Labour Day is barely in the rear-view mirror and our kids are heading back to school. Teachers are heading back too – for now.
The usual relief that parents feel at this time of year is tempered by the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation’s (BCTF) threat to strike for higher pay, more benefits and better working conditions.
How reasonable are these demands?
Many other public-sector unions in the province, recognizing the current economic climate, have settled within the government’s negotiating framework of no-net compensation increases for two years.
But the BCTF is asking for:
•a double-digit pay increase;
•26 weeks of paid leave to look after a sick friend or relative;
•a year’s pay as a “bonus” for retiring;
•two weeks’ leave on the death of any friend; and
•two sick days a month that can be banked.
As eye-popping as the demands are, the BCTF does sound more reasonable when it points out that teachers in provinces such as Alberta and Ontario earn more than they do.
How reasonable is it to complain about your wages when you are among the best-paid teachers in the world?
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) produces an annual report of education indicators showing the OECD average starting salary for teachers is US$28,949. Teachers in the U.S. start at US$35,999, while those in France begin at US$23,735.
With a starting salary of $47,000, B.C. teachers make more than those in every other OECD country except Luxemburg.
At $75,000, the average top salary for B.C. teachers is also far higher than the OECD average of US$48,022.
By comparison, U.S. teachers top out at an average US$50,922 and French teachers at US$47,108.
B.C. teachers also get to the top salary faster than those in most other countries.
But salaries don’t tell the full story.
Holiday time is pretty good for a teacher with a two-month summer break.
The pensions are nice, too, providing for 70% replacement income. This means a B.C. teacher can retire at age 55 with an inflation-indexed pension worth more than $50,000 a year. Many will retire for more years than they worked.
Salaries, benefits and working conditions can’t be that bad in B.C. as more people want to teach than there are jobs.
B.C. teachers are well compensated. To meet half of the current demands would blow a giant hole in B.C.’s already strained budget, which means higher taxes – either now or later – for the rest of British Columbians whose incomes have not risen as fast as those of teachers.
As for those even more generous salaries in Ontario and Alberta, simply because their governments caved in to unreasonable demands doesn’t mean that B.C. should.
The BCTF isn’t doing itself or its reasonable union brethren any favours. A recent poll found that unions are the least respected groups in the country, ranking even below banks and government.
Making outrageous demands at the expense of other citizens is what put them there. •
