The education of our children is of paramount importance, and whatever WE decide, it will have to be considered with caution and a lot of thought

A ten year teachers contract? It's an idea that our premier, Christy Clark decided to float this week.

One of the things that I heard Christy point out was that with something like this in place, a child currently in Grade 3, would be able to get through all grades to graduation without a disruption.

Hmmm ... but what about a child that is currently in grade 1 or grade 2?

I'm not saying this is a bad idea, but what I question is the need to have a contract going for this length of time.

If I was a teacher, I would sure question whether to have something like this. After all, who knows what economic conditions will be next year ... never mind 6, 7, or 8 years from now.

And what would the government have to give up to get teachers to agree to a contract of that length?? I find it highly unlikely that teachers will go for anything like this, WITHOUT there being a huge carrot at the end.

ALSO ... on top of questionable economic conditions for everyone ... in terms of inflation, cost of living, etc ... how is the government going to know, with any certainty, what the population growth rates are going to be? Will we end up with the government locked into employing teachers where there are no jobs for them?

I just think the whole thing has far to many questions, and uncertainty, to even be considered.

On the other hand ... perhaps if the two sides sat down to look at better ways of working out wage structures, classroom composition, needs of students, etc ... that would be a far more productive and useful idea worthy of consideration.

Why do both sides need to bring themselves to the precipice of strike action every couple of years?

Meantime ... the other day I asked if people had any suggestions regarding issues of importance ... what was working well ... what wasn't ... what we needed to do better.

One of the suggestions and comments that came back to me was:

Since you have asked I will respond with public education and our society's attitude toward being an educated, healthy, happy citizen to ensure each individual person has success within their potential. 

If we do not ensure our students are educated, and, somewhat competitive with themselves as individual to ensure their own success; the majority will not be successful in their chosen career.

I don’t know where you sit within those wage averages, but I know where I do

I had to do a bit of digging to find out the following information about recent BCGEU contracts negotiated with the provincial government.

For starters, here’s a reminder of what the BCGEU negotiated with the BC Liberals in 2006:

1. an average wage increase of 10 percent over four years
2. additional market and recruitment and retention pay for targeted classifications
3. AND a signing bonus of at least $4,019.40 for full-time employees (pro-rated for part-time employees)

The BCGEU also negotiated to have:

• improvements to health and welfare benefits
• improvements to premiums and allowances
• additional wage increases for positions that had led to recruitment and retention problems
• additional wage increases for workers the union & government agreed had been undervalued

The current two year agreement, which is now ending, was indeed for 0 and 0% wage increases … but again that was following what many would consider a very generous offer they had received in the 2006 contract.

Today the BCGEU members went out on a one day strike because … wait for it … they want more.  More than the 3.5% wage increase the government has offered for the coming 2 years.

IF this offer does eventually get accepted, this will mean that the average BCGEU member, for the time period of 2006 to 2014, will have received average wage increase of 13.5% … or 1.7% annually.  PLUS … don’t forget that $4,000 signing bonus.

Okay, I know this has been a bunch of number, but it is leading to something, and here it is:

... the average annual wage for workers in BC is $44,749

... the average salary for a BCGEU member is currently $62,252 per year

I don’t know where you sit within those wage averages, but I know where I do – and I think that BCGEU members are getting a good deal now, never mind an increase of 3.5%.

What are your thoughts?

I’m Alan Forseth in Kamloops, with the thoughts of one conservative.

There is no magic pot of money to pay for any wage increases --- so what is this strike really all about?

THE BC Federationist, in a release to members, says:

For salary and benefits — teachers want to “keep up” and “catch up.” What do we mean by that? We want to keep up with inflation ... unfortunately; the government’s position has and continues to be “net zero.” The government claims that taxpayers cannot afford increases to public sector wages and that wages must remain flat because the government is running a deficit.

Well that really does sound reasonable, doesn’t it?  Yet it is simplistic in that the BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) fail to acknowledge that an increase in wages for teachers means an increase to ALL public sector employees that HAVE already negotiated "Net Zero" contracts.

Taxpayers -- which includes teachers and all other government workers, have to understand that means there would be an increase in fees and taxes, to pay for ANY wage or salary increase for teachers!  There is ONLY one source of revenue for the government, so how do they plan to see wage increases paid for otherwise?

The truth is the BC Federation of Labour, and the BCTF, don't care.  The hierarchy of government unions want wage increases for all members, and they are using the teachers to try and force that.