The Canadian Taxpayers Fed’n is starting a class action suit against striking BC teachers.
“Once again, the province is being held hostage by a government union. Over 600,000 students have been shut out of their classrooms, parents are scrambling to find daytime care, and the BCTF continues to flout the law and remain off the job. It’s time taxpayers stood up to these unions and their bullying tactics,” said Sara MacIntyre, BC director for the CTF.
MacIntyre will be on Charles Adler this afternoon at 2 pm Pacific.
I was wondering when/if this would happen. Good on the taxpayers who have the additional burden and expense of child care while this illegal strike unfolds.
Jack Layton is determined to preserve the status quo re health care simply because it’s rich in public service employees who vote NDP. Every province’s healthcare budget is depleted by 80% for PSE wages. Those deadbeats on the lawn of the Victoria legislature usually turn up every 2 or 3 years with the same b.s. I hope the CTF is serious about this, and that parents sign up en masse. I’m waiting for somebody to do a study comparing wages and benefits in the private clinics to hospital employees. Gordon Campbell is to be commended and the Courts should quit posturing or being ‘creative’ and ‘innovative’ and just enforce the frigging laws, not make them up as they go along.
I live in BC and part of my biz is dealing with school districts and some teachers. The ones I know, don’t want this strike, but feel the union won’t tolerate their views. Unions only like their views tolerated.
This strike cannot resolve the systemic issues around the reasons for the unrest and poor result found in BC’s ed system.
IT IS REALLY ABOUT LAUNCHING THE POLITICAL CAREER OF JINNY SIMS, HEAD OF THE BC TEACHERS’ FEDERATION.
I think it is also a pissing contest between the NDP’s darling unionists and the BC Liberal government who seems to understand the need to reign in some of the economically desctructive power of government unions.
Here is an approximate exchanges I listened to yesterday on the poplular Radion talks show with Bill Good (radical fence-sitter himself with a lean to the left)
This is as accurate as I recall. The main point is dead on.
—————————————————————————
Bill Good: Mz Sims, how many classes are actually over-crowded?
Jinny Sims: I would say ..many many.
Bill Good: How many special needs students aren’t being cared for properly in classrooms?
Jinny Sims: Also very many and that’s tied to the over-crowding.
————————————————————————
This woman knows only that she is having her fifteen minutes and the details are just a bore. She talks just like the politician she is …. lots of words … all nebulous.
Watch for her name on either the NDP ballot in the next federal election or the in about three years on the BC provincial NDP card.
Better yet, register your kids with local home schooling associations. Unless they need the daycare, why is anyone still using government schools? These institutions hold the entire family hostage to their artifical schedules and the product they turn out is inferior. Socialization still a major concern? Teach your little darlings all the swear words yourself and they’ll stay level with their public schooled peers.
hey, i’m just starting, can you help me out?
the more serious issue than than same old union postering is the violation of the the BC upreme Court’s order to go back to work. The contempt issue has very serious long term impacts and unless the BCSC SLAMS the BCTF upside the head REAL HARD, it will be setting the terrible precedent that unions/citizens/ criminals /governments can pick & choose laws and curt orders to obey/ignore.
Sanctity of the rule of law is the real issue. The union/Bill 12 stuff is all smoke.
The CTF class action lawsuit should be extended to ALL the unions that walked off the job. Unions are legal entities and should be held $$ accountable for their actions.
So all those people who had to take taxis instead of buses, couldn’t get to work, couldn’t get a permit at some government office, lost income etc should should sign up and the CtF should be suingthe BC Federation of labour.
If ya wanna play, ya gotta pay.
Kate — A small error in your blog entry. It’s the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, not Canadian Taxpayers Association. You should probably switch it, if for nothing else but the sake of accuracy.
Adlers a red tory wanker I always prefer Lowell http://www.cfra.com
“Teach your little darlings all the swear words yourself and they’ll stay level with their public schooled peers.”
🙂
Too true
there is one child in my daughters class who… was in nursery
kindergarden
At the end of grade one she didn’t know the alphabet.
the most basic building block of education other than maybe numbers.
3 years in school she had learned nothing! The kid isn’t stupid her parents idiotically thought the school would teach her.
The only way kids seem to learn is if parents do it with them at home after hours.
Then what is the point of them being at school?
I’ve even experimented with this by only helping my daughter in certain areas.
All the ones we help in she is way ahead of the class. The ones left to teacher she’s average.
Who cares about french eh?
and here’s what happens when ordinary Canadians shout back” at the system.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/10/19/merritt-sex-offender051019.html
++++ KUDOS to the people of MERRITT BC.
You have no rights. Get out,’ B.C. town tells sex offender
Last Updated Wed, 19 Oct 2005 07:34:44 EDT
CBC News
A sex offender with a long record of crimes against children has moved out of the British Columbia community of Merritt after receiving threats from local residents.
“Basically our community did what the judicial system wouldn’t,” said Mayor David Laird. “We sa”id, ‘You have no rights. Get out of town.'”
Don’t worry Dr Wright, Adler is an enormous blowhard and won’t even let his guest get a word in edgewise because he or she might upstage him.
And to think that Canucks complain about the levels of obnoxious over at Fox News, sheesh, pull Adler off the air and replace him with someone sane like Rob Breckenridge.
That way Adler will have the free time to marry his boyfriend.
Thanks – I should have caught that.
“Bill Good: Mz Sims, how many classes are actually over-crowded? Jinny Sims: I would say ..many many.”
Does anyone in charge really know how ‘many,many’ actually represents? Just like our gas prices the numbers keep fluctuating.
The number of classroom size seems confusing to me. I’ve read 600,000 students/42,000 teachers which works out to 14.29 students per teacher. Then in another article 600,000 students/38,000 teachers (15.79)
Then a teacher explains why the numbers don’t add up: they include “part-time teachers, librarians, guidance counsellors & some lucky schools who still get special funding for even smaller classrooms”. What smaller than 14.29? Another teacher complains that she doesn’t know what the numbers in other schools but all the teachers in her school have 30-40 students in their classrooms.
Ok I’ve attempted to use the teachers numbers working backwards:
600,000 students/40 kids in a classroom = 15,000 full-time teachers + 27,000 Other Staff (part-time teachers, guidance counsellors & librarians)= 42,000. Or:
600,000/30 per classroom = 20,000 FTT + 22,000 OS
600,000/25 per classroom = 24,000 FTT + 18,000 OS
600,000/20 per classroom = 30,000 FTT + 12,000 OS
Even at 20 kids per classroom 12,000 Other Staff seems top-heavy. Am I missing something here? Can someone shed a little light on this? Should I be going back to school?
LOL- At all the comments from the masses. When I moved to BC almost twenty years ago my oldest son was handed a text book for grade nine history, problem was he’d used the same book in grade seven in Ontario. When he started grade 11 lo! and behold he was issued a physics text book that I had used in grade 11 in Ontario in 1964. Imagine how our education system has moved ahead by using thirty year old text books. The teachers in BC are in the front trenches and they are seeing the carnage now that the rest of you will not see for another ten to fifteen years when their students, our children and grandchildren, will have to compete in a globalized world market with a sub-standard education. The past BC governments have led this province down the garden path. The underfunded health care system, the lack of family doctors, the closing of public schools, the financial ruin of many seniors due to the ‘wet condo syndrome’ are only harbringers of what is to come if the electorate of this province doesn’t wake up. To keep a decent standard of living for all workers in BC someone has to take a stand.
One additional comment about the above rant, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation would further their cause if instead of launching a class action suit against the BCTF it should focus its attention on the massive scams that continue to emerge from Ottawa. Perhaps some bright young lawyer could investigate the possibility of launching a class action suit against the sitting government for aquiring power by using illegal funds (Adscam donations syphoned from my taxes to retain power).
I see the problem really being “Special Needs” students. Since my days in school, the system has changed to “mainstream” special needs students. What exactly does that mean? Handicapped, ESL, students with learning disabilities have been thrown into regular classrooms.
Once again the ideals of the lefties have been overtaken by reality. Why does everybody else have to suffer so that they can feel good? No wonder teachers are overwhelmed.
How many times has this been brought up though? Not a single time has it been mentioned.
Not PC.
enough
I think there are 60 School Districts in BC . each has its own CUPE staff for admin, purchasing HR etc etc etc. Adds up to 25,000 CUPE members feeding off the Education Budget. Is there some reason, other than narrow union interests, that the Province couldn’t consolidate the core common services of these school districts and cull massive numbers of non essential education staff and then apply the savings to the pointy end of the stick ??
Kate — My pleasure. We all miss things from time to time. It happens.
“Is there some reason, other than narrow union interests, that the Province couldn’t consolidate the core common services of these school districts and cull massive numbers of non essential education staff”…
And what, not show the populace via StatsCan how robust the economy is & how effective the government is at ‘job creation’?
You make too much sense. Shame on you.
Time to break the unions in BC. Right to work regislation is what we need.
Labor laws and the court system all make it unneccesary for continued union stranglehold. Make membership entirely voluntary and you would see which unions actually benefit their members and which are leeches.
enough
Antenor: so how does a request for smaller class sizes (when the head of the union can’t give the specifics on current class sizes and we can’t figure out how many Other Staff are included in the union rolls when they make the determination) or a whopping 15% wage hike at all address the problem of old textbooks? Seems to me that just throws more money at the union and not the infrastructure.
If anyone’s taking a stand worth defending here, it’s the government, telling the union to take their shakey claims and lofty wage demands and go pound sand.
Here are some point I would make regarding the BCTF and their propaganda. For starters, Did you know that when the BCTF says there are 35 students in a shop class, that doesn’t mean there are 35 bums in seats. Nope. It seems that a “student” is a number that each child represents ie. a normal child = 1, ESL = 2, etc. Get it? 24 children can equal Simm’s 35 “students”. Another point is that they say the government is underfunding special needs kids. The vice-chair of the Vancouver School Board says that the govt. only funds 52% of the amount the VSB spends on special needs and the VSB has to remove funds from other areas to reach his 100% of special needs funding. Of course, the BCTF and the media say this is underfunding. I say it is a typical lefty overspending his budget and crying for more money. He is basically setting his own budget and crying when the provinicial government doesn’t agree. Too freakin’ bad, I say. On the budget thing, is it any wonder that our schools have no money for books when teachers run things? I mean, look at the way they change teaching models every few years and then demand that schools physically change to accomodate the latest theories in education. A classic example is the change in BC from Elementary, Junior High/High to Primary, Middle School, and then High School. This philosophical change requires that new schools be built and old ones are massively renovated in order accomadate the new idea. And in 10 years when a newer theory come out teachers will demand that the new model be implemented without regard to the costs in infrastructure and training. In the end, was the old way really that inferior? ‘Cause a lot of us older people got along just fine, thank you.
Finally, my wife works with these special needs kids and obviously a lot of them deserve the extra help and funding in order to include them in society, especially children who have physical limitations but can learn the curriculum. Still, she works with a lot of children who have absolutely no ability to learn, who have mental ages under 3 years. Is a school, an educational setting, really the best place for these kids? Is it inclusive when they literally cannot learn or interact with other children? And is it appropriate to have them in a classroom when so many are extremely challenged behaviourally? Consider the cost in a full-time assistant, about $22,000 in salary plus benefits each year, and then special equipment and rooms for these children. Is that really the best way to help severely mentally handicapped children? I don’t think so.
When I went to school we had about 30 per class on average. 5 rows of 6 desks. Not particularly crowded in terms of space.
University courses often have class sizes in the 100’s.
So why is a class size between 15 and 30 too large for BC teachers?
My guess is lack of discipline on the part of the students, and lack of authority (or ability command respect) on the part of the teachers. This equals no control in the classroom and an environment where it is difficult to learn or to teach.
The irony is that the classroom environment that teachers find themselves in today, has largley been created by radical left/Trudeaupian policies of the governments teachers unions have supported continue to support.
The comment from Feisty regarding how the students are counted is very interesting. Has anyone else heard this or been able to confirm it? The BCTF will cite the 35 number and then also talk of special needs students. Double counting i would say.
Let’s not forget how a 90% strike mandate turned into an actual 50% vote for.
Keeep in mind that these are the ones teaching your children.
enough
“One additional comment about the above rant, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation would further their cause if instead of launching a class action suit against the BCTF it should focus its attention on the massive scams that continue to emerge from Ottawa. Perhaps some bright young lawyer could investigate the possibility of launching a class action suit against the sitting government for aquiring power by using illegal funds (Adscam donations syphoned from my taxes to retain power)”.
This is typical bullshit for the liberal wingnuts on the left. Instead of actully doing something concrete(like the CTF is doing with the class action lawsuit) you want to do some “pie in the sky”– “save the whole world and universe” crap.
I am a supplier to the local school system in BC snd every day they are out I loose money. I know–I know, you think that profit is a bad word anyway so I probably deserve it. Do you think I have joined the class action lawsuit? YOU BET.
There are thousands of parents already signed up. I hope it breaks the BCTF.
The MAIN problem with ALMOST everything in B.C. (except the rain) are unions. Were the nurses union and we say screw everyone else so you can pay us. Oh, were the BCTF, screw everyone else so we can get an exhorbitant raise. Hey, were CUPE, screw everyone else so we can get an exhorbitant raise-BTW did I mention that I get $25 per hour as a janitor.
This province went from very properous to a have -not province under the NDP. Its only now that it is recovering.
And if you think the problem with healthcare is unique to BC read the post further up about the problems in the ER in Sask.
You probably voted federally for the Liberals so you are getting exactly what you deserve for supporting them.Unfortunately I’m also getting “exactly what YOU deserve for voting for them”. But then we can’t vote for the Conservatives cause Harper is “scary”. I’d say if you are a federal beareaucrat(sp) or in the CBC he’s damn scary.
Horny Toad
RIGHT TO WORK LEGISLATION NOW!!!!!!!!!!
Antenor, the NDP slashed medical school admissions because they figured doctors were costing the system money. If you cut the number of doctors, patients won’t use them. Lefty logic, got that? It seemed like a good idea and other provinces followed suit. It’s called rationing, just as wait lists are a way of gatekeeping. I’ve been writing about this shit for five years, and nothing has changed. They won’t to use foreign trained docs. It doesn’t matter if they don’t speak or read English, and hey, if there’s a problem with a prescription, or a patient can’t communicate with his own GP, does it really matter? More lefty logic. The physician shortage is a monster created by the left to dissuade Canadians from needlessly using the system. They can’t very well come right out and charge them user fees for using the ER as a walk-in clinic because patients are voters first and foremost.
Lefty logic says you can hire ten nurses for the cost of one heart surgeon. Makes excellent sense to them. Ten dues paying union members who can be counted on to support “le cause du jour”. The problem comes when they need heart surgery. That’s when reality bumps up against the everybody is equal meme. Unfortunately, ten thousand nurses don’t equal one heart surgeon.
Good maybe citizen class action will start to put an end to this bolshevik unionist blackmailing of the public treasurey….I can see paying them the swag if our kids were smarter or more skilled but judging by the univeral test scores that we have managed to get institutued, we have a generation who need extra courses in math and science to get into engineering sciences at the university level.
Public school has degenerated to a baby sitting service for two job families. Private and home schooled kids are acing the university entrance tests…so it seems obvious to me that we choch up public education along with public health as a degenerated social service which prodiced sub standard service.
In 1972 Saul Alinsky, executive assistant to John L lewis wrote a book titled “rules for radicals” This book became almost gospel to a lot of the labour movement. In it he stressed rules such as wrapping oneself in moral garments”.
this is what the B.C Fed and the teachers Union is doing. That’s why no specifics just generalities of moral garments. It’s working for them. They learned well.
Hey mel that sounds like scum teaching scum how to be scummy. They MUST be union members.
Well I got “bounced out of this profession” in the fall of 1989, after applying for religious exemption from union membership. I gather I must have a strong sinful streak as I came out on the wrong side of the decision, and then got “the sack”. I objected to membership in respect of BCTF policies on abortion, involvement in political causes in South Africa, etc.
Of course they could not tolerate people with differing views, so now I am a Certified Financial Planner; but still hold membership in the BC College of Teachers.
Of course I was branded a renegade then, who questioned authority. IE the union’s authority.
Well who is the renegade now, after defying BC Supreme Court.
As is true over history, those who question authority usually get “Clocked”. I am afraid the BCTF will have its day of reckoning and it won’t be pretty, when you are held out for criminal contempt of court.
While there are many good teachers in the public system; they are not well served by an occasionally provocative leadership which leans to the farther left.
Of course Gordon Campbell being on the right end of the political spectrum has nothing to lose by clocking the unions only six months into his new mandate. He will have a full 3-4 years before he goes to the electorate again.
Of course it is interesting to watch this ‘rule of law’ vs ‘ripped up contract’ debate; I have some satisfaction of having sent my son through the private Catholic school system, in which he has been on the honor roll five years running and is now attending post secondary college. Of course it cost us extra tuition but at the end of the day the results are there. Further, my two daughters haven’t missed a day of school as they are also in a Catholic elementary school.
While catholic schooling has taken a beating in the press for the misdeeds of a few; we would have to say we have experienced none of it and have been well served. It is some consolation that I have made the correct choice for my children, even though the public system didn’t like my politically incorrect skill set.
To the rank and file teachers on the picket line, keep your helmets on and duck when the bullets fly!!
I’ve pointed this out before, but I think it’s relevant here… among other things, the teachers already earn average wages which place them in the top 12% of income earners in the province. They’d make an average of 69,500/yr were their pay increase demands followed through.
And their “civil disobedience” on Monday did more to screw the little guy than, well, anything else.
enough said “Let’s not forget how a 90% strike mandate turned into an actual 50% vote for”
Let’s not forget that the Liberal’s 46% of the vote in the last election becomes less than a 27% mandate to privatize and union bust by your standards.
Hans Rupprecht: Well I got “bounced out of this profession” in the fall of 1989, after applying for religious exemption from union membership… I objected to membership in respect of BCTF policies on abortion, involvement in political causes in South Africa, etc…Of course they could not tolerate people with differing views…
These Women are Fighting Back:
The Lively Seven are the seven women who were all the employees at a small bank branch in Lively, Ontario.
They rejected a union drive by the United Steelworkers of America in December 2004.
The CIRB forced unionization on these women in their workplace because over 50% of employees in eight branches in and around Sudbury signed union cards.
These courageous women want the law to protect their Charter Right to Freedom of Association, which includes the right to freely choose to associate with a union — or NOT!
They want the law to protect them, as members of a free and democratic country, from being pressed into unions, forced to pay dues and be subject to discipline for not toeing the union line. They want the law to protect their wishes and their privacy at home.
http://tinyurl.com/cpksc
Mark,
Jinny sims and the BCTF state numbers that have no basis in reality. They distort and deceive and spout their propoganda. They spent $5 million last election to beat the provincial Liberals and lost. Purely a political strike under the guise of “the children, all about the children.”
The BCTF were the ones claiming the 90% strike mandate. Just another union lie. First past the post electoral system not withstanding, the union is STILL fighting the last election. So who really has the mandate? The unions or the winner of the last election?
enough
Let me be “very, very, very” clear on what “many, many” means.
Your $$$$$$ for lefty trough suckers.
Sometimes I wonder where our nation is going. On one hand we want less government control in our lives, but when we become inconvenienced we yell for back to work legislation, laws and other knee jerk reactions.
There is no easy answer for this dilemma with the goverment and the BCTF. When we demonize and mock the teachers’ skills and interests in what they believe is best does nothing but encourage more rhetoric and strengthening their viewpoint.
With the government mandating contracts can we actually believe they will do the right thing? I don’t believe so. By continually creating these contracts they take away the spirit of cooperation that is needed in making balanced, meaningful decisions for our children.
There probably is some middleground somewhere. In many schools there is overcrowding. In some regions of the province where population is declining there are going to be some undersized classrooms. For some reason we don’t build schools the same way we used to. In many older schools there is room to put 30 kids and all their things, but in newer schools there tends to be room for a lot less. Do we really want to go back 40 years where special needs students were marginalized and many students who did not fit the cookie cutter mold dropped out in the 8th or 9th grade. Teachers a big one time raise will do nothing in solving any classroom conditions. If you wnat better conditions 1st it is important to stand on that one issue and step down from the renumeration. In Alberta 4 years ago the teachers got the raise at the short term loss of better classroom conditions. It is from the benefit of the oil boom monies that money was found to help with the classroom conditions. Is it likely BC will benefit from such a windfall? not likely…
Teachers+CBC+Crown Prosecutors. Is there anyone in Canada left who isn’t a member of a union?
Teachers’ dispute a conflict for prosecutors
Last updated Oct 19 2005 09:01 AM PDT
CBC News
B.C.’s Crown prosecutors say they would be unable to prosecute any teachers charged in connection with the illegal strike that has shut down B.C. schools because of their own contract dispute with the government.
The B.C. Crown Counsel Association, which represents 400 prosecutors, is currently suing the Campbell government for bargaining in bad faith with them.
And spokesperson Michael Van Klaveren says that because their contract situation so similiar to the one facing teachers, they would be unable to prosecute the teachers.
http://vancouver.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=bc_crown-teachers20051019
Mark, the difference is that the BC government doesn’t threaten you with ostracization for the remainder of your career – if you’re not harassed so much that you leave – if you vote no. Can you just imagine the BC Liberals threatening anyone who didn’t vote for them? Yah, that’s what I thought.
Voter turnout is entirely voluntary, and besides, the recent results of voter turnout are following an average pattern. There was a disctinct drop in voter turnout from the BCTF this time.
Where are nation is going…
The unions act as though they are an unelected government. People are mandated by law to belong in unions. Don’t want to be in the BCTF? Can’t be a teacher. Yet your dues pay for political campaigns, leftwing social campaings around the world.
The NDP lost the last provincial election yet the BCTF is still fighting it. There was no doubt that this would be the result of the last election. Zero wage increases were outlined. Sucking off the teat of the taxpayer is not an endless right. Take a look at Dingwall who says that it wasn’t taxpayers money, when it was a crown corporation. Fine distinction. How typical of the lefties.
Good economic times are coming in BC. This is partly due to windfalls from, yes oil and gas. BC has tremendous amounts of oil and gas. The biggest reason for economic turnaround is financial management of taxpayer dollars. The unions want all this money back. All under the guise of “the children” and “fairness’ and “a living wage” and all the other lefty slogans.
Work hard, earn your pay, find another job if you don’t like it.
enough
“The BCTF were the ones claiming the 90% strike mandate. Just another union lie”
Did you not understand my post? 90% of voting teachers voted to strike. You’d like to count those who didn’t vote. Well, go back and count those that didn’t vote in the last election and support for the libs becomes less than 27%, and Campbell claiming a clear mandate with 27% support is obviously just another Lib lie.
In any vote, only cast votes can be counted.
Mark,
Let’s drag that vote out until midnight with work/school the next day. Let’s wait until all but the rabid union fanatics are left. Then let’s tell everybody that 90% of TEACHERS voted for a strike. Then when caught out, let’s mumble and move on to the next lie.
When the NDP won with less of the popular vote than the Liberals, it was fine. Nary a word about that. Only when the tables have turned do we hear the usual rubbish about proportional representation. Might i add that the referendum for going to PR lost?
Clear mandate. The vote was about the the NDP trying to get power back with the support of their union allies. That’s it. Did the BCTF and the other unions give any time or money to anybody but the NDP? No.
Dream on and continue to rewrite history like the rest of your lefty brethren.
enough
Hey enough, RIGHT ON!!!
The NDP lose the election then have their scummy union brethren do this to the children of BC, Shame on them. If they dont want to go back to work, I know a few people that would love to jump into the job but they refuse to be a member of any scummy union.
Now is the time for right to work legislation, then watch as the scummy union membership drops into the toilet. Right next to their morals and their socialistic ideologies.
Duke:
Methinks if Jinny plays her cards well, she might wind up sitting next to that pig Larry Campbell in the Senate!
“Johnny’s mommy lets him do it, so why can’t I?”
…the Toronto Police Association is playing Russian roulette with public safety by parking their cruisers in between calls…the very fact that our cops are not providing the normal level of service to back up their demands for a new contract is a bad sign….We think Toronto cops do a great job. But every one of them knew when they signed up that cops can’t strike…
http://tinyurl.com/9oldu
I added my name to the CTF class action lawsuit yesterday. I ask every parent in BC to do the same. If we cant take them down with legislation lets take them out with legal costs. Death to unionism!!!!
The BCTF was fined 500,000 dollars. Keep on fining then until all their money is gone and then let the whining begin. Let’s see how bold and outspoken they will be when all that money has disappeared.
Unions are run by crooks and many have conections with organized crime just look at the mess the infamous ALF/CIO is in