Here’s an important question: if teachers are willing to lie to the taxpayers who employ them, are they also willing to lie to the students?
A recent ad by the BC Teachers’ Federation—the teachers’ radical, pro-gay Leftist union—features a purported teacher pleading: “What we’re asking for is what students need.”
Really? Let’s have a look at some of the things they’re asking for:
• “Compassionate leave” for teachers when a friend dies. How does that benefit students? Cost to taxpayers: $80 million.
• A 22% pay raise at a time when governments are fighting deficits and debts that the students will have to repay in higher taxes when they graduate—if they can find a job in the socialist-crippled economy they’ll inherit. Benefit to teachers: a top pay rate that jumps from $74,353 to $90,944 a year . Cost: $618 million.
• Up to 26 weeks of fully paid leave per year to provide direct or indirect compassionate care to any person. Cost to taxpayers: $49 million a year.
• Eight days off a year whenever a teacher wants. $122 million a year.
• Topping up parental and maternity leave to allow up to 5 years of leave per child. Cost to taxpayers: $41 million a year.
• Five more days off for professional development, at teacher’s discretion: $80 million.
• Up to five days off a year to care for their child—or any other person: $80 million.
• Unlimited leave for union business. Who knows what that will cost?
• Benefit upgrades—taxpayers will pick up the full tab for MSP, extended health and dental, applying to all teachers: $82 million.
• taxpayer pays all professional fees: about $5 million a year.
• Improvements to On Call pay, including $2,200 per month whether they work or not. Cost to taxpayers: $60 million.
• Retirement bonus of 5% a year to any teacher with 10 years or more service at age 55. Total cost to taxpayers: $445 million.
The $2.184 billion price tag is actually only part of what BCTF demands would cost. Many other provincial government bargaining agreements have a “me-too” clause: if BC breaks its net-zero wage mandate, every other union will be able to use that “whipsaw” to renegotiate their contract to try for more.
And don’t buy the argument that BC teachers are underpaid compared to other provinces. Look at the facts:
The BCTF claim of “tumbling from third place to eighth” is inaccurate and misleading, because those place rankings were arrived at using two differing methods.
An accurate description of BC teachers’ salaries from 2006 to 2011, according to the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation:
• By one set of criteria, BC teachers ranked 3rd in Canada in 2006, and now rank 4th;
• By the other set of criteria, in 2006, BC teachers’ salaries ranked 6th in Canada, and in 2011 were 7th.
“But it’s for the children,” pleads the BCTF ad.
I think it’s a crock…