To the editor:
While Mr. Sawchuk from Duncan is entitled to his opinion [in his letter, headlined Teachers’ Wage Demands Outrageous, on page A9 of the May 7 Free Press], but the information he uses for support is simply untrue.
Mr. Sawchuk states the average teacher’s wage in British Columbia is $89,624. The starting salary for a teacher in this [school] district, after graduating with a five-year university degree, is $46,650. It takes a further 10 years of “apprenticeship” teaching to reach a maximum salary of $74,353.
The highest teacher salary in our district of $81,489 is only available to teachers with a Masters degree, which requires two-three additional years of university, and 10 years of teaching experience. Many districts have pay scales lower than ours.
Also, as Tom Fletcher pointed out in his column on the same page, that university education comes with a price tag of $50,000 or more.
Mr. Sawchuk then proceeds to point out that many other provinces have settled deals with teachers that include wage freezes, but fails to mention that B.C. teachers’ wages have been frozen for the last four years.
While Alberta’s teacher wages may be frozen, they are frozen at a wage that is $12,000-$21,000 higher per year than B.C. teachers, with the same level of training and experience. Over a 30-year career, that is a half million dollar difference. Imagine what having that money in one’s pocket would do for B.C.’s economy.
Mr. Sawchuk doesn’t mention anything about teachers in other provinces having their contracts unilaterally stripped of their provisions, but that has only happened in B.C. Despite Justice Griffin twice ruling the government action was unconstitutional, and that the provisions had to be restored, the B.C. Liberal government has again ignored the ruling and is seeking to remove more provisions at the bargaining table or through another legislative process.
It is unfortunate Mr. Sawchuk’s rants garner such coverage in our paper, and the misinformation they contain do little to support public education when it is needed the most.
Murray Helmer, president
Cariboo-Chilcotin Teachers’ Association
