What a 6 year contract of zeros and a signing bonus of 1 dollar, typical government trying to screw with there employees. The teachers.should hold off until the winter games is here and then go on strike , that will get the government going.

If there is a settlement, it will be the first contract in world history negotiated through the media.

Whatever the offer is I can guarantee you the teachers will demand more.

I say offer them cost of living tied to inflation and claw back some of their benefits and some of their time off. If they don’t like it, hire some one else. Use the savings to hire more teachers, more teaching assistants and lower the class sizes.

Axman what do you do for employment?

Axman, I know you don’t care about the quality of education our students receive just like the government doesn’t . But cut backs and increased class sizes do nothing but hurt the chance of the kids getting a good education..

Sure be nice if in their comment section on student report cards they actual wrote something that lead you to believe they knew your child instead of this generic crap, why even bother, kids are honor roll principal list students with perfect attendence and they get ” meeting expectations “. Some teachers after a semester don‘t even know them by name. There are some awesome ones that get my respect but some you wonder why they are there. Flame away !

Smoke another big fat one, ZigZag!

On another note tho I do applaude the more feminine approach when it comes to their recent leadership change. The new voice doesn’t grate on your nerves like that other guy.

You sound knowledgable on whatever subject it is you are speaking of there taxed out. Did I hit a nerve or something.

zigzag isn’t wrong. Last parent teacher meetings, my kids math teacher didn’t know her. Said he was sorry, but he spends all his time dealing with “problem kids”, and unfortunately doesn’t get time to know the “good kids”.

Yet some teachers can deal with problem students and remember your childs name and then make an actual personal comment on their report card.

Yet some teachers can deal with problem students and remember your childs name and then make an actual personal comment on their report card.

I have 4 kids 3 are in the latter stages of high school the oldest graduated 4 yrs ago. Like my parents I sent him to school and went to work and let the teachers do their job. He graduated and entered trade school where he was made to take upgrading in math because he only had a grade ten level ??. I know, I was a deadbeat parent I dropped my child off at school the same as my parents did and went on about my duties. Lesson learned, with my other 3 I stay on top of everything, all teachers have my email and are expected to email me monthly test scores work results, and all work is scrutinized I now have 3 principal list students. Not sure what the moral to the story is other then don’t entrust your child education entirely to people that don’t know their name.

Posted by: P Val on May 15 2014 6:20 PM
Axman, I know you don’t care about the quality of education our students receive just like the government doesn’t . But cut backs and increased class sizes do nothing but hurt the chance of the kids getting a good education..

————

The BCTF claims that they are concerned about class size and class composition. Giving the teachers more money, more benefits and more time off will not change that. If they truly cared about the kids (which they don’t) they’d be more then happy to give up the job perks to help the kids out. But they won’t.

You seem to be a product of our broken education system because you can’t read. I gave you the solution to class size issues but you glossed right over that.

So zigzag it would be interesting to know the time and day of week those emails are sent to you.

for the love of god ,,, go on strike ,,yesterday.

Posted by: seamut on May 15 2014 6:10 PM
Axman what do you do for employment?

————

Work my ass off so snivel servants don’t have to. Time to end the taxpayer funded gravy train! Our current system is not sustainable.

But that’s not the point. Our education system is a mess; giving the teachers more money, better benefits and more time off is not the solution! If the BCTF really cared about the education of our kids they would be demanding decreases in class size, increases in the number of teachers and the number of teacher’s assistants but they aren’t. They’re all about perpetuating the myth that teaching is an easy and well paying profession!

Posted by: axman on May 15 2014 7:29 PM

The BCTF claims that they are concerned about class size and class composition. Giving the teachers more money, more benefits and more time off will not change that. If they truly cared about the kids (which they don’t) they’d be more then happy to give up the job perks to help the kids out. But they won’t.

Posted by: axman on May 15 2014 8:17 PM

…If the BCTF really cared about the education of our kids they would be demanding decreases in class size, increases in the number of teachers and the number of teacher’s assistants but they aren’t.
————————

Teachers already gave up salary and benefit improvements to get those things in the first place, and then had the contract illegally stripped as proven twice already in court. If this were you, would you be expected to re-buy what you already paid for, and won back through courts after illegally taken away?

Buzzinga. I think the plan is to close the schools when the winter games are here. This will ensure that someone shows up to watch these games.

So not sure that would be a good time for them to go on strike. On the other hand, maybe it would be a great time to go.

Sick and tired of hearing how hard done by teachers are in BC. Know quite a few of them, and I can guarantee you they are doing quite well.

Hartguy,

The other thread was closed to commenting so I will answer you here. I hope you see it. The teachers you know, if they are referring to personal days, certainly do not get 1 per month. In Peace River North, any teacher that has more than 60 accumulated sick days, earns one personal day per calendar year. Once 90 sick days are accumulated, a teacher gets 2 personal leave days per year. 1 day per year is bankable. The only way they could use 10 is if they have been banking them for a decade.

Two theories. The first is I have seen here how people like to get you going. It is possible that is what they are doing. Just messing around with you to get your blood pressure up because it seems you have a hate for teachers.

The other theory is they are using their sick days and just telling you they are not sick days because they are afraid of getting caught. This is time theft and as recently as this year a teacher in Nanaimo was suspended 20 work days for calling in sick and then driving her sons basketball team to a tournament in another city. The BCTF has sent a very clear message to teachers that they should accept suspensions for any time theft. They have been clear with us that this is not something they can or should defend.

Teachers in Saskatchewan just signed for 7.3% over 4 years. This essentially guarantees that BC teachers will fall further behind the rest of the nation. It is a race to the bottom, and BC increases their lead.

I will put this here again, because still NO ONE has answered it. This solves much of our health care, education, and pothole problems all in one shot. Some of you (Gus/Palopu) are excellent researchers. Please show me the holes in the following argument.

As British Columbians, we are some of the most fortunate people in the world. We share the riches of abundant natural resources and public services, which derive from the taxes we pay. We also expect private corporations that extract these public resources should pay a fair share of the value of those resources in the taxes they pay. However, a comparison of the value of the resources extracted in 2001 with those extracted in 2012 — and the related tax revenues — exposes an alarming trend about which we should be very concerned.

First, let’s take a look at the increases in just three resource-based production values in this province:
• In 2001, the value of coal production was $959 million. By 2012, it had grown to $5.06 billion, an increase of 527 per cent.
• The value of metals production in 2001 was $1.39 billion. In 2012, it was $2.45 billion, an increase of 76 per cent.
• The value of industrial minerals in 2001 was $296 million. That had increased to $472 million in 2012, an increase of 60 per cent.

This represents a huge increase in corporate revenue over the last 10 years or so. In comparison, if we look at the total B.C. natural-resource tax revenue in 2001, we see it was about $4.2 billion. In 2013, that figure had declined to about $2.5 billion.Looking at natural resources produced in B.C., we find the provincial share of market value has declined from a steady 35 per cent some years ago to about 15 per cent in the last two years, a stark contrast to the huge gains made by private, resource-based corporate interests.
Can Stone and Lake help the folks in Kamloops understand this apparent anomaly?

Can they also advise voters as to whether or not private resource-based corporations have made tax-deductible contributions to political parties in B.C.?

Ray Blessin
Kamloops

To the people that call schools babysitters .. quit your job and look after your own child from newborn to 17, teach them how to read and write,,, move to the bush, pay no taxes ,you wont need to work .. live off the land ,, its yours,,, its that easy. The govt has the money to pay for this essential service by getting rid of half of the useless govt we have and then some . I don’t have the money to put my child in private school like Clark.. get off the grid ,,then there will be nothing to complain about. Me I say pay them what they are worth , just like the majority that thinks that they are under paid. go on strike risk it all,, you wont go to jail.

IMO labour unrest between the teachers and this government will not end until the courts rule on the government appeal.

Class size and composition are teacher working conditions and should not be removed from the collective bargaining process. I predict the courts reject the BC Liberal government’s appeal, but who will make / force them to negotiate fairly? Unfortunately, “Fair” is not in not in the Liberal / Conservative dictionary.

Ray. At face value it looks like the government is really getting hosed and by a wide margin. But where I get confused, is where did all that huge amount of money go? If the corporations have it their stock prices would have growth rates similar to apple. Yet Teck Cominco, one of BC’s biggest resource producers stock is worth half the value it was over your data time frame. Perhaps its stock is exceedingly undervalued by a market that excels at irrational valuations.

At face value most resource companies don’t appear to have much if any excess cash. Several local mines have closed and our newest mine, Mt Milligan was a major financial struggle to build. Workers that are still working get paid well but there incomes didn’t receive a 3 year windfall. So again where did it go?

All levels of government are strapped for cash and have huge debts as well. So again, where did the money go?

I have my theories. But this phenomenon is far from a just a BC issue. I also see a danger in using this questionable data to develop government tax policies so they can get there perceived fair share. Seems all levels are struggling.

Smooth, I read that info last night! But thanks anyway!

After reading it, I suspect that they were or are using sick days for extra days off, as they very well do seem to be taking lots of days off!

As far as my blood pressure, it is actually very well under control!! Good blood pressure, good cholesterol, all good to go, but thanks for your concern ;-).

You suggest that I seem to hate teachers. Actually, I personally know a lot, a lot of teachers and I don’t hate a single one of them. I do however, have absolutely no use for your Union, nor do I have any use for this self-entitlement attitude that prevails across our entire public sector.

Teachers gave up salary and benefit improvements??? Big deal, the salaries are pretty good and the benefits are terrific! Go talk to someone who lost their job or suffered other financial hardships during the last recession. Many people were affected, young and old and many of those people have only recently started to recover!

You have mentioned that Saskatchewan has just signed a new contract with their teachers, 7.3% over 4 years. Will you be moving to Saskatchewan anytime soon? We have a huge surplus of teachers in BC and our universities keep churning out more each year, so we shouldn’t have a very difficult time filling your position!

BeingHuman, you mention that in your opinion, labour unrest between the teachers and this government will not end until the courts rule on the government appeal. IMO, what you failed to mention Peeps, is that labour unrest is the routine modus operandi not just with “this” government, but seemingly with “any and every” government. For crying out loud, the BCTF couldn’t even get along with the NDP!!

dow7500,

Good questions. This is an angle I did not think of previously. The one that interests me most is that the money has to be somewhere, and why is it not showing up in the value of stocks?

If revenue is up anywhere from 2 to 5 times and taxation has been cut in half, then they have to be losing money elsewhere if they are not showing enormous profits.

The huge surplus of teachers is nothing more than liberal propaganda. There is no huge surplus. The number of teaching licences spewed in the media recently included retired teachers, teachers working in other provinces that hold multiple licences, etc.

Sworn proof of no shortage is even available. After the most recent court decision, superintendents, on behalf of government signed affidavits that said one reason we could not possibly go back to 2002 contract language is because there is not enough teachers to meet the need. The problem here is two fold. First, any surplus there is was created by the illegal contract strips that have been held up twice in court. And secondly, there is no surplus. My district still actively recruits from the east coast to find enough teachers, and our TOC list often dips into non-certified teachers.

Here is a list of the most recent contracts signed in British Columbia, both public and private sector.

http://www.bcbargaining.ca/content/1114/SettlementV46N01Feb_Mar.pdf

If you drop your kids off at school and have no idea what your kids are doing while they are there, then you are a lousy parent.
In this day and age, teachers have to be social workers first. So many broken homes, screwed up kids, FAS, HDD, ADD etc.
I wouldn’t consider being a teacher for one second.
Thankless job, employer that has no respect for you, a rude public that thinks you’re lazy, kids that don’t give a crap about their education and a lousy wage to boot.

Well I see where your trying to go with this seamutt, I actually received one today friday sent at 10:37 am, sorry to blow a hole in your theory of some hard working teach burning the midnite oil.