By Gary Mason - from the Globe and Mail
Poor B.C. teachers. Their union makes it so hard to love them.
It’s contract time in the province, which means the teachers’ union has issued its latest set of demands for labour peace. This happens every few years or so and each time it does the B.C. Teachers’ Federation’s long inventory of proposals prompts howls of laughter in Victoria’s corridors of power.
Just consider some of the things teachers are looking for this time around: a 26-week, fully paid leave of absence per year for direct or indirect compassionate care “to any person”; 10 days paid bereavement leave upon the death of any friend or relative (up from the five days teachers currently get); five paid days per year for professional activities (they currently get no allowance); two sick days a month that can be saved up.
And, of course, the union is also seeking an as-yet unspecified wage increase.
The B.C. Public School Employers Association estimates the annual cost to meet all of the teachers’ demands would be $2.1-billion.
That estimate, which has been widely quoted since it was released, is as goofy as the demands themselves. It is a misleading number based on a range of unlikely assumptions. I’m not sure why the association would promote it; it’s not as if it needs help getting the public worked into a state about the out-of-touch demands and questionable behaviour of the BCTF.
That’s easy.
If it’s not the BCTF’s ludicrous contract wishes angering people, it’s reports that the union-dominated B.C. College of Teachers is failing to safeguard classrooms from teachers who shouldn’t be there.
A government review last fall revealed how the college had returned the teaching certificate of a man convicted of sexual assault – against students. As well, it restored the teaching credentials of a man sentenced to six years in jail for drug trafficking. There are loads of other examples too, just as egregious.
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