Dear Editor:
Re: Teachers strike out on wage hike demands, Our View, Burnaby NOW, Jan. 20.
In your editorial, you slam teachers for our salary demands and suggest that we "would be better advised to turn up the heat on abandoned discussions on class size and composition." I would like to remind you that in the '90s we did exactly that. I and my colleagues in Vancouver walked the picket line (and gave up several weeks' pay) to achieve improvements in working and learning conditions that limited class size and regulated the inclusion of special needs students for the benefit of students and teachers alike.
In return, we settled for very modest wage increases. However, the Liberal government subsequently stripped this language from our collective agreement arbitrarily (and illegally, according to the B.C. Supreme Court) using the heavy hand of legislation. This means we are now without either the salary or the improved working and learning conditions for which we had worked so hard. In addition, as you well know, under the government's "net-zero mandate," such improvements can only come with reductions in teacher benefits, so really you are asking us to give up even more salary just to get those items back.
You also make reference to the law of supply and demand as a rationale for not paying B.C teachers more.
However, the law of supply and demand would also suggest that if you want the best employees, you have to pay competitive salaries.
As B.C. teachers fall farther and farther behind other provinces, young teachers, particularly in the interior of the province, will almost certainly be eyeing those substantially more lucrative pay scales east of the Rockies and considering their options carefully.
Over the many years that I have been teaching in this province, I have lost track of the number of times I have heard people tell me that "now is not the time."
We have seen almost continuous cuts to programs and services, and hundreds of school closures. We have watched helplessly as education spending as a percentage of the GDP has plummeted. As a profession, we have struggled to do our best with ever-diminishing resources and worsening classroom conditions.
We have dug deeply to continue to do our best for our students, your children, but at some point, we have to say enough is enough.
It is totally unrealistic to expect teachers to accept BCPSEA's offer of nothing, especially when they are also demanding significant concessions in other areas.
It is time for the government to stop hiding behind their specious net-zero mandate and come to the table with a serious proposal.
Lee Rachar, Burnaby
