VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A group of teachers representing the BC Teachers Federation has voted unanimously to ratify a framework agreement leading to the start of contract talks.
Union president Susan Lambert says the vote by about 200 elected teachers is a significant step in the right direction before collective bargaining starts on February 4.
The agreement says teachers want a timeline to facilitate negotiations with the BC Public School Employers’ Association, the government’s bargaining agent.
Federation president Susan Lambert calls it a positive development. “It is a good sign. It’s a positive agreement, it helps both sides. It was done respectfully and constructively and it is a positive sign for the start of bargaining.”
It also calls for the appointment of a facilitator to assist with collective bargaining.
The employer is set to discuss the proposed agreement this afternoon.
The teachers’ current two-year contract, which was retroactive one year, expires at the end of June.
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Yep and it’s the teachers that are the greedy ones…
Helping manage the BC government’s war on school teachers and public education is Deputy Minister of Education James Gorman. He is a long time senior bureaucrat.
Public accounts show his salary in fiscal 2006 was $164,085. In fiscal 2011, it was $228,942, an increase of 40% in five years. During that period, Gorman’s expenses were $136,616.
Gorman looks positively frugal compared to his colleague Rick Davis. The Education Ministry’s Superintendent of Achievement incurred expenses of $432,234 from 2006 to 2011. Spending more than $6,000 a month on lunches and such can’t leave much time for business but Davis is consistent, if nothing else.
John Dyble, Premier Photo-Op’s Deputy Minister, has also done well in the land of not net zero. Public accounts show that Dyble’s salary rose from $161,455 in fiscal 2006 to $239,121 in 2011. That was a 48% gain in five years but, the good news for Dyble is that his salary was bumped again in March 2011. His new rate is $310,000, about double what he earned five years ago.
Graham Whitmarsh, DM in the Health Ministry, had his salary go to $259,531 in fiscal 2010, 42% more than he earned in 2008. Whitmarsh charged additional personal expenses of $168,410 in the last four years.
Keith Miller, ADM for the Education Ministry’s Resource Management division earned $106,172 in fiscal 2009 and $172,381 in 2011, a growth of 62%.
Renate Butterfield, ADM for Business, Technology & Online Services Division, saw her salary grow 42% from 2006 to 2011.
David Loukidelis, long a senior Liberal bureaucrat, got 11% this year, a raise that makes his salary 42% more than it was in 2006.
Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland, DM Advanced Education, has enjoyed steady increases in each of the last few years, including 27% ($47,000) in 2012. Since 2006, her earnings are up 115%.
Lynda Tarras, Associate Deputy Minister in Finance, scored healthy increases each year, moving her salary up by $86,459 or 78% from 2006 to 2011. and the list of greed goe on and on
Is it that whiny harpie again? Ditch her and I might listen to what teachers have to say.
It does not matter if the teachers have ratified this. The BCTF has not been able to ratify a deal with any goverment whether it be Liberal or NDP in the past fifteen years. Obviously, it is not the goverment, it is the teachers, as they want want want, but are not ready to give anything back. Regardless, we will be in the same position next September, the teachers will be unreasonable, they will stop doing extra ciricular activities, they will attempt to strike and then the NDP Goverment will have to legislate them back to work and then the BCTF will hate the NDP Goverment because they too are be irrational. The teachers need to get a grip, you are not any more special then anyone else, you deserve to get the same raise as everyone else, nothing more. If you do not like the salary move on and find another job or even better move to a province that will pay you more. Thank god, my daughter will be attending Private School next year, then we don’t have to care and worry about how hard done by these poor teachers are who get 12 weeks paid vacation year.
enough drop their salary by 15% , legislate them a essential service and the problems solved
Teachers are the height of greed, a disgusting bunch!!!! Get back to the “3 R’s” and start teaching the young people so we, as a nation, and economy, can go forth for the well being of Canada. You are paid far to much for what you are producing, stop wanting more for doing less, greed will get you in the end. The young people today are not educated, period. Can’t count, can’t spell, don’t know geography, history or literature, and the list goes on. All I can say is get your act together and hands off the public purse until you are willing to show some productive initiatives of what you profess to do in your work day!
Hee we have an excellent example of why teachers are so important. This poor person has little grasp on how the education system works, the challenges with it and apparently also has spent little time within it.
Sorry friend, but teachers ARE a very important part of society and they are trying to do their best to make the education system work better. Class sizes need to be smaller to afford more time for the constant stream of ADD kiddies who flow through the system. With so many distractions and new, faster ways of knocking down a kid’s self esteem, it is more important than ever to be able to spend the time needed to help kids learn how to deal with these things, in addition to the cirriculum. Once students have a decent foundation, they can focus on learning without the baggage that can derail their process. The 3 “R”s are important, but not as important as preparing the kids for the world in general as people.
Obviously you don’t know much about this entire issue, as you seem to think it is all about money and greed. Not exactly, they do have to negotiate their salries and benefits, just like any other profession, but there is much more to the story. Also, just because you might have found yourself in a low paying job, with few other marketable skills, don’t come down on the teachers of today, who have spent their lives, so far, preparing to educate your children, while also trying to meet the needs of students who are poorly parented, have special needs, are gifted, are depressed or children with other issues. It’s no easy feat.
I’m not a teacher, but I grew up in a household with both parents as teachers and I have seen first hand how much extra work they put in and how they were committed to help each and every kid that came through their classes. They helped detect cases of child abuse and were successful in stopping the abuse of at least one child and probably more. Their lives are dedicated to this, they didn’t just pick an easy job for the whopping big payout. They spent years in university to become teachers and then while working full time, more time in in university to further educate themselves to be better educators. It is no small task.
Maybe go learn a little about it all or at least learn about what it takes to become a teacher, actually be a teacher and stay employed as a teacher, before you blow your verbal wad all over the internet and confirm your own intellectual shortcomings. Teachers are the good guys here, not the greedy corporate types who control the money spent on education, while they squander it on fun things, like raising their own salaries more than any other workers in the province, throwing a party for Bollywood and a long list of other things that have become more easily funded than education.
Interestingly enough it is the Ministry of Education who dictates what is taught in the curriculum not the actual teachers…