The only think that will do any good will be to actually get some of those amenities here. It does little good if one has dollars in one’s pocket burning a hole because all one can spend them on is motorized toys and coke.

BTW, speaking about community amenities, the regs for growing and selling pot are moving ahead in Washington State ….. ;)

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2013/08/13/3145419/washington-may-delay-new-marijuana.html

“These folks as well as teachers have been taking cuts for several years.”

Cuts? or no increases?

So, how many other workers have had no increase …. or actual cuts ….. or have lost their jobs due to the economy killing their business?

We have forestry workers all around us with mills producing less because the lumber market has basically crashed …. the mills close, the workers laid off, and houses foreclosed …. remember the story of Mackenzie??????

At the same time, schools have closed. What happened there? massive teacher and education workers laid off? or people given early retirement packages for the most part? Or people just moved to other schools.

“Possible job action in schools”???

You mean, they’re actually going to work? Really? Hey, that’s great!!!

It is … :-)

Actually, would one consider this a threat???

Posted by: gus on August 13 2013 6:02 PM

The take home pay after income taxes and housing is paid for is considerably higher in places such as PG than in the GVRD, Kelowna, and the southern Island plus all the Calgary, Edmonton and Fort Coke or whatever they call it.
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Gus … I think they get it … this is the reward any PG citizen gets for living in a local economy with high supply, low demand housing market and watching their home town remain in a static growth situation for the past 30 years … the market is just reflecting the probability of being able to sell a PG house for any sort of gain in the future … while a Vancouver or Calgary consumer faces a challenge of buying a higher priced home, they also reap the benefit of a higher probability of a capital gain, kinda like a forced savings plan … a smart PG homeowner would not be buying high priced toys but investing their housing savings for the day they may choose to move on … had the MacKenzie homeowners saved the cost difference through the 80s and 90s, the recent collapse of their local market would have still netted them a net gain …. choices .. can’t have it both ways

still does not justify the government refusing to come to a deal with their CUPE workers

The population may have been stagnant, but house prices in PG have gone up substantially.

Posted by: gus on August 13 2013 6:10 PM

At the same time, schools have closed. What happened there? massive teacher and education workers laid off? or people given early retirement packages for the most part? Or people just moved to other schools.
Comment

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Legislation prevents the offering of early retirement packages to unionized teachers unless it is agreed upon by the BCTF, the local union, local school district, and BCPSEA. There has been no agreement to do this. Administrators; however, are exempt from this, and some in School District 57 received a nice retirement incentive a couple of years ago.

When schools are closed, teachers lose their jobs, as do CUPE workers. This is just like when a sawmill closes. In the case of School District 57, close to 700 Full Time Equivalent teaching positions have been lost across the district since the beginning of the Liberal mandate. That is a significant number of fairly well paid jobs pulled out of the local economy…which translates into a reduced tax base and fewer potholes being filled.

billy68: “This is just like when a sawmill closes. In the case of School District 57, close to 700 Full Time Equivalent teaching positions have been lost across the district since the beginning of the Liberal mandate.”

The government is not at fault for decreased enrollment, although many try to pin this on them.

“That is a significant number of fairly well paid jobs pulled out of the local economy…which translates into a reduced tax base and fewer potholes being filled.”

But those positions are paid by tax dollars so how is it really affecting the tax base?