The Editor,
Re: Teachers to discuss further action, Letters, Jan. 11.
Jan Stuarts letter is typical of the entitlement attitude within the teachers comfy union-insulated little dream world.
She complains that while nurses and the police have received raises, the teachers are being offered a zero per cent increase. Sorry teachers, but nurses work grueling 12-hour shifts caring for sick and dying people. The police endanger their own lives every day keeping us safe. Teachers, on the other hand, seem to spend much of their class time teaching on issues of questionable importance such as multiculturalism and being green.
Furthermore, teachers get more than one-quarter of the year off, including two weeks over the holidays, two weeks in spring and two and a half months in the summer, sick days and the endless professional development days (ie. teachers day off). What other job including nurses or the police has it so good?
And whats so unreasonable about being allowed to fire a lazy, entrenched, incompetent teacher? This is common practice in public sector jobs and ensures that workers are held accountable for the quality of their work.
The possibility of being transferred to other locales for our job is also something that the rest of us have all learned to live with.
I have deep regard for teachers who work hard and are good at their jobs, but the rest need to start living in the real world.
The global economy is in serious recession. A lot of people are unemployed or have taken pay cuts. Yet BCTF continues to demand more, while delivering subpar education to our kids.
The current union-sheltered teacher employment package is a big revenue-sucking white elephant.
Mark Brodie, Richmond
