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October 6, 2005
Damn Teachers
The BCTF has finally pulled the trigger, and teachers will be on strike starting from tomorrow, days after the Labour Minister announced plans to legislate an agreement for the remaining school year. A process that has taken nearly a year has arrived, incredibly and yet unsurprisingly, at nothing.But is this any surprise from this bunch of fanatical ingrates? Ever since province-wide labour negotiations have been introduced for teachers in 1994, there has only been one “transitional” agreement reached between the two parties (because the NDP needed to tie up loose ends before going into the 1996 election with a budget surplus... ...oh wait). Ever since, there has been already two legislated collective agreements (1998, 2002) by two different governments, and in all honesty, nobody expected the current set of negotiations to go anywhere.
Apparently, teachers are pissed that they are being legislated to return to work for the school year with no pay raise. This seems to be a weird thing to get pissed about, considering that they spent the previous school year with no pay raise. Not like they should've expected one, considering that all other public service employees have negotiated agreements with zero net increase. Hell, they didn't even give a wage proposal until the day they first voted to go to job action.
After all, they were too busy “fighting for students” by making demands that no one else but them has any say on issues of education quality (i.e. class size). Because, you know, parents and school boards are too dumb or incompetent to deal with such lofty matters. Although they weren't in any hurry to save us from ourselves as well, sitting out the first eight months of possible negotiating time until last November (the Wright Commission didn't release its final report until December, so evidently they weren't waiting for that).
And now teachers are telling kids that it's okay to break the law because, you know, whining just isn't enough these days. Brilliant.
Posted by Kelvin at October 6, 2005 7:34 PM
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» STRIKE OR SHAKEDOWN? from Peaktalk
I�m home this morning with my five-year old as the teachers here have gone on strike. If you scroll down my economic freedom archive you will guess where I stand on this issue. While in the entire western world unions... [Read More]
Tracked on October 7, 2005 7:44 AM
Comments
Mr Music said...
I want to tell you all a story 'bout a GTA urban wife
Who had a teenage daughter who attended Harper Valley Junior High
Well her daughter came home one afternoon and didn't even stop to play
She said Mom I got a note here from the Harper So-Cons in the G.T.A.
The note said Misses Urban Girl, you're wearing your dresses way too high
It's reported you've been talking to the youth and ethnics, women’s groups and gays
And we don't believe you ought to be a bringing up your little girl this way
It was signed by the secretary, Harper So-Cons GTA.
Well, it happened So-Cons G.T.A. were gonna meet that very afternoon
They were sure surprised when Misses Urban Girl wore her miniskirt into the room
And as she walked up to the blackboard I still recall the words she had to say
She said, I'd like to address this meeting of the Harper So-Cons G.T.A.
Well there's John Reynolds, sitting there and seven times he's asked me for a date
Messrs. Flaherty and Clement always missing that retirement is just 4 months away
And Mr. Capobianco can you tell us what your smokin’ that makes you blind
And shouldn't Peter Kent be reading news not playing with you wasting all his time
Well Mr Harper couldn't be here 'cause he’s filling sandbags for the bunker again
He may as well get ready cuz the writing’s on the wall – “you loser has-been”
Then you have the nerve to tell me you think that as a mother I'm not fit
Well this is just a little piece of urban Canada where none of you are ever gonna fit.
No, I wouldn't put you on because it really did, it happened just this way
The day my Mama socked it to the Harper So-Cons G.T.A.
Posted by: Mike King 
at October 24, 2005 1:41 PM
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