Education in B.C. – a militant union; an incompetent government, both ways students lose

Editor's Comment
As a retired teacher who has teachers in the family, I must let readers know, I do not agree with everything Gerry has to say but I do look forward to the responses and hope some teachers will clearly point out  and describe the real issues teachers face in the classroom for too often the perception is that, this is all about teachers salary.   From experience I can tell you it cuts a teacher to the core when they cannot give any time to those deserving well-behaved, well-adjusted, 'normal' children because there are 5 or 6 just as deserving but needy, less well-behaved, challenged students who demand the vast percentage of a teacher's time. There are too many of those classrooms and yes, it is about money because taking care of everyone's needs costs money.
I chose to stand against the union once but not this time.

Perceptions by Gerry Warner

A plague on both of their houses. But a bigger plague on the house of the BCTF, which has to bear the brunt of the blame for the dysfunctional education system we have in the province now, depriving the province’s children  – the forgotten victims in this dispute – of their right to be educated because of dereliction of duty by teachers and a government that’s lost its way.

I can explain.

B.C.’s education system began to go off the rocks in 1972, the year the NDP came to power for the first time aided by the BCTF’s infamous “apple campaign,” when federation members openly campaigned for the NDP and were given credit for helping bring Dave Barrett’s crew to power.

But once teachers got their feet wet in politics they quickly got addicted and they’ve been a political force ever since. Then in 1987 the Social Credit government of the day passed legislation forcing teachers to choose between an association or a union model for the BCTF with only the union model having the right to strike. The government move was designed to split the BCTF and gain power over it. Instead, the move backfired and close to 99 percent of teachers chose the union model and the rest, as they say, is history.

You’d think the Socreds would have known better in 1987 because the teachers had already participated in an illegal three-day strike as part of the Operation Solidarity movement which came perilously close to triggering a general strike in 1983. But like the Clark Liberals today, they didn’t, and once again education in the province is being held hostage by a rogue union and a bumbling, incompetent government incapable of showing decisive leadership. And the big loser? I don’t need to tell you because there’s 450,000 of them from K to 12.

In October 2005, the BCTF went on strike illegally again this time against an NDP government, which shows if nothing else, they don’t discriminate politically in getting what they want.  And what they want is always gussied up in talk about class size and composition, but it always boils down to the same thing – money. You be the judge.

Under the last province-wide contract (June 30, 2010) that I was able to find, salaries of fully qualified teachers in the province ranged from $43,099 to $83,195. Now in a perfect world that may not be enough because teachers are in charge of educating our children and it’s hard to underestimate the importance of that responsibility and the great job most teachers do.

But gentle reader, I don’t think I need to remind you that we most assuredly don’t live in a perfect world and these days the world has been looking even less perfect than usual with most of the globe still in recession, the European economy collapsing and Israel and the U.S. engaging in ominous war rhetoric with Iran. Indeed, most of us are just glad to hold onto the jobs we have and hope sanity returns to the world scene. And many of us would be damn glad to have a job that pays what teachers get and comes with more than two months vacations,  a generous pension plan, classroom assistants, paid professional days off, and in the case of Cranbrook teachers, almost every second Friday off.

Nice work if you can get it. Little alone a 15 per cent raise no other government worker is getting.

“It’s not about the money,” teachers are fond of saying, but I’m sorry because I have trouble believing that. If it truly wasn’t about the money 450,000 B.C. students would have been safely in their desks all this week soaking up knowledge instead of falling further behind in an already badly truncated educational year or being looked after by a parent at home missing days of work or – and this is the one that really bothers me – being shamelessly exploited by their teachers and participating in illegal demonstrations against a stupid, incompetent and apparently somewhat leaderless government.

Yep, and once again B.C. is the laughing stock of Confederation. Can’t you hear the tongues wagging. “B.C., what a place. Not only do the teachers strike, the students strike with them.” I don’t blame the students. They’re caught in the middle. But we know who to blame, don’t we? Teachers whose priorities are askew and a government incapable of setting priorities.

The obvious way to end this dispute is to impose binding arbitration and salvage what’s left of the school year. But that would take maturity by both sides, something sadly lacking in B.C. politics.