The Point Of No Return Passed In Teachers Dispute
The Teachers dispute reminds me of children at the playground when the issue of who gets to throw the ball eventually grows into a fight in which the children are calling each other's families down, the ball is no longer in dispute and is now replaced by who should be on the playground.
Suffice to say the Children in this case are the pawns while both sides in the dispute argue about who said what , and how that is to be taken.
A goodly portion of the dispute has its roots in the dying days of the Glen Clark NDP government when he handed out a very good contract to the teachers of BC. The Liberals have never forgotten that they were tagged with the increases in spending and they have never let it go.
So over the past number of years each time the teachers seek a new contract you can be sure that the brass sitting around the cabinet table are being reminded about how the government had to eat crow.
On the other hand the new found perks that the teachers received only added fuel to the fire when it came to renegotiating a new contract. The trip to the higher courts reflects their interest in trying to make the Liberal government look bad.
So who is the winner? Well it sure as hell isn't the students who, while most would like to see an extended summer vacation, will come to the realization that they are missing out on an integral part of their lives, getting a proper education.
Don't look for the two sides to come to the table in the final hours unless they can agree to setting aside their interests in favour of the students. That time and place was passed along time ago.
I'm Meisner and that's one man's opinion.
Comments
“Second, and more importantly, teachers strikes are unusually disruptive because school administrators are left with no options to replace them. Nearly 2/3 of all recent education graduates in Ontario are unemployed or underemployed the following year. British Columbia certifies nearly 3 times the number of teachers it needs each year. Even fast growing Alberta has seen many of its school boards laying off teachers in recent years.”
“Instead of trying to determine what the fair wage is for teachers, why not just let market forces decide? Let unemployed teachers replace unionized ones during a strike at a wage rate they negotiate with school administrators. If the teachers on strike are worth the money and conditions they demand, the school administration will be all too happy to reach a settlement with them to get them back in their class. And if not? In that case wed have a pretty strong signal that the remuneration package they received in the past was too generous.”
http://mises.ca/posts/blog/solve-public-teachers-strikes-once-and-for-all/
“Newly qualified Canadian teachers frustrated with the over-saturated teaching market in many major Canadian cities are setting their sights on international schools abroad, where they say professional and personal benefits far outweigh those back home.”
“In 2012, more than one in three Ontario teachers who graduated the previous year and applied for teaching jobs were unemployed, according to a survey by the Ontario College of Teachers. Meanwhile, only one in three teachers who managed to secure employment worked as much as they wanted to.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-canadian-teachers-head-abroad-amid-tight-job-market-1.2426110
Well if Alberta and Ontario went to smaller class sizes then they wouldn’t have to lay off teachers and they could hire all the ones with out jobs.
That’s what you would call a Scab Charles and would only make matters worse. The government is wrong, pay the teachers and lets get on with it!
It’s hard to be sympathetic to this dispute when the players are seeking the public’s support but yet act like they don’t care bout them. Like this morning was a good example, as I drove by that French school in College Heights, this guy saw me coming so he started waving all the while looking at the person sitting in a chair to whom he was talking to.. If your gonna try to get the public’s support, at least have the courtesy to keep looking their way while you are waving at them.. Such ignorance.. yesss maybe a few spoil things for the rest,but it still happens.. :(
“A goodly portion of the dispute has its roots in the dying days of the Glen Clark NDP government when he handed out a very good contract to the teachers of BC. “
…a fact most of the mainstream left leaning media seems content to ignore, while spouting on about ‘ripped up contracts’.
“The trip to the higher courts reflects their interest in trying to make the Liberal government look bad.”
If that is the case then perhaps the process is working for them as far as political aims are concerned. However, handcuffing oneself to one political party may be a handicap when trying to negotiate non-political goals such as class size, composition and wages. Assuming that all teachers are in agreement with the declared political allegiance of the leadership may be a mistake as well as such is a private choice of each member.
Here is a hint: Practice political neutrality while working hard to make progress on the stated non-political issues!
Otherwise, keep walking with the ball and chain! What was the definition of insanity again?
Charles, thanks for posting your links to two very interesting articles!
NoWay, you state that the Government is wrong. That’s still up for dispute as the matter is still under appeal in the Courts, as it should be! The BCTF will and would use the Courts to it’s advantage and for as long as the legal process allows. I expect and demand that my Government do the same!!
JB, thanks for reminding us of some very important facts regarding this mess! The BCTF wants to go back to the conditions gifted to them by the Glen Clark NDP Government during the 1998 negotiations that led to the 1999-2001 sweetheart deal. This sweetheart deal, a clearly unaffordable deal was opposed by School Boards across the Province. If the BCTF wants to live in the past and with the terms of a past agreement, then perhaps as I have previously stated, we should go back to the way things were PRIOR to the 1998 sweetheart deal! Funny thing is, none of the teachers that I have talked to have any desire to do that, they only want to go back in time as far as the sweetheart deal! The fact that it was clearly unaffordable is not an issue that they seem willing to discuss!
The BCTF had no sympathy for the taxpayers of this Province when it gleefully accepted Glen Clark’s sweetheart deal that left it laughing all the way to the bank! It shouldn’t come as a surprise to the BCTF that I have no sympathy for it now!!
I had coffee last weekend with a guy (now retired) who tried to get the gov’t to avoid the two court cases they’ve lost. The gov’t didn’t listen to his proposal for negotiating with the BCTF nor listen to his warning that the gov’t would lose in court and with a stupid arrogant approach shoved through legislation that has been a large reason for the current situation in education. The gov’t is going for yet another appeal.
Some people have’t got it that the gov’t has certaily created a mess. I doubt they ever will.
The “sweetheart” contract often referred to by some I believe was for the benefit of students. Some teachers that I spoke with felt it was a deal designed to make the NDP look good with an election looming. Anyway, the teachers thought that t was such a sweetheart deal that they booted Kti Krieger out as BCTF leader.
Rather than the BCTF negotiating conditions for students, isn’t the gov’t morally obliged to look after our kids instead off handing that off to a negotiating team?
In regards to the NDP sweetheart deal with
the BCTF. Which the Liberal government tore up once they got into power.
The BCTF then took the government to court
and said the government “wasn’t negotiating in good faith”. and won a
300 million dollar claim. Which the current government is appealing.
The real question should be the following.
“Was not the NDP government of time, not negotiating in good faith, since in fact it was using public monies to buy the votes of the government dependent unions and its members”
While not looking out for the financial well being of the Province of BC.
While not looking out for the financial well being of the Province of BC.
==========================================
Man that’s a mouthful. Has any government ever looked after the financial well being of the Province? Governments appear to be looking after being reelected and the hell with good government. That’s the way I see it.
Cheers
Comments for this article are closed.