Pertaining to forestry jobs:
Recently we heard Shepard commenting on the so called future jobs in the forestry sector. All of the mills have taken a hit, plus the Canfor plywood plant that burned to the ground. Is it not possible with all this knowledge and skill around that these workers could get together and start a plywood plant run by the same people, as in a CO-OP form of business, investing in their own futures. This has been done in Vancouver, for an example, and other cities, for sure. Isn't it worth considering?

I think it is possible, but not plausible.

Why ask? If you are interested, why don't you head it up?

Get ready for the new Hydro increases, just got my bill and it is jumping almost 25% on the equal payments... and I know my use sure hasn't gone up...

When I bought a ten pack of compact fluorescent light bulbs recently I had to pay an environmental fee of $2.50! I think there is something backwards here.

I replaced my incandescent power wasting bulbs with environmentally friendly power saving ones. BC Hydro is urging me to do so and be a good citizen!

Since I have not done something that is detrimental to the environment, why must I pay a fee as if I had done so?

How about those city streets.....isn't it about time they cleaned them up?? You people that live in the bowl must love all the dust you get to eat each and every spring??

What is up with the BC Liberals?? Do they really think they can continue to bully teachers into not getting a pay raise? Everything under their control is going up in price, taxes and fees are popping up in every imaginable place..and they think the teachers union is going to take another loss to inflation in their pay packets??

So much for Liberal concerns for the family...teachers are family people too.

What is up with the BC Liberals?? Do they really think they can continue to bully teachers into not getting a pay raise? Everything under their control is going up in price, taxes and fees are popping up in every imaginable place..and they think the teachers union is going to take another loss to inflation in their pay packets??

So much for Liberal concerns for the family...teachers are family people too.

What is up with the BC Liberals?? Do they really think they can continue to bully teachers into not getting a pay raise? Everything under their control is going up in price, taxes and fees are popping up in every imaginable place..and they think the teachers union is going to take another loss to inflation in their pay packets??

So much for Liberal concerns for the family...teachers are family people too.

One of the problems with a CO-OP, or 'worker owned' form of business is that it becomes extremely difficult to get worker owners to share the losses. Which inevitably will occur in a cyclical industry like plywood manufacturing.

Many promoting such ventures have a starry eyed optimism that all businesses are always profitable, and such is not the case. The rate of return on investment in the forest industry is very low ~ even for the large integrated companies. Of whom there has been quite a washout in recent decades.

The plywood industry has had a history of more worker owned co-ops than probably any other sector of the forest industry. And some, like Richmond Plywood, for instance, have had a long run as a well-managed, worker owned, profitable venture. They, however, are the exception, rather than the rule.

On balance, I believe there have been far more failures utilising this business model than there have been successes. Changing 'ownership' seldom results in any enhanced chances for success, unless, of course, the new 'owners' have deeper pockets and are always willing to dig further into them in the face of adversity. It inevitably will come down to just that ~ for even the friendliest of bankers will only be 'friendly' so long as the possibility of profit is still in HIS sight. When it no longer is, the business is then totally dependent on how much 'faith' those who own it still have in its future, and their own personal willingness and ability to 'risk it all'. Not just what they've already put in, but everything else they have, too. It really is no different than with any other mode of ownership.

If anyone wants to try it, a word of free advice. Get a good bookkeeping system in place before you make a move, understand it thoroughly, and above all, over-estimate your expenses and under-estimate your revenues. If you set up your pro-forma accounts on that basis, and it looks like you can still meet all your expenses, you might have a chance.

Say, have you folks heard about the new restaurant in town that automatically charges you a 15% tip on your bill whether you want to tip your waitress or not? Apparently it is on your bill as a gratuity included in your total.
I know some people don't tip at all but I usually tip anyway unless I get lousy service and some people never check their bill,so even if you leave a tip at the table you're still getting dinged on your bill.
Just something to watch for.

When the school teachers union are a strong supporter of the NDP, what would you expect from a right of center government.

How much should a school teacher get paid, Should they get paid more than a qualified tradesman building your house.

Personally, I think we need to gear the children for work instead of pumping them up with dreams and hopes that the teachers failed to attain themselves. I think we need to have three channels for grade ten students. Academic, trades and general. If you do not have it together by 16, than chances of a miracle turn around is not gonna happen for another ten years. This way the smart kids, don't have to be held back because of some doh-brains in the classrooms. If the kid is just keeping the seat warm, they go into General. If the kid has some smarts, good in math, but don't care about english, they can choose the trades. if the kid is getting consistently B's and higher, than academics is the best choice. They all have to have general math, english.

I encourage all the employers, when a new high school graduate comes looking for work. Ask them to bring in a attendence record. This will determine what the kid will be like at your work place. I have a simple rule. if they don't show up to school, they likely will not show up for your work.

Has anybody in Downtown PG tried to give your building a facelift? Just wanted to know how many loops you had to jump through to try and make downtown PG less of a eyesore??? Why is the city making it so difficult for building owners to do this?

http://www.bchydro.com/powersmart/commercial/power_smart_partners/project_implementation.html

WHY are BCHydro rates going up and up and up over the next few years?? Here is one reason. BCHydro is pilfering the back pockets of working families to fund projects in large corporations...that about a hidden agenda!!!

Implementation Funding Print This Page

Implementation Funding is available to large commercial, government and institutional customers to reduce the capital cost of implementing electrical energy efficiency projects.

Implementation Funding is designed to allow customers to meet internal hurdle rates, such as payback periods and return on investment. Through the Power Smart Partner Program, you could receive funding for up to 75% of the incremental cost of lighting, mechanical, HVAC and other energy efficiency projects. The funding level is also based on a tiered approach, meaning projects that were previously too costly may now be eligible for richer incentives.

Why implement energy efficiency projects?
Energy efficient projects make sense because they:

Improve the operation and maintenance of existing energy-using systems;
Modernize facilities with efficient equipment that will not only reduce operational costs, but increase employee and tenant comfort levels in the building;
Demonstrate your commitment to reducing energy consumption, both internally and to the public.
How Implementation Funding helps
Take advantage of BC Hydro's Implementation Funding to:

Show your organization that it is financially prudent to invest in conservation measures by reducing your capital investment;
Access subject matter experts on end use technologies to validate energy savings reports;
Gain recognition among your peers and the public for completed projects through BC Hydro

"""When the school teachers union are a strong supporter of the NDP, what would you expect from a right of center government."""


Get real....unions don't have a vote....only residents of BC do. How long do you think this silly supposition is going to ring bells?

A teacher should be paid a fair wage, a wage that isn't significantly below what is paid in jurisdictions with similar demographics..ie. Alberta. And they should enjoy regular pay increases in increments that allow them to maintain a pace with inflation.

Canfor's plywood plant in PG from what I heard had never operated at a loss and had 85% of its sales within Canada. My neighbor at one time was the accountant out there. They didn't rebuild because of a forecast in declining access to appropriate logs for rolling, and I think to subsidize their other plywood mill up north... maybe to take the insurance money and run.

Through the Power Smart Partner Program, you could receive funding for up to 75% of the incremental cost of lighting, mechanical, HVAC and other energy efficiency projects. The funding level is also based on a tiered approach, meaning projects that were previously too costly may now be eligible for richer incentives.




BC Hydro largess is pretty cool...imagine 75% funding isn't good enough...[read the last line]...

Since when did our payments to BCHydro get passed along to large corporations???? No wonder our rates are skyrocketing.....

Unions don't vote, but they sure do throw the money at NDP organization. So essentially, even a right wing teacher, still gets his/her money behind the NDP.

I never stated that had a vote!

that unions had a vote

PG you pay an enviromental fee because those CFL's promoted by Hydro are a bio hazard, they contain mercury. Here is the recommended cleanup for a broken CFL

http://www.epa.gov/cfl/cflcleanup.pdf

Incandescent bulbs give of heat which we find handy in the north. CFL's do not give off heat so that heat is made up elsewhere, so are we saving energy?
Ever try to turn on an outside cfl at 30 below.

So I ask the question, what does an enviromental fee do?

Anyone know who decides what gets paved in PG? Domano is four lane but south bound is one lane because of broken pavement not just potholes in front of the high school. That section is not on the schedule for replacement. Hello city hall, anybody home? Must all be in a secret meeting trying to figure out how to sneak in the PAC.

I have an issue with BC Hydro tree services.

I was having breakfast the other morning and heard a chain saw... thought what the heck is that... looked out the window and some guy is up in a bucket truck cutting down all the birch trees in my yard. I went outside to see what the heck is going on and he said my 50-year old spruce tree was next. I said no it is not its on my property and this is the first anyone has ever said anything of the sort.

My spruce tree is a magnificent tree that is the most beautiful tree on the street and grows slow and strong and is very healthy and in 50-years its been around... has never been a problem for the power line nearby... it would be years until it became any sort of problem.

I said if BC Hydro wants it trimmed I would hire an arborist friend of mine that is qualified to do the job to trim back a few of the branches.... this tree service guy would have none of it, and told me to get out of his way or he himself would sue me for interfering with his work... I told him this is my driveway and I ain't going anywhere... he said if any other arborist touched the tree I would be sued and that the whole tree had to go not just a trim... kept telling me to get out of his way even though I wasn't in his way and was only standing on my driveway protesting that the tree was not going to be cut down.

When he finally left I noticed he wasn't concerned about any other trees in any other yards on the street and even left the entire neighborhood turning onto Foothills and heading into town. I called BC Hydro to make a complaint about the abusive process and they couldn't even confirm work was being done in my neighborhood, and couldn't put me in contact with anyone that could.

It seems a phantom tree service truck turned up to do serious harm to my yard and no one knows anything about it at BC Hydro.

Anyone can put a BC Hydro sticker on the side of their tree service truck and show up to cut your prize trees down... and what rights do we have on our own property?

Had I not slept in and woke up late and happened to be home at the time I would have come home to see my prized tree that makes my yard what it is laying on the ground with no indication what-so-ever as to who had came and done this. That is simply wrong. It should never happen like that... I don't like getting pushed around in my own driveway because someone shows up unannounced with a chain saw to cut down a beautiful tree on my own property that has never been a problem before and grows so slow that it won't be anytime in the near future.

I think we need some new policy on BC Hydro and their tree cutting services. Clearly a healthy spruce tree is a different category from a fast growing birch. I think at minimum if BC Hydro is going to have a crew in the neighborhood, then the effected houses should be given a heads up and an opportunity to bring in their own arborist... if trimming needs to be done... I wouldn't let this guy that showed up anywhere near my tree, and I should have some rights on my own property to determine something as significant as this.

Something should be done to respect the rights of the home owner I think when it comes to situations like this. The guy said he would be back when I'm not home and I can't get any answers from BC Hydro. My girlfriend is scared of him showing up when she is home alone now. I think these things need to be arranged, and since its a slow growing tree it shouldn't be treated like its an emergency situation by an aggressive ham fisted worker with no regard for my property.

Frustrated about that....

I agree Seamutt. Domano is just as bad as Ospika. Not only do you have to watch for the potholes but people swerving into your lane trying to avoid the HUGE holes. I'm surprised there hasn't been an accident there yet. As far as them just filling the holes, doesn't last a week especially when you see the workers packing it in with their foot. Seen that before and not impressed.

I will tell you what environmental fees did in Ontario. The government there collected $25 million dollars in eco fees or whatever they called it on the purchase of new tires in that province. They said it was a "recycling fee". Anyhoo, after collecting that $25 million, they only spent $5 million on recycling and put the rest in general revenue. Governments lie. Why should our government not also lie? AND to add insult to injury and treat you like a dolt, the government adds the HST on after the "eco fees" have been included. I questioned it. The guy at the tire store told me that is what the government wants to do. Cool, eh?

While some individual locals will endorse a candidate in an election, you should be aware that the BCTF never gives money to a political party. Who the union executive would like to see elected, well, that's another thing. But no monies go to the NDP from the BCTF.

As well, I hope that the Liberals are not going to determine how bargainning is going by who contributes to their campaign funds, and who doesn't. I am rather cynical about politics, but I hope that they can deal with any union based on the issues at hand rather than the politics involved. If that were the case, then the governing party could always win some 40,000 votes by giving the teachers a big raise.

Anyway, hope everyone has a reat Friday and a wonderful weekend. Maybe by the end of next week some of us will be able to see our lawns as the snow goes away.

Re teachers contract

I find it frustrating that whenever there is a contract negotiation the information in the media is always about the raise percentage being asked for and offered. It is rare that a story ever mentions existing wage/salary rates.

So for those of you who want to know want tearchers currently earn take a look at the BCTFs website:

http://bctf.ca/uploadedfiles/SalaryGrids/Dist57.pdf

It looks like a teacher just out of school makes $42,802 and one with lots of experience and upgrading makes $81,488 per year (I didn't take the time to learn what step 0-1 and Cat 4-6 are but I assume they have something to do with seniority and responsiblities/training). They also receive a great pension and benefits (including the whole summer off.

You be the judge. Do teachers receive a fair wage?

>>>>>Unions don't vote, but they sure do throw the money at NDP organization. So essentially, even a right wing teacher, still gets his/her money behind the NDP.

>>>>>Unions don't vote, but they sure do throw the money at NDP organization. So essentially, even a right wing teacher, still gets his/her money behind the NDP.

A union is a democratic organization, those 'right wing' thinking teachers have the right to vote whether or not to donate money to any political issue.

Besides what does it matter where the politicians get their money to campaign? they all need it, and they will all get it somewhere. Did you see union peoples salaries double when the NDP was in power??

A teacher just out of school gets 42K, a kid freshly hired at the pulpmill can make $110K his first year, and almost double that if they head for the oil patch....you just wouldn't believe what they can make if they can snag the CEO of BC Ferries either!!

Has anybody in Downtown PG tried to give your building a facelift? Just wanted to know how many loops you had to jump through to try and make downtown PG less of a eyesore??? Why is the city making it so difficult for building owners to do this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZe1AeH0Qz8&feature=related

http://www.greenmuze.com/climate/energy/2562-ugly-reality-of-fracking.html

Ya PG383, it's got something to do with those that want taxpayers dollars to be used for downtown improvements rather than their own.

sniff sniff sniff, smells like a federal election coming.

ROADS.. these roads are horrible... how can city council say they care about our safety when you look at the state of our roads.
DONT drive down Ospika if you can avoid it. They have already supposedly repaired some parts but as they arent fixing them correctly those "repaired" parts are already needing repairs.

DUELING chiptruck/logging drivers in both lanes.
What is the need to visually block both lanes with those road slugs ?
I had the absolute pleasure of following 4 of them on the way home the other day. 3 in the right lane... 1 in the left.. All the one "professional" driver in the left lane did was continually back up the traffic as he was so slow to get moving. As for your "professional" drivers that do stay in the right hand lane.. Thank you :)

@kolberg You're salary numbers don't match the numbers on the link you posted. I know a few teachers and the steps refer to the number of years teaching, and the Category (Cat) is the type of education that you have received.

It is important to know that you can only top out in salary at whichever category you are under. Most teachers are at a Cat 5 level (One Education degree), Cat 5+ is a Bachelors degree plus the Education degree, and Cat 6 is a Masters degree.

Also teachers "summers off" are un-paid, and most people like myself get 4-8 weeks vacation each year that are paid for.

PG383, Not much, five gallons of diesel and a match.

What restuarant charges 15% on the bill for tip? I won't be going there?

Jim1315, a kid out of school might get a placement for university student position, which is a summer job. typically given to the kids of a worker in the pulpmill. Getting a job at the pulpmill is a like winning the lottery and a early death sentence.

Getting a job at the oil patch. Well, if you grow up real fast, and stay off the drugs and alcohol, you might last a season. These jobs come and go. usually they will make great money for 100 days, and the rest of the time its waiting. If you loose a limb, your done. If you get caught doing drugs, your done. If you cause an accident your done. If you are to dangerous your done. If you can't keep up your done. Yeah money is great, but they work like numbers on a wall, eventually your done.

Still looking around for all those falling prices that were supposed to be passed onto consumers after the implementation of the HST??? Am I missing it, or aren't prices still rising in just about every caegory???

Thanks seamutt for the link. I know what to do if I accidentally break a compact fluorescent light bulb.

I still want to know what the environmental fee is all about! Once a CFL is purchased the government has lost all control about what happens to it in the future. Nobody comes around twice a year to collect the burnt out ones for proper disposal. I have three duds in an air tight container, for now.

It's all up to me. Where does the government enter into the picture?

PG383 I have heard that most of downtown building are owned by absentee landlords and that is a big part of the problem. I am not sure of this first hand.

He Spoke>> they are hiring steady at the local mills..and lots of the new fellows have no relatives on site. Where else could you break $100K in your first year with a grade 12? And have the opportunity to get a steam ticket or tradesmen designation??

You really seem out of touch with what is going on in these large industrial jobs?? A good worker makes a really good wage and benefits.....it's really not like snake charming you know?

PrinceGeorge>>take your burnt out CFLs and ship them to Victoria, Ministry of Environment.....let them take care of it for you. ;-) Probably no postage required if sent directly to the minister...might cause quite a stir too...

Slim2229, what is the name of that restauraunt that adds the tip in before you pay?????? not only immoral but probably slightly illegal as well....

Anyone else getting tired of reading Jim13135s' stupid rants and multiple posts?

Anyone else getting tired of reading Jim13135s' stupid rants and multiple posts?

Anyone that has been at Costco lately and has been in close proximity to the pharmacy section would notice there is an expansion taking place. You may have taken notice that the studs being used for the expansion are metal and not wood.

I don't think Costco really cares about wood first initiatives. But on the same note, the "green" sustainability office which has just been completed up at UNBC in the Winter garden was built using metal studs.

People need to stop blowing through red lights.

Remember the gangster that is fighting deportation? There were a few bleeding hearts that felt bad because he had a hard upbringing and felt he should be given another chance...well I hope it was their vehichles that he was caught breaking into earlier this week. A guy has got to make a living you know.

The fact of the matter Jim is that there is a lot more teachers than there are jobs. It only makes sense to keep the pay steady or reduce it. Remember thats OUR money they are spending! Its called fiscal responsibility. Simply put that means not paying more than you have to for anything!

verballabel

The vacation is paid. If you adjust the top salary to $96k ($80k divided by 10 months * 12 months) based on actually working 12 months the salary seems pretty high. Sure teachers face difficult situations and they are on the front lines, but dont pretend that isnt alot of money.

Eagleone I am outraged by your tale regarding the spruce tree. I faced a similar issue a few years ago on my property that fronts a rural road for about a mile, the BC Hydro contractor knocked on my door to tell me I had a choice; herbicide, or total devastasion by bush hog type mower I said NEITHER! 95% of the vegetation is not currently even close to the overhead power lines, those that are, I will top them myself, no need to remove the whole tree, we rely on the brush and trees to filter some of the road dust in the summertime, and for a small measure of privacy. Furthermore, we do not want their herbicides floating in and settling on our organic crops. This guy argued with me, said if I did not choose, they would. Gave me a number to call if I want to contest the matter, funny, the line only worked one way, I could leave multiple messages, but could not seem to receive return calls. Hydro's policy resembles the U.S.A. in Vietnam 42 years ago, agent orange all around, so they could find the bad guys.
metalman.

Time to put those fat drug dealers up in PGRCC at the end of a shovel filling some potholes on our city streets! Instead of living the good life in jail they need to be contributing to society. They already wear the high visibility jump suit, they just need a chain and ball to go with it!

There is nothing democratic about unions when you are forced to join and forced to pay dues. "democratic unions" is a contradiction in terms.

Yes, definitely send your broken CFLs to the M of Environment. Since they have charged an environment fee, that's what they get paid for, taking care of the environment. Maybe they will get the message. Yes, CFLs take a long time to warm up at -30. When you need light immediately outside for an intruder, you might as well flick your bic and hold it as high as you can because that's all the light you get from them.

Eagleone: next time call the RCMP. Let them establish whether this guy is legitimate or not. He should reasonably give his name, company name, name of supervisor or BC Hydro contact and any other pertinant information you ask for. I heard of one fellow who wanted some big fir trees cut down for a better view of the valley. Trouble was, they were not on his property. He had them cut down and then the owner of them sued and it cost him alot of money but the two and three foot firs were gone forever. So if this guy won't provide you with the information you request he's as good as a trespasser. Too bad you didn't get his license plate number.

Boon,according to the show on TV last night,"Gangster Next Door"you wouldn't want the fat guy in jail.It's actually the steroid,muscle bound,weightlifting freak,that you would want from the jail filling the potholes,as they are the drug dealers of today.

How come so many people keep bitching about teachers. If the job is so easy and pays so much then jump in. How about all those self employed who find ways to deduct their toys. Big house, lots of toys and claim they only make 50 grand a year, ya right.

Earth Hour, started in 2007, encourages people to show their support for the planet by turning their lights off and enjoying the world by candlelight. The problem, of course, is for most Canadians that means turning off a low-carbon energy source and burning pure fossil fuels.

The absurdity is likely lost on most professional environmentalists.

Most candles sold in this country are made from paraffin, a byproduct of refining crude oil. Most electricity in Canada comes from either nuclear power or hydroelectricity, both sources that don’t really emit much in the way of those evil greenhouse gases.

Now, I actually want to live in a country with clean air, clean water and clean soil to grow food in, but I fail to see how sitting in the dark for an hour once a year actually accomplishes this.

From the article at http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Features/2011/03/24/17749541.html

Earth Hour, started in 2007, encourages people to show their support for the planet by turning their lights off and enjoying the world by candlelight. The problem, of course, is for most Canadians that means turning off a low-carbon energy source and burning pure fossil fuels.

The absurdity is likely lost on most professional environmentalists.

Most candles sold in this country are made from paraffin, a byproduct of refining crude oil. Most electricity in Canada comes from either nuclear power or hydroelectricity, both sources that don’t really emit much in the way of those evil greenhouse gases.

Now, I actually want to live in a country with clean air, clean water and clean soil to grow food in, but I fail to see how sitting in the dark for an hour once a year actually accomplishes this.

From the article at http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Features/2011/03/24/17749541.html

Earth Hour, started in 2007, encourages people to show their support for the planet by turning their lights off and enjoying the world by candlelight. The problem, of course, is for most Canadians that means turning off a low-carbon energy source and burning pure fossil fuels.

The absurdity is likely lost on most professional environmentalists.

Most candles sold in this country are made from paraffin, a byproduct of refining crude oil. Most electricity in Canada comes from either nuclear power or hydroelectricity, both sources that don’t really emit much in the way of those evil greenhouse gases.

Now, I actually want to live in a country with clean air, clean water and clean soil to grow food in, but I fail to see how sitting in the dark for an hour once a year actually accomplishes this.

From the article at http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Features/2011/03/24/17749541.html

Posted by: dow7500 on March 25 2011 1:34 PM
"There is nothing democratic about unions when you are forced to join and forced to pay dues. "democratic unions" is a contradiction in terms."

You're so full of it your eyes are brown!

Poor old dow didn't have the skills required for a union job and now cries to anyone that will listen. Back to flipping burgers dow!

Borrowed this from the daily bayonet-This Saturday night between 8.30 and 9.30pm local time, earnest hippies, browbeaten parents and other folks of conscience will turn off all their lights, sit round a candle and believe they are saving the planet. Or at least appearing to save the planet, which is the same thing to a hippie.

Why not open the main breaker for a day or week. Then one can pretend living like 40 million in India that have no power what so ever and cook over some burning cow pie.

As for saving the earth if man disappeared in a few thousand years it will look like we were never here.

So turn off your cfl's and feel good about yourself.

"Skills required for a union job"?? .Go with that brain damage,i mean dragonmaster. I'm guessing I make more in a quarter than you do in a year without the "benifit" of some union sucking the life out of me. Flip those burgers.

Eagleone I would be pissed too if what happened to you happened to me. The owner should have the option of using an arborist as long as it is done in a timely fashion. Enforcing that unfortunately would be another can of worms, still there should be something in place to protect prized trees.

I was told once that these guys are subcontractors and they get paid by the foot or by how many trees they cut down. Don't know if that is true, but over the years I have seen some gross overkill when it comes to "tree trimming" and heard of some nasty confrontations with workers and property owners. After witnessing a few "tree trimming" episodes of questionable value to the prevention of hitting the power lines it does seem to make sense that some of these guys are just hotdoggers out to make a buck and the home owners are just in the way of their pay cheque.

Earth Hour in North Korea? Kinda redundant, ain't it? Saw a satellite photo of N. Korea at night from space once.

"in regards to plywood plant co-op"

""starry eyed optimism that all businesses are always profitable, and such is not the case.""


......or you could call it a cup half empty or the cup half full??????of course it could work, depending on how serious people are in making it work. I would imagine it takes a lot of hard work, compromising alot, and non stop dedication.......like any other businesses.

Aint dont got much ta say this friday...yup...

Teachers are paid for 10 months and some prefer to have that 10 month pay spread over 12 months. So if you were a Cat 6 (Masters Degree) with 10 years experience, you would be making $5,858/month. If you were a Cat 4 working your first year you would make $3,043/month. Both using the 12 month spread of pay.

kolberg and others re teachers.

Here is a relatively comptrehensive, well done report on primary teachers in New Zealand. Volume 2 and 3 have some records of hours owrked per week as well as what is being done. One of the approxoimations for secondary and post secondary teachers is for each hour in front of the students, figure at least 2 hours for the new teacher, if not 3 and 1 to 2 for experienced teachers.

http://works.bepress.com/lawrence_ingvarson1/18

The average weekly work for full time teachers is 50 hours.

Take 52 weeks, subtract 2 weeks for Xmas, 2 weeks for bunny/egg time and 9 weeks for the hot days of summer and one gets 39 weeks at the least for teaching, and maybe even 40 or 41 depending on how you want to look at it since teachers are not necessarily gone when the kids are gone.

So 39 weeks x 50 hours = 1950 hours per year.

That is a regular work yesar for those who have a 40 hour week with 2 weeks vacation and the 8 or so stats. Those who have longer seniority have 3, 4, and even 5 weeks of vacation. Some of them will work 37.5 hours/week and others may even work 35/week.

So teacher do not work fewer hours over the year.

Take an mid level professional at the pulp mill, they will earn in the same range as the mid to top paid teacher for similar level of education.

Teachers have stressful jobs simply frpm the point of view of working steady overtime situations for the times that schools are open, without going into the other aspects of their work.

Do you homework.

There are many good teachers out there that deserve more than what they are paid. There are probably just as many ones that deserve less. I'm not going to say that the good ones don't deserve a raise, but I disagree with a forced (strike) burden on the taxpayer by an unelected group (the teachers' union). Objective reviews of the performance and quality of work are what should dictate whether or not someone deserves a raise.

optomistic:- "......or you could call it a cup half empty or the cup half full??????of course it could work, depending on how serious people are in making it work. I would imagine it takes a lot of hard work, compromising a lot, and non stop dedication.......like any other businesses."
--------------------------------------------

Yes, it could work. But it would be difficult. The cost of building and equipping a new plywood plant would be substantially higher now than what it was when the original NCP plant that burned was built.

And while there are certain to be many improvements in efficiency in a modern plant, the big question in this case would likely be whether there were still sufficent logs available at a reasonable enough cost to make such a plant viable.

I would suspect that Canfor would've analyzed that aspect of the situation quite closely already. If they didn't opt to rebuild, as they have not, I believe the insurance payout would've been based on the depreciated value of the plant that burned, rather than on its replacement value. As may well have been the case if they'd opted to rebuild.

By taking less than they might've otherwise got, they didn't seem to feel there was much point in rebuilding, and they already have a log supply. A 'worker owned' plant would likely have to buy suitable logs at a premium to what Canfor could get them for.

It shouldn't be too hard to ascertain whether a new mill would likely be profitable or not simply by working backwards from what the end product sells for now, and just what is the range of prices that have traditionally been received.