Re: \"Unions are Evil\"
I am just guessing here, because i dont know all of the facts.
Districts make up the wage for teachers and not the state. Is this a particularly well off district? In B.C. the province sets the wages.
Also the <u>average</u> wage may be very high because half the work force is 5 years from retirement and all maxed out. This is what is happening in B.C.
$87,000 US is certainly enough to recruit all of the best teachers out of Canada. There is no reason that with compentent hiring this district should have the best teachers in the nation. This should happen within 5 years as the aging teaching population retires. Currently the average teacher salary in B.C. (3rd highest paid province) for a teacher is $54,000. A first year teacher will make $42,000. In my education program there were representatives from Texas, and New York recruiting. Maybe i should look into that.
Just an aside:
What happened in BC recently is the teachers union campaigned very heavily against the party that ended up getting into power. They did this partially because in the previous term they made teaching an essential service, and took other rights away from the union by stripping the right to bargain class sizes, and other things, and even making it illegal to negotiate for them. They also implemented a new bill that allowed them to rip up union contracts and impose new ones.
Well they got back in mostly becasue they sold off all of the crown corporations to make it look like they balanced the budget. The teachers contract came up and they tried to "negotiate" for almost a year, but refused to offer any more than 0,0,0 for 3 years. Of course the teachers went on strike. So what should have happened is that essential service levels were to be set and the teachers would go back to work on that level until a negotiated settlement could be reached. But, the government instead decided to impose a contract. Guess what? The teachers got nothing but a 1 year extension of the current contract.
Government workers need unions because governments can write any law they want.
One more thing. The premier of B.C. (i think same sa Governor) was arrested for drunk driving in Hawaii. Real stand up guy.
rJ
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