The I Support BC Teachers thread

[Dun Caesar]

My wife is a teacher, and this is 100% NOT ABOUT MONEY. The teachers have been screwed bad! No raises, huge class sizes, tons of kids with independant education plans, and NO support. On top of that, not only do they NOT get a raise, as per the cba, but the government wants to take away 10% of their wages! LOL!

[elvis15]

And a wage increase will fix any of these problems?

Because all they're asking for is a wage increase, right?

[Heretic]

They don't make what the "average" taxpayers make. They make considerably more.

Sigh.

The average full time employee in BC makes $52,280 per year.

A cat 5 teacher in Vernon SD makes between 41,000 - 64,000 - with the middle of the ground at, $52,800 per year.

I haven't found the exact average teacher wage - but no, it is NOT considerably more than the average full time employee in BC.

Found this from the Globe and Mail:

A category 5 teacher has an undergraduate degree and at least one year of teacher training and faces a 10-step grid to reach the top level. A category 5 in Vancouver, for instance, purportedly makes $74,353, while an equal in Edmonton makes $95,354 and in Winnipeg, $84,681. That same Vancouver teacher, according to the union, will make nearly $1,000 less than a counterpart in New Brunswick and more $15,000 less than a contemporary in Toronto.

[BeefcakeBo]

So you think they just deserve the average? Why?

I never said that. If they only deserved the average the teachers would have to take a substantial pay cut.

[inane]

I never said that. If they only deserved the average the teachers would have to take a substantial pay cut.

So what are you saying? Your passive aggressiveness isn't really getting your point across. Own what you think--spit it out.

[Tappa]

Yeah, let's put our support behind people who ever few years effectively put a gun to the heads of our kids and say, "pay us more or else". These vermin aren't fit to be in the same room with my children.

[johngould21]

Actually right now the gov't is forcing teachers to do less work. I really don't think this gov't cares how hard teachers work, they just want to save money so they can give it to their LNG friends.

Ask "red light" Christie where her kid goes to school, certainly isn't the public school system. Less administration would be a start, stopping retired teachers from working and double dipping would be another.

[ilduce39]

Yeah, let's put our support behind people who ever few years effectively put a gun to the heads of our kids and say, "pay us more or else". These vermin aren't fit to be in the same room with my children.

Some interesting revisionist history there... though if anyone has a right to be upset it's you - clearly the public education system has failed you.

[elvis15]

Yeah, let's put our support behind people who ever few years effectively put a gun to the heads of our kids and say, "pay us more or else". These vermin aren't fit to be in the same room with my children.

You know what, that doesn't sound quite right. I don't think they've actually had a contract the last few years to work under, let alone any raises (even for cost of living) in over five years.

Some interesting revisionist history there... though if anyone has a right to be upset it's you - clearly the public education system has failed you.

I think you answered that better.

[BeefcakeBo]

So what are you saying? Your passive aggressiveness isn't really getting your point across. Own what you think--spit it out.

The "Average income is less than 40k. All the teachers currently make more than that. If your suggesting paying them the same as average then they would all have to take a paycut. Also none of the problems can be fixed by increasing teachers income.

[Undrafted]

There would more than enough money for education if there were fair taxation, not just in the provincial level but the federal level as well. And by that, I specifically refer to corporate taxes.

BC has the lowest corporate taxes in the country (and the federal corporate tax rate is among the lowest in the G7).

If the provincial corporate tax rate were put back to 12%, it would raise an extra $400M to provincial coffers; raised back to 13.5% would result in $700M. Just for reference; I believe the corporate tax rate in 2005 was in 14.4%

And that's only corporate taxes; there are many other ways the government could generate revenue without affect everyday British Columbians' taxes.

As for the argument that corporate tax cuts are necessary to be "competitive" and create jobs: well, that's an outright fallacy. Corporations don't use the tax savings to create jobs: they simply pocket the money and say "thank you very much".

[OptionalPants]

First of all, the teachers are not only asking for more money. They're also. trying to limit the class sizes to manageable amounts. You cant forget also how badly the Liberals have been screwing over the teachers every chance they get. I must admit that as a student I am a tad upset that my education is being interrupted for this but I still fully support the teachers in this dispute

Yeah, let's put our support behind people who ever few years effectively put a gun to the heads of our kids and say, "pay us more or else". These vermin aren't fit to be in the same room with my children.

I wish there was some way i could downvote this incredibly idiotic post.

[OptionalPants]

The "Average income is less than 40k. All the teachers currently make more than that. If your suggesting paying them the same as average then they would all have to take a paycut. Also none of the problems can be fixed by increasing teachers income.

except that the higher wage isnt the only issue that theyre currently disputing...

There are other major issues in this strike and I suggest you do some research before trying to argue one way or another

[aGENT]

As for the argument that corporate tax cuts are necessary to be "competitive" and create jobs: well, that's an outright fallacy. Corporations don't use the tax savings to create jobs: they simply pocket the money and say "thank you very much".

No, if you raise corporate taxes they simply move their operation to somewhere with lower taxes, pocket the money and say "thank you very much". But then someone else gets all those jobs.

First of all, the teachers are not only asking for more money. They're also. trying to limit the class sizes to manageable amounts.

Limited class sizes means more teachers. More teachers = more money.

"More money" does not always equate to salary FWIW.

[Langdon Algur]

The "Average income is less than 40k. All the teachers currently make more than that. If your suggesting paying them the same as average then they would all have to take a paycut. Also none of the problems can be fixed by increasing teachers income.

No one is suggesting paying teachers the average, unless you mean the average income for someone with at least 5 years of post secondary education.

Edit for comparisons sake here are the average salaries of people with similar education to teachers

Engineer C$89,353

Chartered Account C$79,217

[Tearloch7]

Yeah, let's put our support behind people who ever few years effectively put a gun to the heads of our kids and say, "pay us more or else". These vermin aren't fit to be in the same room with my children.

Then take you and your children elsewhere .. your ignorance shall remain intact!

[johngould21]

First of all, the teachers are not only asking for more money. They're also. trying to limit the class sizes to manageable amounts. You cant forget also how badly the Liberals have been screwing over the teachers every chance they get. I must admit that as a student I am a tad upset that my education is being interrupted for this but I still fully support the teachers in this dispute

I wish there was some way i could downvote this incredibly idiotic post.

...plus the BC law courts have also sided with the BCTF on many issues such as class size.

[Heretic]

The "Average income is less than 40k. All the teachers currently make more than that. If your suggesting paying them the same as average then they would all have to take a paycut. Also none of the problems can be fixed by increasing teachers income.

Whose average income is less than $40,000????

Not BC's.

What if you compare average income of those people with degrees? I bet teachers would be below average.

[OptionalPants]

No, if you raise corporate taxes they simply move their operation to somewhere with lower taxes, pocket the money and say "thank you very much". But then someone else gets all those jobs.

Limited class sizes means more teachers. More teachers = more money.

"More money" does not always equate to salary FWIW.

I am a student right now, and I have to say that the limited class size is absolutely necessary, especially with all the IEPs in the system right now. And yes that'll cost more money...but the guy whose comment i was arguing against was talking about wage increases. It'll cost more money to limt the class size, but if we want to keep our public education system efficent than it would be money well spent.

also...what does FWIW stand for? (never seen it before)

[Monty]

Yeah, let's put our support behind people who ever few years effectively put a gun to the heads of our kids and say, "pay us more or else". These vermin aren't fit to be in the same room with my children.

Your children suck.