Open letter to John Yap, MLA Richmond-Steveston and Minister of Advanced Education, Innovation and Technology,
I am writing you both as a constituent of the Richmond-Steveston riding and a fulltime second-year student of the geomatics engineering program at BCIT.
The ongoing dispute between the government and B.C.'s colleges and institutes is severely impacting the quality and delivery of education for all students at BCIT; not to mention colleges all over the province.
Several programs, including nursing, have already lost their semester. Having lost several school days to job action, the ongoing uncertainty hanging over the balance of the semester, and with eight final exams upcoming during next week's final exam week, I could sit on the sidelines no longer.
BCIT is a unique institution in B.C. among postsecondary institutions in its role and mandate to produce graduates ready to enter the work force upon graduation. It consistently has the highest post-graduation employment rates of any postsecondary in B.C., and almost as importantly, is highly sought after work in the trades and technology fields.
Time and time again we hear of B.C.'s need for the skilled workers that will be needed to fulfill the ever-changing needs of the economy and to help replace the baby-boom generation nearing retirement.
I see that your government has attempted to address this need with the BC Jobs Plan and BC Skills and Training Plan. I am fully aware of this because I am constantly seeing the airwaves covered with this advertising.
These ads use BCIT as a backdrop, and yet when it comes to ensuring that the quality of instruction for the next generation of workers remains high, you refuse to even sit down at the negotiation table.
The BCIT Faculty and Staff Association and its 1,400 members have been without a contract for more than two years.
You have settled with universities for a zero, zero, two, two per cent wage adjustment over the next four years.
BCIT has the money to pay its staff this same offer, but you will not allow it.
Is it any wonder that the BCIT FSA feel that they are not getting the same due?
This is not a wage increase we are talking about here but an adjustment that still does not keep up with the rate of inflation.
Many of BCIT's instructors are people who have gained many years of valuable experience in the private sector and maintain close ties to the industries they work in.
In addition to the first-hand experience that they bring, they can anticipate how the sectors they work in are changing and adapt the curriculum to these trends.
Many of these instructors have and can make far more money in the private sector but choose to teach for many reasons, notwithstanding the desire to train up the next generation.
However, in order to keep the quality of instructors and instruction high, wages must remain competitive with wages in the private sector.
If not, then we will lose that experience and quality of instruction back to the private sector and the quality of future graduates will suffer.
Finally, as a citizen and a taxpayer, and someone who has experienced both university life and the province's original technical institute, I am fully convinced that the best value to the taxpayer is through BCIT and institutions like it.
Its ability to produce job-ready graduates far outweighs the post-graduation rates coming out of our universities.
At a time when the need for skilled labour is high and will only continue to grow, doesn't it make sense to invest in the quality of that instruction?
Johann Baart BCIT student
