Dear Editor:
As a Burnaby resident, I am one of the "silent majority" that sadly cannot support the striking teachers for the following reasons.
Firstly, the current government was given a mandate by the people of B.C. to manage the province and its finances for the next five years only 18 months ago, which most teachers and their union just seem unable to accept or respect.
They have openly shown defiance to all government and employer attempts to manage or resolve the current dispute, and even seem unwilling to effectively manage the vast funds already provided to education in any constructive, flexible manner, that times demand.
Most other unions and businesses do understand that this last several years have required innovation and flexibility to survive and continue to provide the service or product to its customers. Do we see this from the teachers or their union, or is it the same old rhetoric over and over from them?
The teachers, by "their vote to strike" back in May, show no respect or understanding for their own students and families or other union workers or local businesses directly affected by the strike. Their lack of acceptance of anyone else's view or position on education and its funding (which cannot exist in a vacuum), must and will affect spending on other branches of government and social services for many years, if the current teachers' demands are met in full.
To demonstrate my personal disapproval of their strike, I have shown them my view by giving them a clear "thumbs down" several times as I drive past their picket line in my local area, so they have got to know my vehicle, and this morning they collectively jeered me as I drove by, again another level of disrespect for any counter view but their own.
As this disrespect seems so ingrained in their whole culture and attitude now, why should I support them when the consequences of their current demands will effect many other parts of my community and our society as we know it in B.C.
Tim Savage, Burnaby
