The Editor,
I wasn’t surprised that Vince Ready walked away from exploratory talks between the BCTF and Liberal government.
Based on history, I don’t believe that it was ever the Liberal government’s intention to negotiate in good faith with the BCTF in time for Sept. 2, although there have been many PR moves in the media to give the public the impression that it does.
Please stop with the “no money” line already!
Shame on the Liberal government for the chaos that it has created in public education since 2002.
It thinks it is above the law and acts like a bully in the school yard.
Janet Oakes
Richmond
Open letter to Premier Clark,
Please bring the funding and resources to the bargaining table to properly deal with the learning needs of BC students. Please do not hold bargaining up any longer just because you don’t like the court case rulings.
Bargaining means give and take, but one side cannot do all the giving. The government’s time to compromise is long overdue. Please move off your position on class size and class composition and tell Vince Ready that you want him back at the bargaining table.
Andrea Lee
Richmond
The Editor,
It does not take an economist to figure out that teachers are losing more money than they would ever gain in a BCTF negotiated five-year contract (eight per cent over five years).
How the Premier could continue insisting that the strike is exclusively a “teacher-money” issue does not wash. It’s just what she wants the public to believe.
There is no mistaking that a two-tiered education system is taking shape in this province with private schools getting increased funding every year at the expense of public schools.
Those facts are readily available.
All taxpayers should be red-flagging this assault on the right for quality public education for all the children in this province, not just those who are in private schools.
Premier Clark is doing everything in her power (and using your tax dollars to fund it) to detract from the fact that she has lost two Supreme Court appeals and is panicking that a third loss is coming.
How is she going to pay for the inevitable big bill coming her way?
I suspect that keeping the teachers out of schools is her idea because it will put a whole lot of money into the government coffers. She is sitting in a mess of her own making.
Janet Henri
Richmond
