Yesterday (Saturday, March 3rd) - the BC Government published a "BCTF 'Claims & Facts' Sheet"
In response - the BC Teachers' Federation has produced, for the public, its' own 'Claims and Facts' sheet:
Courtesy of Opinion250.com:
BC Gov't propagated MYTH: 2,100 additional special needs teaching assistants in B.C. classrooms.
BCTF FACT: Although assistants are important, in the time between 2001 and 2007 over 600 special ed. TEACHERS were lost. At the same time the numbers of special needs students increased by over 1400 students. Since 2006 , 174 more special needs teachers have been lost and over 1,000 more special needs assistants have been added.
http://bctf.ca/announcements.aspx?id=25308
BC Gov't propagated MYTH: B.C. teachers’ salary plus benefits is fourth-best among provinces.
BCTF FACT: When comparing categories of equal training and experience BC teachers range from 6th to 9th depending on category. The facts are clearly shown in the BCTF documents found at http://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/BargainingContracts/U102-SalaryDocument.pdf
BC Gov't propagated MYTH: Seniority remains key factor but qualifications also considered. Math teachers teaching Math; Science teachers teaching Science.
BCTF FACT: This is a made-up problem. All teacher collective agreements contain within their seniority language a provision that qualifications trump seniority. The government proposal is that seniority comes after principal’s choice which opens the door for all kinds of discrimination which would be difficult to prove. i.e. nepotism, cronyism, applicant too active in the union, too fat, too feminine, too masculine, of child bearing age. Who knows? Seniority is NOT a key factor in the BCPSEA proposal and for their information qualifications are already considered in collective agreements.
BC Gov't propagated MYTH: A 15 per cent wage increase at a cost of $2 billion is completely unreasonable, given the current economic reality.
BCTF FACT: It is reasonable to ask for a cost of living increase. And since BC teachers are so far behind colleagues across the country, it is reasonable to propose a small catch-up, which by the way is only a tiny fraction of the actual gap. This is also our opening position. Unfortunately BCPSEA has not offered even one counter to our opening position. Furthermore, BCPSEA continues to play a mug’s game with their costing. The BCTF costing of all of our proposals is $535 million dollars. It’s a little odd 15% increase to one account (which comprises between 40 – 50% of the total budget) within a total budget of 4 – 5 billion $ would increase the total budget by nearly 50%. Hmmm...Some monkey business going on with those calculations.
BC Gov't propagated MYTH: Teachers’ union demands would cost $2 billion, which would raise taxes on all B.C. families.
BCTF FACT: The BC Liberals have made some serious mistakes in handling taxpayer money. They are now choosing to make the workers of BC pay for their mistakes. They have other options which they refuse to take. They could rescind some of the tax breaks they have given to the wealthiest corporations. Currently BC has the lowest corporate tax rates in the G8. We are not talking about incorporated small businesses here. We are talking about extremely wealthy companies, many of whom over charge and underpay. Talk about favouring the 1% over the 99%.
BC Gov't propagated MYTH: Class-size caps on all grades with exceptions made by principals and superintendents.
BCTF FACT: And how are principals and superintendents going to make class sizes reasonable without adequate funding? The consultation with the teacher, the person who best knows what will work in any given classroom, is also no longer required.
BC Gov't propagated MYTH:130 net-zero contracts signed. & 25,000 CUPE employees signed net zero contracts.
BCTF FACT: That is a decision for other unions to make. Labour unions are in support of the BCTF struggle for a fair and reasonable deal. They recognize that this is an assault on all of them, not just teachers.
BC Gov't propagated MYTH: Teachers received a 16 per cent wage increase; $3,700 signing bonus for their last contract.
BCTF FACT: And yet teachers have gone from 3rd in Canada to as low as 9th. But what is even more egregious is the insistence on stripping the collective agreement of long held rights. Furthermore the government has ignored the Supreme Court ruling by Judge Griffin regarding class size and composition, teachers’ working conditions and students’ learning conditions. Bill 22 is an all out assault on unions and the government is starting with teachers. It is also an assault on students and the education system in general.
BC Gov't propagated MYTH: Of 65,000 classes, fewer than 1,500 have more than 31 students. Fewer than 600 have more than 33 -- most of these are band, choir and theatre.
BCTF FACT: Overcrowding is more than that. What about classes that pose a health and safety problem because children are being crammed into labs that are only made for 24 students? What about classes of 28 with 8 special needs students? Are those not overcrowded?
Here is the BCTF brief on Education Funding to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services (of the BC Legislature) which clearly indicates the true extent of overcrowding in our schools:
http://bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/Publications/Briefs/2011EdFundingBrief.pdf
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