LETTER: Teachers using kids to mask greed
By Contributor
Becoming a Teacher is a many things, but I would hazard to say more a “Lifestyle choice” where you work desirable hours with weekends, long weekends, summers, and holidays all off. Any teacher knows what also comes with their chosen occupation, which is some work done at home, and also putting in time with the kids after school. Life is about supply and demand, as was demonstrated by the shortage of nurses at one point, and the need to pay the going rate to keep our nurses from moving to another area. I see no shortage of teachers in our system, but more so an overabundance of them that can’t find jobs because so many teachers are retiring much later in life now. If teachers thought they were so underpaid, why don’t they move to where the pay is better like the nurses threatened to do in large numbers at one time? The answer is “simple” – they already know they are paid well.
The last provincial election said a lot, the majority of people felt the BCTF and its members have a sense of entitlement, which is clearly illustrated in the number of sick days they take yearly, and their vague disguise of their rotating strikes being “about the children”, when we all know it’s about the money, and creating more positions for their membership.
In the current economic situation in the world that most of us are facing daily, I find the BCTF’s greed at the expense of our kids to be repulsive.
Also, in the real world, if you can’t do your job well enough, you then lose said job, but in the BCTF world, they protect weak and poor teachers behind a iron curtain, so with that being said, the next time your hear the BCTF president suggest their main concern is with the children, I think we all know the real truth.
Teachers are so entrenched in our everyday life, as they are our family members, neighbours, and friends, which is why nobody feels free to say what they really think, for fear of reprisal, but it was said in the last election very clearly.
I love teachers for their dedication and hard work, but there comes a time when they need to look around and realize how lucky they have it already, and make any fight about the kids. While I disagree with some of the government tactics in its bargaining, I do realize they are trying to save “me”, the taxpayer, money.
I challenge the BCTF to drop their wage demands, and ask for any increase that the government was willing to give them to be put into the school district’s pool of funds, as then YES the teachers would be truly be out for the benefit of the kids!
(Name withheld at editor’s discretion)
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