Dear Editor:
I am a proud teacher that is happy to have the support of all those citizens who have taken the time to be informed about the issues of our dispute.
I am also a frustrated teacher who reads and hears comments from uninformed citizens that teachers are only striking to get a wage increase and that the kids are pawns in the game.
Please realize that teachers are fighting for the rights of your children to get the best education possible. This fight is about class size and composition.
Please realize that as always teachers take less of an increase in pay to fight for better learning conditions for the students. It is the teachers who provided movement on wages as we always do.
Please realize that we are the only union that has to negotiate on behalf of a third party while trying to get a raise that keeps up with inflation. This is why teachers start at the "outrageous" levels they do in negotiations. We know that we will have to give up salary to get something for the kids.
Please realize that we fought to get class size and composition into our collective agreement. This fight is about learning conditions for your children.
Please realize that when the government tore up those contracts and threw out class size and composition, that it was the teachers who spent all of their union money to fight the government in court. You've probably heard the BCTF is broke. That's why.
We, the teachers, fund our battle in the courts directly from our pockets in the form of union dues. The court battles are not about teachers making more money. They are about returning class size and composition to our collective agreement. We do this on behalf of our students.
Please realize that the government was subsequently ruled against twice by the Supreme Court of B.C. for illegally tearing up the contracts and that they continue to ignore these rulings.
Please realize that in the meantime 41,000 teachers will go without three-quarters of their pay this month to fight this battle on behalf of the students of B.C. and their right to a proper education. It is not about the wages.
Would you, the "regular" working person not "protected by a union" forego three-quarters of your month's salary for someone else? I too have a family to take care of and this means I, and all teachers, sacrifice on behalf our families not just ourselves, for all students.
Please realize that every time a government representative says, "Why should teachers get more than other public sector workers? Teachers are asking for twice as much and B.C. taxpayers can not afford this", that in 2007, the government gave themselves a 29 per cent increase in one year. Henceforth, all contract demands were met with "there is no new money to put in the system".
Please realize the hypocrisy of a government that docked our pay 10 per cent for not doing our full workload while locked out, is the same government that failed to call for a fall sitting of the legislature in 2013, effectively meaning they went to work in the legislature for only 36 days that year. Thirty-six days out of 365. Perhaps they should be docked 90 per cent of their wages. I realize that MLA's work outside of the legislature, however, a government cannot be called to task by the opposition when it does not have to show up to work.
Please realize that the reason the BCTF never negotiates a settled contract with the government is because the government NEVER negotiates - it only legislates.
The next call to the legislature may be to push through another illegal bill that gives teachers their contract after they have saved enough money.
So when teachers call for "new" money in negotiations it is not to make taxpayers pay more. It is to make the government responsible to properly fund education and not to fund it from the savings of a forced strike and lockout.
Finally, I address this last comment to the apparently "uninformed" Ms. Christy Clark.
Please realize that all attempts to bankrupt our union and to put a wedge in our solidarity will not be successful. We know that you rely on our kind hearts for the need to be with our students in the classroom as a way of breaking our union.
Rest assured, after 12 years of fighting your government and being vindicated both in the Supreme Court and in court of public opinion, we will not back down.
It is time to stand by the "families first" election promise to create better learning environments for our youth and to move forward, not to continue your bullying and imposing of illegal contracts. You want to move 12 years backward in the name of saving taxpayer money while B.C. taxpayers want to move forward and put an end to this.
Abide by the law, which you are not above, and stop fighting your loses in court.
Release the chains and give the bargaining group the freedom to truly negotiate rather than stall until you save enough money to once again legislate.
Only then can we move forward because this fight is not about wages, it is about restoring what is fair and best for our children.
Larry Ryan, Burnaby school teacher
