Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Trust the former President of the BC Teachers Federation (BCTF), Terry Mooring, to trot out the age old, and massively incorrect, comment that private schools in British Columbia take away funding that should be going to public schools. Her comment is ridiculous of course, as she very well knows, but it certainly plays well to her base (mainly NDP supporters) who perhaps don't think through what she and others in the hierarchy of the BCTF have to say. Mooring states, “ We would be able to fully fund the public school system if government didn’t fund private schools ”. What she doesn’t state, because she doesn’t want people to dig too deep, is that ending government funding of private schools would literally bankrupt the provincial government.  Here are the cold hard fiscal facts! There are approximately 90,000 children that attend BC’s private schools, with each of those students receiving a ‘maximum’ of 50% (range starts at 25%) of the per pupil funding allocated to students in pu...

The first strike day by government workers wasn’t defined by the location or size of its picket lines on Tuesday, but by the political muscle that showed up to help it push back against the New Democrat government. Leaders from the BC Teachers’ Federation, BC Nurses’ Union, BC Federation of Labour and Canadian Union of Public Employees travelled to Victoria to attend BC General Employees’ Union president Paul Finch’s opening strike rally. “Thank you for your support,” said Finch, who highlighted attendees like BCNU president Adriene Gear. “We’re going to be there to support you.” The solidarity is an early sign that the BC NDP government may find it harder to divide and conquer the organized labour movement than it first thought ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Unions for BC public sector workers are expecting challenging negotiations as the province struggles with economic uncertainty and big budget deficits. And one major union is already warning that the province’s wage offers don’t “come close” to meeting members’ needs. Unions for about 452,000 BC public sector workers, including the Hospital Employees’ Union, BC Teachers’ Federation and BC Nurses’ Union, are at the table this year as their contracts expire. The BC General Employees' Union , or BCGEU, representing about 34,000 provincial workers, has been in talks for more than six months ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

BC government negotiators have offered public sector unions a wage increase of 3.5 per cent over two years in what the New Democrats are calling a “balanced budget” bargaining mandate.  The offer, presented last week to unions in the health care, education and central government sectors, is much less than the settlements of 14 per cent over three years in the last bargaining round under the NDP ... CLICK HERE for the full story