B.C. teacher contract talks lagging

Contract negotiations with B.C.'s teachers are not going well, says provincial Education Minister George Abbott.

“There's not a lot of reason for optimism at this time for an early resolution,” Abbott told a Vancouver news conference Tuesday.

Abbott said the potential for a strike by teachers could make for a rocky school year.

The B.C. Teachers Federation has said its members will not take on duties like attending staff meetings or filling out report cards if a contract is not agreed to by the time students return to classes Sept. 6.

The teachers want wage increases, better benefits and more say on the size and composition of classrooms.

But Abbott said his government will not budge from its net-zero mandate, which means no new money is available. It also means, however, that spending priorities could change to allow for wage increases if there were cuts of equal value elsewhere in the education budget.

Legislated back to work

In June, teachers voted 90 per cent in favour of strike action to back their contract demands.

Because they provide an essential service, Abbott said teachers would be forced to return to work if they eventually try to go on strike.

“One need only look at history to know that there have been numerous occasions in recent decades where these withdrawals have resulted in what are termed 'legislated solutions,'” he said.

In June 2006, teachers accepted a five-year contract that included wage and benefit increases that amounted to about 16 per cent and bonuses worth up to $4,700 each.

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Minister Abbott has a unique approach to labour bargaining: go ahead and bargain but I do not have any new money to bargain with.

“ Abbott said his government will not budge from its net-zero mandate, which means no new money is available. It also means, however, that spending priorities could change to allow for wage increases if there were cuts of equal value elsewhere in the education budget.”

How can spending priorities be changed? Do we take monies intended for children’s education to provide wage increases for teachers? That does not sound palatable. Should teachers give up some of their other benefits, such as health care, pension or whatever in order to increase their current income? That sounds like robbing their future. None of those options seem like winners. Government spending priorities seem to be the problem here.

This government has no sufficient money for education and health care yet huge sums of money were spent on the Olympics and the roof of BC Place. There is also plenty of money for executive salary increases. Executives of BC Ferries have taken home more than the net earnings of the corporation. The chair of Powerex Corporation made $636,315 in 2010, in 2011 his earnings are $1,011,718, an increase of 63%. For more examples of extreme wage increases please go to Global video and fast forward to 9 minutes, 20 seconds. Those increases are a far cry from the net-zero offer teachers are receiving. Is this a “Government of the people, by the people, for the people?”

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