The current job action by B.C. teachers is full of the usual rhetoric when two parties disagree over compensation.
One side says they want more and the other side says they can’t afford to pay more.
I’m sure we all think we’re worth more than we are currently earning.
With starting salaries in the mid $40 thousand and capping at almost $90 thousand, it’s tough to get behind the teacher’s cause.
But if their statements regarding their interest in improving class size and class composition are sincere, then I can support their job action.
But the reality is the B.C economy dictates belt tightening.
For B.C. belt tightening includes a net-zero mandate in negotiating new contracts.
A recent example of the net-zero mandate, the provincial government ratified a two-year contract agreement with the Post-Secondary Employers Association which represents about 1,500 faculty instructors at 19 colleges across the province, including the College of New Caledonia. No one received a wage increase.
The majority of public-sector collective agreements have been signed under the net-zero mandate for wages.
The B.C. Teachers’ Union is one important exception.
An online poll conducted by the Interior News showed 71 per cent of 163 respondents supported the teachers in their job action.
The government says there is no money to support any kind of wage increase.
In a press release from the Ministry of Advanced Education, a quick fact states a wage increase of just 1 per cent for the 300,000 unionized public-sector employees would put a $197 million dent in the provincial coffers each year.
That kind of money is nothing to sneeze at and corporations in B.C. would be the first to admit as much.
Interestingly, according to the Ministry of Finance, the provincial Liberals have reduced the corporate tax rate five times since 2001, netting corporations almost 40 per cent in savings.
The argument supporting the lowering of corporate tax rates is it frees up corporate money to hire new employees. Ronald Reagan used the same argument, he called it trickle down.
Well, there is nothing trickling down.
According to BC Stats, the number of unemployed in B.C. was 183,400 in 2011, up from 109,900 in 2008.
While everyone is living the reality of net-zero, corporations are enjoying wage increases every year.
Perhaps it’s time they share.