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Thoughts on British Columbia Teacher Strike

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Jing Yuan
1,500 posts
Joined September 2013
Topic Starter
Jing Yuan
So for the past couple months, here in B.C., Canada, the teachers unions have been on strike. The result of this is that last year's school year was cut short and it is likely that this school year will not start on time, due to the negotiations not looking like they will end anytime soon.


Your thoughts?
[Bystander]
243 posts
Joined December 2013
[Bystander]
I'm already back in school... :(
dkun
osu! Alumni
4,486 posts
Joined August 2009
dkun
Why are said unions striking and what's holding the negotiations up?
TheNekoNextDoor
446 posts
Joined March 2014
TheNekoNextDoor

[Bystander] wrote:

I'm already back in school... :(
Pfft, I don't start until next Friday.

Anyway, back on topic - what's happened? What are the teacher unions striking over?
Jing Yuan
1,500 posts
Joined September 2013
Topic Starter
Jing Yuan

TheNekoNextDoor wrote:

Anyway, back on topic - what's happened? What are the teacher unions striking over?

dkun wrote:

Why are said unions striking and what's holding the negotiations up?
I think that the main thing is that the teacher's want a wage increase (i believe it is 12%) and changes in classroom composition. (Less special needs kids per class).

They have been negotiating for a couple months now. I think that they've been held up for so long because the teachers really want the highest wage increase.

[Bystander] wrote:

I'm already back in school... :(
school here may also may start on sept. 2 as planned, but it looks unlikely.
uzzi
786 posts
Joined September 2012
uzzi
Wow why couldn't this happen in Alberta during diploma exams...

Though I do agree there may need to be a few reforms, I don't blame the teachers.
dkun
osu! Alumni
4,486 posts
Joined August 2009
dkun
Wage increases seem to be the driving factor with any union. It's the same way any strike goes; it's a question of who lays down their arms first. Teachers need money to live -- that of which they don't get paid if they're on strike. School districts obviously need teachers to teach, but can just shift the school year in terms of how much time they miss at any given point in the school year.

I do hope it gets resolved sooner than later, though.
ivan
313 posts
Joined November 2013
ivan
x
Last edited by ivan , edited 1 time in total.
Jing Yuan
1,500 posts
Joined September 2013
Topic Starter
Jing Yuan
It's official. School in bc is not starting on September second.

feel free to discuss.
Lanturn
osu! Alumni
3,912 posts
Joined March 2012
Lanturn
We pretty much had a smaller version of this strike like 9 or 10 years ago that lasted a couple weeks. This doesn't surprise me at all. I hope this gets resolved asap so the children can get the education they deserve.
MMzz
Elite Mapper
3,979 posts
Joined June 2009
MMzz
Is there any information on how much their wages currently are and why they want an increase?

And why do they want less special needs students in their classrooms? Does it disrupt the other students? And what exactly do they mean by special needs? (Disabled, Handicaped, Mental, etc)

Also if they can afford to strike for months, why do they need higher wages? /donttakethisseriouslyitisajoke
Jing Yuan
1,500 posts
Joined September 2013
Topic Starter
Jing Yuan

MMzz wrote:

Is there any information on how much their wages currently are and why they want an increase?

And why do they want less special needs students in their classrooms? Does it disrupt the other students? And what exactly do they mean by special needs? (Disabled, Handicaped, Mental, etc)
I'm not sure what the exact wages are, (I think that they are asking for a 12% increase) but i can give a bit of information on the special needs students.

Before, the government limited the amount of special needs students in classes to around 3. (Special needs = Disabilities, Mental issues etc.)
But sometime in the past couple years, the government removed that limit, meaning that there would be no limit on the amount of special needs students in any given class.

The teachers don't like that because it makes their job more difficult to have to pay more attention to more kids in classes.
Also, i think the government also removed or raised the restriction on how many kids are in any given class.
loldcraft
106 posts
Joined June 2012
loldcraft
Do they count disabled students that can take care of themselves as special need? i.e if someone is missing an arm they can still perform fine, though theoretically are disabled. The limit should only be enforced on people that need physical help.

This isn't the best way to phrase it, but aren't mentally disabled students not allowed to be in normal schools in the first place?

I don't understand why the amount of students in a class matter. Considering the amount of students a teacher teaches overall is the same, wouldn't making the class larger simply make it more like a lecture, and the teacher has to repeat the same lesson less times? (Unless the teachers are being paid on a per class instead of a per student basis, then of course increasing the class size would be unfair.)
Jing Yuan
1,500 posts
Joined September 2013
Topic Starter
Jing Yuan

loldcraft wrote:

Do they count disabled students that can take care of themselves as special need? i.e if someone is missing an arm they can still perform fine, though theoretically are disabled. The limit should only be enforced on people that need physical help.
Im not entirely too sure on the specifics on special needs students, but the way i have been told, is that students that need extra help with work and such, making the teacher have to spend extra time making sure the student is learning.

loldcraft wrote:

This isn't the best way to phrase it, but aren't mentally disabled students not allowed to be in normal schools in the first place?
I'm also not sure what types of metal disability would be put into public schools. I would think that diabilities that still allow for learning would be allowed. This doesn't make the number of special needs students less by any huge amount.

loldcraft wrote:

I don't understand why the amount of students in a class matter. Considering the amount of students a teacher teaches overall is the same, wouldn't making the class larger simply make it more like a lecture, and the teacher has to repeat the same lesson less times? (Unless the teachers are being paid on a per class instead of a per student basis, then of course increasing the class size would be unfair.)
I think that the teachers are being paid on a per class basis. But the law is that across the entire district, an average of say, 30 students are needed. This counts counseling classes, special needs classes (which typically have 1 or two kids at a time). So the outliers can decrease the average, overcrowding classrooms. The teachers want to set a limit of kids that can be in an individual class.
Gumpy
2,418 posts
Joined June 2014
Gumpy
Same thing is happening in Sør-Trønderlag - Norway.

Edit: Just as I said that it ended so i'm back to school tomorrow
- [ R a a Y ] -
- [ R a a Y ] -

- [ U z z I ] - wrote:

Wow why couldn't this happen in Alberta during diploma exams...

Though I do agree there may need to be a few reforms, I don't blame the teachers.
720 NOSKOPED YUR ARSE
Jing Yuan
1,500 posts
Joined September 2013
Topic Starter
Jing Yuan

- [ R a a Y ] - wrote:

720 NOSKOPED YUR ARSE

Can a mod please delete R a a Y's post?
B1rd
2,974 posts
Joined December 2013
B1rd
this is the problem that keeps me up every night.
kakifly
940 posts
Joined April 2014
kakifly
should i be worried that i dont care

MOREOSUTIME4ME
TakuMii
1,874 posts
Joined October 2009
TakuMii

- [ U z z I ] - wrote:

Wow why couldn't this happen in Alberta during diploma exams...
too bad you didn't take any exams last year, our diplomas were cancelled by city-wide destruction the flood
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