To the Editor,
Re: Premier’s stance on teachers’ strike doesn’t put families first, Letters, June 24.
Predictably, when B.C. teachers go on strike, the endless bemoaning of the strikers as well as their shallow rhetoric never fails to surprise me. If it’s not about ‘respect,’ it’s about ‘the kids.’
I’ve got news for teachers – the public sees through your phony complaints. It’s only about more money and fatter pensions. Yes, sometimes the truth stings a little.
It would bode well for the striking employees of the B.C. education system to remember who pays their salaries and allows them to enjoy prolonged vacation whilst the rest of are working in order that they may do so.
Not one ounce of sympathy nor support from this Nanaimo taxpayer.
Pat Maguirevia e-mail
To the Editor,
Re: Premier’s stance on teachers’ strike doesn’t put families first, Letters, June 24.
It is time to face the facts and reality of what is happening in the rest of Canada. Governments in B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island are negotiating with teachers. Teacher contracts are a hard sell in all 10 provinces.
B.C. teachers want a wage increase of eight per cent over a five-year contract, with a $5,000 signing bonus. Not good enough for the B.C. taxpayer. The average B.C. teacher wage is $70,624 – very generous when they only have to work 188 days per year in relation to other taxpayers that have to work 238 days per year.
Completely outrageous wage demands in comparison to what teachers have negotiated in other provinces.
Joe SawchukDuncan
To the Editor,
Re: Teachers vote for full strike, June 13.
I would really like to go into my boss’ office to tell him that unless my demands for a pay raise with increased benefits are met, I’ll go on strike, to which the boss would reply, “You have as much of a chance as a snowball in hell and if you still do not like it, there’s the door.”
These professional teachers need to finally realize that they have well-paying jobs with more-than-usual benefits, especially with this very hard-hitting economic recession.
Students will suffer with the loss of their right to an education, whil parents will be yet again caught between the two very hard financial rocks paying for it, all the while these professional teachers behave a lot more like self-entitled spoiled brats.
Al MunroNanaimo
