It seems these two bodies lack common sense. Strikes and walkouts always seem to occur when it causes the most damage and chaos for students and parents.
In any given year of 365 days, a teacher works around 190, not including pro D-days and sick leave, so the lowest paid, factoring the mandated hours, makes $36 per hour, plus health and pension benefits, which goes up accordingly to pay scale, $60,000 works out to $53 per hour, $80,000 to $72 per hour and so on. Please remember these are estimates.
The teacher gets to go to the same property every day to a building, designed, built, furnished, heated, maintained at taxpayers’ expense, with no shift work, no uniform, no safety equipment required, no worries about security checks, no tools to pack, employer cheque bouncing, seasonal downturns or dress requirements.
The union is requesting more money for teachers to improve the quality of education.
Really, does giving a person more funds make them a better employee? Or does putting more funds into the infrastructure, and operation do more good?
Teachers on the lower pay scale only have to upgrade their degree to raise their pay grade but with the extra money they don’t take on more job responsibility or change their position they just get more money.
Teaching is unique and is not for everyone but it does provide a much-needed service to our children and we appreciate their work. But teaching does have way more to offer than most professions and I don’t believe the union understands that and their fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers.
Since the beginning of this century, the school population in this area has dropped from about 15,000 to 8,000 but the cost never seem to go down.
Please, would the union and the government representatives take a hard look at that aspect before you start trying to outdo each other in the media as to who is the bad guy in all of this. Our children are watching.
B. Erickson
Vernon
