Now before anyone says I am teacher bashing, I am NOT

WOW … it’s a long time since I’ve been here, but I’m back today.

 

BC classrooms now empty in dispute
between BCTF and the BC government

I thought I would do a little exercise with regards to wages and salaries in BC, and try putting teacher’s pay in perspective. I have had to do what I believe to be a fairly accurate calculation on an hourly wage for teachers (as noted in my calculations below), but any teachers / friends are welcome to correct me.

 

Let’s start with Statistics Canada, which states the ‘average’ teacher’s salary in BC is $64,131 per year.

 

I then went to the BC Stats website to look at a long list of wages and salaries in BC http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/StatisticsBySubject/LabourIncome/Earnings/WageSalarySurvey/WageSalarySurveySearch.aspx).  Here are a number of professional, career, and industrial careers … and the hourly wage paid.  The numbers quoted below are for the most frequently page wage (not the lowest or highest).  Pease note I am not saying these jobs are equal to what a teacher does, only that most have a combination that includes a combination (any or all) of the following … training / education, responsibility for safety, professionalism, and legal obligations.

 

Community and Social Service Worker: $18.83

Post-Secondary Teaching and Research Assistant:  $22.08
Automotive Service Technician / Truck and Bus Mechanics: $25.67
Welders and Related Machine Operators: $27.91
Electrician: $27.03
Financial Auditors and Accountants: $29.32
Heavy Duty Equipment Mechanic: $30.85
Computer Programmer and Information Systems Managers:  $30.92
Insurance, Real Estate and Financial Brokerage ‘Managers’: $36.32
Registered Nurses: $36.59
Professional Occupations in Business Services to Management: $36.73
Business Development Officers: $37.91
Senior Managers (Goods Production, Utilities, Transportation, and Construction): $39.49

And now … back to BC teachers:

52 weeks – 8 weeks off for Summer = 44 weeks

44 weeks – 3 (Christmas, Spring Break, Easter) = 41 weeks
41 weeks multiplied by 5 work days per week = 205 days
205 days – 3 stats (BC Day, May Day, and Remembrance Day – others already in above days not worked) = 202

Again, this is just a ballpark figure, so the figure of 202 days worked per year is my calculation based on the above.  Please note it also does not include the non-instruction days off which used to be called Professional Development days)

Let’s say the teaching / classroom time per day is 6 hours; from there let’s add 45 minutes on the front end (at school) for prep, and 45 at the end (at school) to wrap-up the day – we now have 7.5 hours per day.  I’m just guessing, but for each day ‘worked’ I’m going to add another 1.5 hours at home for prep and marking; we now have 9 hours per day.

202 instructional days times 9 hours per day equals a total of 1818 hours worked.

The average salary, paid to BC teachers, of $64,131 divided by 1818 equals $35.27 per hour … that seems not bad to me given the above noted salaries, and before the current salary offer is added in to the equation. 

Now before anyone says I am teacher bashing, I am NOT.  I am simply saying that the salary they receive, is a good one.  In other words, the raise being offered by the BC Government is more than generous!

The government is NOT off the hook however; more money does need to go into classrooms so there can be better services delivered to students … especially those with special needs.  That is NOT however something I believe is a part of contract negotiations, that is something that each of us as parents need to demand of government.

These just my thoughts … what do you think?

You are right Kevin (Krueger), "None of this happened by accident". These things happened on the watch of the BC Liberal government

Yesterday on Facebook I posted the following that I came across from the Victoria Times Colonist, "Editorial: Stagnant B.C. needs renewal". 

Part of the editorial stated that:

Real wage rates for low-income earners in B.C. have stagnated and now lag the rest of the country. That’s one reason we have the second-worst child-poverty rate in Canada. That is both a shame and a failure.

So what is to be done? There are warnings here for whichever party wins the provincial election in May. Policies that divide us, whether by favouring one group or hammering another, have not worked ...

It prompted my Kamloops South Thompson BC Liberal MLA Kevin Krueger to come back, taking a swipe at the BC Conservative Party, which I support:

Maybe you folks would benefit from a name change, in line with "truth in advertising." I know, how about "The Black Cloud Party."

If the world is in recession, and has been for 5 years, once-powerful European countries are insolvent, the USA is running $trillions in debt, but BC will have a balanced budget April 1 and has hundreds of thousands more jobs than ever before, with hundreds of thousands becoming available, isn't that a GOOD thing?

Well folks ... what do you think ... is it a good thing we have been getting from Christy Clark led BC Liberal government?  I think I know the answer I would receive from many -- but I did have to follow up and ask my friend Kevin;

Why is it that you treat the truth with such disdain? The content of this piece (from the Times Colonist) simply echoes what has been reported elsewhere, by several other publications, and writers, that are well know.

Not only are we falling behind in income earned by British Columbians, compared to most provinces in Canada, our employment rate is also NOT increasing. This despite millions being spent, by your BC Liberal government, on highly partisan ads that are blatant distortions of the truth.

You claim that what I say is untruthful, Kevin? Would you say the same of Stats Canada? You should know by now that I research what I say. I do NOT make things up, unlike the ads you and Premier Christy Clark are so proud of.

NOW ... lets quote Stats Canada ... December 2012:
"In British Columbia, employment was LITTLE CHANGED in December and the unemployment rate declined 0.3 percentage points to 6.5%. COMPARED WITH 12 MONTH EARLIER, EMPLOYMENT WAS LITTLE CHANGED.

I have added the caps on the parts which are pertinent, but other than that, the above is a direct quote in the section marked "Gains in several provinces"

TNRD: Asking for ANY increase this year is completely unjustified

An editorial today in the Kamloops Daily News alerted me to something I somehow missed last week.

The elected members of the Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD) awarded themselves a 1.7% wage increase.  Now I know that doesn’t sound like a lot … but that’s ON TOP OF A 40% INCREASE they felt justified in giving themselves just a year ago,

So in actual fact --- TNRD board members have gone to the taxpayers of the Thompson Nicola region (which includes the City of Kamloops), and not asked for, but simply taken, a wage increase of 41.7%.

Here is a bit of the editorial from the Kamloops Daily News …

$130 thousand dollars a year is little more than a drop in the bucket

Pamela Martin (L) & Premier Christy Clark (R)

Premier Christy Clark raised a few eyebrows in June when she hired former CTV news anchor Pamela Martin to a $130,000 a year job as director of outreach in the premier’s office.  Since then, many people have wondered what she and the of 16 people in her office actually do

Well the Vancouver Province asked the following question a few weeks ago, “And what does Pamela Martin really do anyway? You might as well ask how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.”

The Victoria Times Colonist was however able to get some information … what do you think of the things the Premier has had keeping her busy?

Her calendar says she had work-related events on 25 days between June 25 and July 28. Some included weekends and night events – such as acting as master of ceremonies at a “Persian Community event” on July 15 or attending the Canada Cup closing ceremonies -  others included just a couple of hours in the office.