no, it absolutely doesnt make me a hypocrite. collectively bargaining the terms and conditions of employment is not incompatible with the market. in times when conditions favour labour, we'll do well. in times when conditions are against labour, we won't do well. clearly, we are in conditions that aren't good for labour, so every single teacher would tell you we aren't getting raises or going to make advances in our compensation package. we know that, and that bitch broten's statements over the past few weeks shouldnt fool you into thinking we don't know that. but what they are doing is much, much more.
-they are moving to basically eliminate the future right to bargain contracts. the province would take control and be able to impose conditions as it sees fit.
-they are flat out LYING about how this entire process has happened. they are saying we (ETFO) petulantly walked out of negotiations. it is a flat out LIE. i can tell you because i know people who were in the room. i could tell you how it went down. they weren't negotiations. it was a 1-hour presentation of what the gov't was going to do, it was a canned video call from the premier, and then it was sign on to this by this date and there will be no discussion. those weren't "negotiations", so ETFO decided to do what has been done for decades, to do what is called for under the law, which is bargain directly with our employers, the school boards. at NO TIME were we planning to not be in school by the first of the school year. legally, that would have been impossible, and the minister knew that.
-starting salaries for teachers are pretty low. in many cases, mid-40s. we have an almost uniquely long salary grid, it takes 11 years to reach top salary. that was bargained over many years in exchange for other things in our compensation package- including things like a retirement gratuity. many professions have 2-5 year grids. we have more than twice that, and the gov't might even be moving to get us to a 15-year grid. our salaries are depressed for a fairly long time, which more than pays for a retirement gratuity. and if you want to talk about gratuities- take a look at what MPPs get as retirement gratuities after as little as 4 years in the legislature, and its not even linked to sick day usage.
-teachers don't use 20 sick days a year unless they have been injured or have a critical illness. the usage rate is less than 9 days a year in a profession where it is very, very, very easy to get sick. eliminating the sick bank will NOT actually "save" the province the $1.4bil they are claiming, because the bank only exists on paper. those "savings" would only occur if every teacher in the province used up their entire 20 days in the same year, which aint gonna happen. the sick plan they are suggesting will actually likely COST them money over the long haul, because without being able to bank days, usage will probably go right up to the max., especially when teachers see this gov't is trying to bend them over and f*ck them up the ass.
-teachers are reasonable. we know we are in for a period of retrenchment. we aren't looking for exhorbitant raises. our unit (ETFO) actually took 2% less last time than everyone in the province. what they are going after is much worse. they are looking to CUT our pay, to dramatically cut benefits and pensions that have been bargained over decades, and strip away forever our right to sit down and bargain in he future. and that weasel mcguinty is trying to ram this all through while LYING to parents that this is all about stopping the big bad teachers from not showing up for work at the beginning of sept.