Not Only in Wisconsin....

Sadly,' this is not only in Wisconsin' as a colleague pointed out when I re-posted this on facebook.

I recall last year when Scott Walker was governor and tried to destroy unions, strip bargaining rights and eventually was recalled after a major march of public workers to the legislature.  Sounds oddly familiar doesn't it?

It seems a trend lately that governments do not wish to fund puclic sectors and prioritize tax money to other areas, claiming 'net zero' for anything else they do not deem important. It is an obvious move to privatize public sectors to make more money and to have more control over the monies.

I still do not understand how the rich can get richer and the rest of us suffer. Change needs to happen. We have allowed little by little the erosion of our rights, and now government threatens to take them all away in one massive scoop.

Here in B.C. we are in a "cooling off period" which has allowed the government to introduce more bills and laws while forcing us to sit back and "just cool off"

This summer, bargaining will re-open and while we are in mediation currently with the (not so qualified or experienced) Mr. Jago, one wonders what September will look like for our students?

So no, not only in Wisconsin can these things happen... and that worries me. I love my job, I am passionate about education, but the looming unpredictability of public education scares me and I believe in speaking out and taking action to ensure our students are protected and don't lose out in the future because of major losses today.

Staffroom Confidential writes:

We do not need to become partners in backwards reform movements, we need to be principled critics to attacks on union rights and public services. Rather than stating, for example, that yes, perhaps union members should pay some of their health insurance benefits but not too much, we should be arguing that these benefits are part of an overall compensation package that was negotiated and to claw back is equivalent to a pay cut. We need to point out that pensions are simply deferred salary that has been earned, and to claw back pension benefits is to steal that deferred income. We need to remind the public that seniority rights are to protect against discrimination, nepotism and favoritism.

We also need a principled public defense of public services in the public interest. "Reform" has become a euphemism for privatization and it is important to call a spade a spade. Every so-called reform of public services being pushed right now really aims to reduce public spending, curtain service delivery and quality, and to increase the private delivery and control of public services. Think charter schools, for example.

The lesson from Wisconsin is that we need to reform our organizations to ensure that we speak out for what is truly in the public interest, not simply try to lesson the damage. The slogans should not be "These cuts are too deep" but rather "Tax the rich".

Read more here

Province will not allow another year of teacher job act

News 1130
Dave White
May 25, 2012

SURREY (NEWS1130) - Your kids may not have to worry about another year with job action by teachers.

Education Minister George Abbottsays he will bring the teachers' job action to an end in time for the 2012/2013 school year, if a resolution has not been found by the end of the cooling-off period.

"We'll need to have some kind of an agreement in the absence of a mediator agreement, of course we have to look at legislating a solution, it's been done many times over the past 30 years, but it's not something I want to do at all. If it's absolutely necessary to do it, then we would of course do it."

Abbott hopes both sides can reach an agreement, and notes they are still talking, but the minister admits there has not been much softening nearly one year after the dispute started.

Teachers staged a three-day walkout in March and are currently refusing to perform extracurricular duties.     

To view the article, click here

Cooling Off?

I thought this was a great post... I don't see how any cooling off is happening... it feels more like a "hold teacher's unable to take any action while we hit them with bill after bill after rule to get our way"

Cooling off Period??? Following the passage of Bill 22...

The Christy Clarke Liberal Government ordered a 'cooling off period' for teachers after they passed Bill 22 that ended our Phase 1 job action. However, the following actions from the government indicates that they have not cooled off very much! First, there were two Ministerial Orders:

Learning Improvement Fund (LIF) - pitting teacher against teacher for scarce resources rather than restore struck language.

Class Size and Compensation Regulation - the 'cash for kids' program that excludes entire groups of teachers and then places a price tag on student's head teachers forced to enrol them in their program.

Then...

Based on Bill 22's narrow language, a mediator chosen by the BC Christy Clarke Liberals - Dr. Charles Jago is chosen as the mediator even though he has no experience as a mediator and no experience with K-12 education in BC. The BCTF has concerns about a 2006 report on public education in BC done by Dr. Jago on commission to former Premier Gordon Campbell’s Progress Board. The report’s findings clearly foreshadow positions taken by the BC Public School Employers’ Association at the bargaining table and also reflect policy directions laid out in Bill 22.

Bill 36 - 2012 - School Amendment Act - Promotes online courses for students as young as four, puts sweeping powers in the hands of the Minister of Education - school calendars, hours of instruction, and allows for fees for 'costly' programs.

LRB Ruling - Report cards and Struck Work - BCPSEA ensures that teachers must do Term 2 reports and our Board demands specialists reports to accompany them.

Bill 25 - Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act - attempts to limit third party activity from 60 days to 40 days and allows for a minimum window of three weeks after the legislature rises in which there is no limit on advertising - another attack on our Charter Rights to freedom of speech and expressions.

LRB Hearing - Extra Curricular/Voluntary - BCPSEA is attempting to dictate what we must do in addition to teaching, on our own time.

The BC Christy Clark Liberals Cooperative Gains Mandate - It equates to no money or benefits offered by the government, but if teachers wanted, they could sacrifice their own hard won benefits to get modest salary increases.

Feeling 'cooled off' yet? Neither do we!

 

 

[Source]