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| Teachers and supporters gathered at BC Federation of Labour rally for BC Teachers' Federation Friday September 5 - Shirley Ross photo |
Valuable life lessons to be learned by students in ongoing dispute.
Bill Tieleman’s 24
Hours Vancouver / The
Tyee column
Tuesday September 2, 2014
By Bill Tieleman
"School's out for summer/ School's out forever / School's
been blown to pieces"
- Alice Cooper, "School's
Out"
There will be no public school classes today in British
Columbia, nor quite likely for weeks, after veteran mediator Vince Ready walked out
of negotiations, saying teachers and the provincial government were too far
apart.
So it's time for a reality check.
First, the sky will not fall. Everybody take a valium.
Students will not be scarred for life in learning that the
peaceful resolution of strong differences among adults is inconvenient and
expensive in a democracy. In fact, it's a valuable life lesson.
Alternative ways of dispute resolution are now on display by
Russian tanks and troops in eastern Ukraine, where the rule of force trumps the
rule of law and respect for international borders.
Second, teachers are not "strike happy."
They are going without wages and strike pay, suffering
financially because most believe it's the right thing to do, whether you agree
or not.
Teachers also know they will never make up $5,000 and counting
in lost wages.
The BC Teachers' Federation is not holding kids
"hostage."
True hostages are the 300 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram
terrorists in Nigeria -- respect the word.
Students and parents are also not "caught in the
middle" of this dispute; they are part of this dispute because parents are
taxpayers and voters and their children will become both.
As such, parents have an important role in telling the
government how they feel about its position, loudly. Students and non-parents
have that responsibility too.
Class size and composition -- the number of special needs kids
in classrooms and what resources they get to help learn -- are critical to the
whole province. It's our future at stake, and a generation of students already
had fewer resources than they were supposed to.
This government's record
Premier Christy Clark is well aware that governments rise and
fall on voters' judgment about how they deal with critical issues like
education, health care and the economy.
Political leaders who ignore or reject public opinion don't
survive long. Just ask former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell, ex-Alberta premier
Alison Redford or ex-Quebec premier Pauline Marois.
The BC Liberal government -- to its credit, so far -- has
rejected imposing a legislated contract.
To do so goes against labour principles and international
agreements, which state that free collective bargaining means reaching a
negotiated contract, even through the use of a legal strike or lockout to put
pressure on both sides.
But sadly, this government has been repeatedly cited for
violating basic union rights and has lost in Canadian courts against teachers,
hospital workers
and other unions.
The B.C. Supreme Court has twice ruled that the government broke the law
by stripping provisions for reduced class size and composition from the
teachers' contract in the past and of attempting to provoke a full-scale strike
for political advantage.
It has every right to appeal those decisions, but unless and
until that verdict is reversed, it remains exceedingly guilty.
Clark should be worried about not learning her lesson.
Kids will be all right
The BC Liberals also fired the BC Public School Employers'
Association board of directors, removing elected school trustees' involvement,
and replaced it with only one government appointed
administrator.
That came after BCPSEA and the teachers' union had agreed on new
approaches to bargaining and seemed
to be making progress. Now we have a full-scale, indefinite strike.
Education Minister Peter Fassbender broke
a media blackout agreed to by both sides, and despite his vigorous rejection of
that obvious conclusion it jeopardized talks at a critical moment.
The
government has proposed contract clauses that would say, according
to the union, "that if either party didn't like the outcome of the court
decision, notice could be served to unilaterally terminate the collective
agreement" and also allow government to override a future court decision.
Who would give up their right to go to court against a
government with a record of illegally breaking its word and ripping up
contracts?
But
ultimately the strike will end, teachers and students will go back to
classrooms and the kids will be all right.
13 comments:
Think the BCTF needs a reality check too. Where is the money going to come from to pay out $5000 per teacher on this signing bonus which the teachers would have to sign collectively anyway?
and why up to $3000 per teacher for massage therapies per year?
the most strange is the fertility drugs? What does that have to do with the classroom? Do the men teachers get Vaiagra?
Taxpayers could in cost tolerate the additional costs involved with
reducing class sizes by a small amount, but reality is that while 25 kids per class or even 20 kids per class would mean the hiring of additional teachers, and where is that money supposed to come from?
If people weren't so anti-resource the additional revenues from additional resource development could easily pay out for reduced class sizes in addition to providing well paying jobs to the resource sector (many of those jobs at the resource extraction level and surface transport level are union).
That's a reality
Sounds to me the above account comment makes much more sense the the blow hard dip that wrote the article for the union!
Sounds to me the above account comment makes much more sense the the blow hard dip that wrote the article for the union!
Parents often remove their children from school for family trips during the school year while the rest of the class moves forward with instruction. Those children work with their teachers to catch up and do fine. Parents take that as a right, and in the last decade or so have begun to use it more frequently than ever. I cannot count the number if times in my recent experience I have been blithely told on a Friday afternoon "I am going to be away next week. What am I going to miss?"
So now, while at least all students are missing at the same time, teachers will be able to adjust instruction for all and make sure all get through the remainder of the year just fine. Your children's teachers will not let them down.
Here are some suggestions for parents. When school begins, insist upon the following:
- that semester end schools be made linear for this year, or at the very least that semester length and exam schedules be adjusted to equalize semesters
- that only completely necessary disruptions to instruction be allowed: limit assemblies, move spirit activities to lunch break only, have teams stay in class right up to bus time
- don't excuse your children from school for any reason other than illness or serious family matters (same as you would expect in the workforce)
- schedule family trips during school vacations!
Together, we can make it work.
Yet they can find money to increase the cabinets wages by 18%? Reality check! Time for other unions to get involved... teachers first.. whose next!
AND I HATE UNIONS, BUT THEY WERE PUT IN PLACE TO HELP FIGHT AGAINST THIS KIND OF DICTATORSHIP! BC has constantly elected people who don't care about middle or lower class. VOTE FOR SOMEONE WHO HASN'T BEEN BOUGHT OFF... YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THEM BY THE FACT THEY DON'T HAVE MILLIONS TO SPREAD THEIR FACE AND LIES ALL OVER THE MEDIA!
Bill
How about a BC general strike.?
"How about a BC general strike.?"
Give it a rest. There are more people who are not members of a union, and they do not need to have services interrupted for the sake of "union brother/sisterhood".
General strikes are for union shop stewards and union business agents.
If there is a general strike, it also means the BCTF administration stops because the HQ is union (either OTEU or something else). Union administration would also stop such union offices too.
The NDP MLA offices would also be closed because the office employees there are BCGEU.
and how would you get groceries? Safeway, Save On Foods are UFCW. Go to a non union store such as IGA or Price Smart?
Come to think of it main stream media would have to stop too since places such as Global are Unifor union.
So what does that leave? One sided Left wing resources such as blogs and the Tyee.
Renew your vehicle registration and insurance? You wouldn't be able to because ICBC HQ is union.
Can't get to work by bus? Walk or ride a bike. The buses are Canadian Auto Workers.
General strikes are for folk who live the union paradise and don't figure the implications for those who are not in a union working environment and buy the lines the shop stewards feed them.
Anon 23:00 talks about General Strike as something unions want. Maybe Anon wasn't around during the days of Solidarity, and Bennett, the younger brought in some really tough legislation. Yes the unions walked as did many non union, and the folks calling for general strikes were not union people . General Strikes hurt us all and the government wins as anarchy sets in.
"Maybe Anon wasn't around during the days of Solidarity, and Bennett"
Yes I was.
"the younger brought in some really tough legislation."
It was called the Restraint Program and despite the hatred for it, it was nessesary to reduce the size of the public service and went through and B.C. survived. The party of government changed leaders, that party earned another term in office and the end result was worse than Bill Bennett former Premier (the result Premier came up with brillant ideas such as the Property Transfer Tax and the giving the BCTF the right to strike).
Even Stan Persky, the left wing writer that would make The Tyee look like a pro-business and progressive conservative leaning news source, came up with his own left wing paper, Solidarity Times.
:Yes the unions walked as did many non union"
There were, such as special interest groups, mainly poverty groups led by Jean Swanson, and LG groups youtrh groups, and women's groups. It was Art Kube that started Operation Solidarity, and it just got out of hand.
Never saw business groups walk out.
The NDP on the other hand was nowhere to be seen.
"and the folks calling for general strikes were not union people"
No they weren't union, but they were just special interest groups that wanted in on the protest.
"General Strikes hurt us all and the government wins as anarchy sets in."
Those who want anarchy are the same ones that depend on government programs as the rest of us do.
General Strikes are a sham. It's always the pro-union movement that wants one.
The BCTF needs to revisit its demands and ask for a reduced class size, but in stages.
Reading up on our blessed government`s website. They`ve posted each side`s proposals. Nice spin. But I`m not ignorant ... so I`m not buying it.
I`ve spent loads of time in my local elementary school. I just recently graduated. Twelve years. Three kids. And I`ve seen the decline. I`ve been in the classroom and on fieldtrips. There are lots of great teachers & there is a lot of great learning going on. But the classroom has been slowly eroding. Dumbing down. At all levels - elementary, middle & high school.
Give our teachers the support they are asking for. Quit stripping the kids`education. We all need to pay attention. Now. Unbusy yourselves. Our teachers are standing on behalf of parents. It`s time for change. Restoration.
With advocacy &
In full support
I`ve spent loads of time in my local elementary school. I just recently graduated. Twelve years.
So have a lot of other people.
"Three kids. And I`ve seen the decline. I`ve been in the classroom and on fieldtrips. There are lots of great teachers & there is a lot of great learning going on. But the classroom has been slowly eroding. Dumbing down. At all levels - elementary, middle & high school.
Give our teachers the support they are asking for. Quit stripping the kids`education.
Fine, but lose the excessive demands such as $5000 signing bonuses, and $3000 massage therapies and the fertility drugs.
and get with the reality of how much it would cost to take all of what the BCTF demands.
Why do some people keep saying 3000 for massage when it's not true. Signing bonus is negotiable just as in many collective agreement discussions. If one side is against it, it won't happen
"Why do some people keep saying 3000 for massage when it's not true."
It is to many still in there. It's ridiculous to say the least. Many companies don't even provide it as a benefit.
"Signing bonus is negotiable just as in many collective agreement discussions.
Doesn't need to be in there. Why would there be a "bonus" for something that is collectively signed at the end anyway? It's just bait money and a ransom. As in "Pay out $5000 per teacher for us to sign the new agreement".
$210 million in total just for signing. Where is that money supposed to come from? That could be equivalent to 2500 new teachers for a year.
If one side is against it, it won't happen
If the BCTF would dump those excessive demands such as massage therapies and fertility drug provisions, and reduce class sizes to let's say average of 26 kids, a new agreement would happen.
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