More Thoughts On The Illegal B.C. Teacher's Strike
It would be very interesting to see a poll with these 2 questions:
1. Do you support the teacher's strike?
2. Who did you vote for in the last provincial election?
Assuming that people don't lie about the 2nd question (ie. try to "game" the results), I get the strong sense that there'd be a strong correlation between "Yes & NDP/Green" and "No & Liberals".
For whenever I hear ultra pro-labour callers, they are still clearly bitter about the last provincial election results. It seems that they see this new fight as a way of getting back at Gordon Campbell and his party - much like the "Extra" draw on some lottery tickets!
The fact that many of them seem so ready to ignore THE LAW is more than a little scary to me, though a reminder of the "moral relativism" that is a growing curse on our society. For if we don't all follow the laws laid down by our democratically elected governments (of whatever political stripe!) then big, big trouble is sure to result. But so few people these days seem to be able to remember what happened as recently as a year ago, so how can we expect them to respect the important lessons of history?!
13 comments:
My sister and brother-in-law are both teachers. When they were laid of in '02ish, they did the sensible thing and went overseas. They now make money hand over fist, work in amazing environments, and are raising their children in some of the most incredible places in the world.
Like everyone else with good sense, when the jobs weren't up to their standard/available, they shopped around and found what they wanted instead of sitting on their arses and whingeing/striking for a job.
It's a free market out there. When teachers realise that their jobs will be worth more money because of the value they add instead of the power of their unions, *then* and only then will North American schools meet the standard that schools abroad achieve, union-free.
Everyone is talking about this illegal strike. And, of course, the focus is on the fact that the teachers (myself included) are BREAKING THE LAW. It's really uncomfortable doing so, but teachers feel so strongly that this law is wrong that we're willing to risk it.
I saw a great sign today that said "There's a big difference between breaking the law and having a law created to break you." Teachers feel that this 'law' that sent us back to work is unjust, and so are standing up to it.
The government keeps talking about teachers not repsecting the law. Here's a great article about how much our government really respects the law...
http://www.bctf.ca/Publications/TakingAStand/archive/2005-06/2005-10-07.html
Hoping to be back at work soon,
Hillary
Dear dgnyhk,
What you're saying makes complete sense, of course. But saying it to a Canadian audience would just get you a lot of blank stares. Because, as you know very well when you lived here, there's a strong entitlement mentality in this country. Free market? Not if it gets in the way of the lifestyle of most Canadians. Then they would say that a human rights violation has occurred!
Its one thing to have a union for farm workers in a third world country who have no one to really stand up for them or have few alternatives to available agriculture related labour; completely different for educated individuals like teachers to say they have no alternative to getting better paying jobs than striking. Basic economic theories say that if there is a shortage of teachers, thats when the wages and conditions will get better, not when you sit and strike over what is, yes an essential service. On the question of "a bad law", really who gets to decide what is and what is not a good or bad law. The way to repel a bad law is vote current government out of power and put in a government that is sympathetic to you. If you dont, then democracy prevails and you go with the law of the land. If we as individuals start deciding what is and what is not a "good law", how is that any different than anarchy. Its like a thief saying any laws about breaking and entering are bad. Apartheid was a bad law, and the people as a whole, the majority, got the government in power overthrown, that is democracy. If the teachers truly want to be altruistic as they put forth in their statements, get back into class and protest without hurting the kids. That message will go a long way than just plain breaking the law.
Shamonu, I just checked out your profile. You're a woman and in the education field. Comments like yours (and my friend, dgnyhk in Hong Kong) reassure me that I'm not so off the wall in my thinking. Today I met with an educator from Ontario who shared with me some disturbing stories about the Teacher's Union there. Did you know that one school district was out on strike for 3 months? 3 MONTHS!!! And when the district tried to get special help for the kids to get them back on track, the teachers there offered it ... at outrageous rates! Yesterday I did an informal survey of some friends of mine. Most of them have not had a pay increase in many years. So this nonsense that teachers (or anyone) are ENTITLED to a raise is poppycock. Actually, as the number of private sector workers (read "wealth generators") decreases dramatically over the next few decades - as a larger % of the population become elderly - then there will be much less money available for public sector employees. Do you think they will accept a wage decrease, even when the mathematical facts are presented clearly to them?
Shamonu, in many cases you're correct but when it comes to growth (& aging) projections I'm convinced the accuracy is the name of the game. Those who choose to examine these projections know exactly where we're heading but most people just don't want to know. And then when the "pain" hits in the future, they love to complain, stating that they "had no idea this was coming".
To answer both PelaLusa and Anonymous on the "bad law" argument: you know a law is bad when it's made up by one single party, in the heat of a crisis, just to avoid dealing with the problems they got elected to deal with. A bad law might be one that goes against the Law of the Land, as designed by other elected representatives, over years and years of responsible government. To answer your analogy, Anonymous, stealing is ALWAYS illegal, EVERYWHERE—that's how you know it's a good law. Well, striking is legal for teachers in pretty much every democracy in the world. For someone so intent on defending free market, PelaLusa, I find you a tad cold toward free speech. Oh well, we'll have to disagree on this one. And yes, I am a teacher, so feel free to disregard my arguments as irrelevent because I'm such a greedy bastard (isn't free market primarily about greed? — nice motorcycles, amigo).
Dear Froggy,
I don't disagree with you that the law was passed in haste. But nevertheless, it is a LAW passed by a democratically elected government. What about that do you not understand?
In any case, your fight at the moment is not with the government but with the Supreme Court of BC. It baffles me how you, and so many other teachers seem to think that you're above the law. As I've said in a more recent posting, I understand what a horrible position you're in but nevertheless, if you think that the judge is going to tolerate this behaviour much longer, you're sadly mistaken. If & when that hammer comes down, you will quickly learn that you must indeed respect the law, just like the rest of us.
You are very right on this: law abiding citizens that we normally are, we are not too comfy about this process, and may indeed pay dearly for it.
In the long run, we feel we have to make that stand, because last time we shut up we saw things deteriorate quite dramatically in our schools. Abiding by the law is fine when you deal with people who deliver on their electoral promises, or at least attempt to, because they do indeed represent the will of the electorate. When you deal with liars who effectively stole their votes, anything goes. What we (both us and the governement) need to win this dispute: popular support. Whoever gets it will come out on top. If it's Campbell, you'll be happy to be right, and we will be very, very sorry for our mistakes. Good luck to you...
First off let me say that I am a teacher (but before this point not really a union supporter). In reality teachers should have taken this action at the imposing of the last contract (we didn't because of the state of the economy at the time). The reason I am angry is that during the 90's we gave up pay increases in our contracts so that we could retain negotiating rights on class size and support issues. Then the new Liberal government rips those rights from our contract (guess we should have taken the pay increase instead.
I am amazed that people are more angered by teachers breaking the law than they are by a democratically elected government that trashes legally binding contracts and makes laws on a whim. I accept that there will be consequences.
As for this just being about the money, this may be true for some. I know that I don't think I should have to take a pay cut (which is what I have been doing the last 10 years as wage increases don't match cost of living increases). I would be ecstatic if my wage just kept pace with the cost of living. So yes I want a bit more money but I also want different working conditions. In my math 11 class of 35 students a student is lucky if they get to ask me one question as they are competing for my time with all the others.
If I hear one more person go on about the teacher holidays I think I'll snap. My brother is a tradesperson in a mine and gets more time off than me.
But don't worry...my whining will stop soon. I have an interview with a private school in Calgary next week where I will be paid more and working conditions are better. Of course it costs parents $20,000/yr for each student...but hey..it's a free market. Wish me luck
Dear Teacher Moving To Calgary:
Unlike every other teacher I've spoken with, you're the first that is actually prepared to put your shoe leather where your mouth is (so to speak) and change your postal code to one that gives you the extra money you want. The world is a free market and there are countless opportunities for most professions to get better money if they're prepared to move.
Where I take GREAT exception is your comment that you somehow deserve a raise every year. Why? Do most people in the private sector get a raise every year? Some do but not most and its rarely guaranteed for any professional.
When I hear comments from public sector workers about guaranteed pay increases, guaranteed working environments, and/or guaranteed job security I'm convinced that you're all smoking some pretty serious marijuana. For it just ain't so for the rest of us.
And what all of you are clearly in denial about is the shrinking taxpayer base and growing senior citizens over the coming decades. LESS and LESS money will be available to pay public sector workers. That's a statistical demographic fact.
Best of luck in Calgary. With more money in your pocket it should make you a much happier person.
Just for the record if you read my post I didn't say I deserved a raise every year... I said I would be ecstatic if I got one. I understand that the economy dictates the wages for public service employees. With that said, having taken an average of 1% over the last ten years and with the government touting its high surplus and with the raise the MLS's have given themselves I do think I deserve a raise now (nothing extravagant and certainly not the 15% asked for by the union).
As for working conditions...in education these are directly tied to the quality of the system. Ultimately it is up to the public to determine whether they are satisfied with the education system.
As for being happy...I love my job and will continue to love it no matter where I am doing it.
I wonder where people on this blog come up with their figures. According to the Bank of Canada (http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/inflation_calc.html) the annual increase in the cost of living for the past 10 years is 2% per year. A 4-5% increase sounds pretty good compared to that (much better than the 1% per year that teachers have averaged over the last 10 years). I'm not a public sector employee and I know that I my wage increases have more than kept up wth the cost of living
I wonder if people realize what would happen if education suddenly became a free market system. My wife is a Physics/Math teacher and a damn good one. I can tell you that if she were working for herself she would charge much more than the $1.75/student per hour that she currently gets (and yes I did calculate this number...trust me :)) As for home schooling your kids...unless you have the expertise to teach higher level subjects I think your kids will end up in the system at some point.
Let's be honest there are good teachers and not so good. In a free market system I don't know that I would be able to afford the services of the really good ones.
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