A great article, starting with the governments legislation in 1973 that made it MANDATORY for all teachers to be BCTF members. This was written by a retired teacher in SD #67: Dear Editor, In reply to Mr. Schwarz Teachers should admit defeat In my last six years as a teacher/librarian and debate and public speaking coach at Pen Hi, I was responsible for bringing back to Penticton more gold, silver and bronze medals than the school has ever accumulated in those areas in the past twenty years. This includes getting two of my students to Harvard on full ride scholarships to join their twenty-two man debate team (considered the best in the world). I was the only coach in North America to do so. I am not an idiot and I have never been bamboozled. I taught in this district for thirty-six years and I am very well aware of the historical conflicts between the BCTF and the government. You, apparently, are not. I would like to point out three facts to you: 1. In 1973 the government legislated compulsory membership of all teachers to the BCTF. Prior to that, membership was voluntary and the BCTF was more a federation than a union. We were forced to unionize. Back in the day I was lucky enough to be designated as an observer for the Okanagan Skaha Teachers Union when Vince Ready came to this district to perform his binding arbitration magic between then SD#15 and the local teachers union. I was skeptical, of course, as he was a government appointee. But the man is a genius at his craft -- totally objective. So: 2. when a mediator of his stature is in charge and the BCTF agrees to binding arbitration (no matter the outcome) and the government refuses, it is blatantly obvious who thinks they will lose and who, therefore, does not want the impasse to end. I participated in the strike of 1971, the withdrawal of services in 1983 and the strike of 2005: 3. those class size and composition items the government arbitrarily stripped from teachers contracts in 2002, which the Supreme Court has ruled illegal twice? I and every other teacher in this province at the time BARGAINED for them (thats why its called collective bargaining). We conceded part of our salaries to get them. We paid for them. Please tell me what other employee, union or otherwise, would bargain away part of his/her wages for certain concessions then allow the employer to remove the concessions with no compensation -- especially when that removal has been declared illegal TWICE by the Supreme Court. No, Mr. Schwarz, Im not the one whos been bamboozled.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 00:58:14 +0000
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