Strike is government’s fault
The provincial government has failed the students, parents and teachers of this province miserably. Two summer months have been wasted away without even one productive bargaining session.
The government holds all of the cards. As such, it must make an earnest effort in order to resolve this mess. Unfortunately, Premier Christy Clark missed an excellent opportunity on Wednesday to provide leadership and get the bargaining back on track. It is time to end this dispute. If mediation won’t work, the two sides should agree to binding arbitration.
The ball is in the government’s court. As such, it must make the first move in reaching a deal with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation.
Balwant Sanghera, Richmond
Teachers are hurting themselves
The members of the teachers’ union, however just their cause, have lost their strike and will only suffer more the longer they’re out. It’s over!
People of such a noble profession deserve the best in realistic, innovative leadership, not leadership that invites $500,000 fines for defying a court order or presently leading the membership over their financial cliff during a worldwide fragile economy coupled with political instability.
How this level of astounding leadership incompetence came about and seemingly bamboozled the teachers, will probably remain forever a painful, costly mystery.
Joe Schwarz, Penticton
Teachers aren’t the enemy
I have taught for some 35 years and am in the twilight of my proud profession. During that time, never could I have imagined a day in which a premier of my province would hold a press conference such as we witnessed on Wednesday.
Not only was misinformation promulgated — unlimited massages — but it seemed to me that there was a tone belittling teachers for not doing the right thing. I was left feeling that I was an enemy of the province. I won’t go into detail, but the government does not have clean hands in this whole, sorry saga. I had hoped for statesmanship from Christy Clark, and perhaps naively, an olive branch.
Teachers are not enemies. We are professionals, who have spent large sums of money and several years learning our craft. We take pride in changing lives for the better. In the past we have chosen to improve class composition in place of wage increases.
We deserve better, especially from the premier of our beloved province.
John Dumas, Agassiz
Let’s end teachers’ right to strike
It’s long overdue for the education system to be declared an essential service to put an end to using the kids as pawns in the very broken bargaining structure!
Brian MacLeod, Mission
Use union halls for learning
Perhaps all B.C. unions should open their union halls to teachers to run day camps for elementary schoolchildren and tap into the $40-a-day daycare money.
They could make the point that if the Premier Christy Clark’s B.C. Liberal Party will not educate children, the unions will.
Greg Middleton, Victoria
Unions make life better
I agree with the points B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair made in his Labour Day op-ed — the trade unions do not just look after their own members but actually work to raise the living standards of all citizens.
There are many things for which we have the labour movement to thank, including health and safety legislation, regular hours of work and weekends, as well as social programs like public pensions and unemployment benefits.
Sinclair also highlighted the ongoing need for unions in our society. Without unions, we would not only lose some of the benefits listed above, we would also lose a major ally for workers, the unemployed and seniors when it comes to social benefits, especially when it comes to public pensions. And we could forget about trying to ever change the economic system that allows the very wealthy and big corporations to cream off most of the wealth that all of us work so hard in this province to create.
Unions may not be perfect, but they should be commended for at least trying to part of the solution instead of the problem.
Brendan Shields, Vancouver
Polley Lake not toxix
Too many people are inaccurately using the term “acute toxicity” when talking about Polley Lake. Not only is their use of the term inaccurate, it’s also recklessly misleading. Acute toxicity results from a single or short exposure to a poisonous substance that causes severe biological harm or death.
At Polley Lake, there is an “elevated” level of substances, not “acute toxicity.” A suitable analogy would be a hangover from having consumed too much alcohol. As everyone knows, a hangover is painful but can be remedied, or remediated, if the source of the contaminant is removed, allowing the body to recover naturally.
Polley Lake is not dead, it just has a hangover and will recover. Let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Jessica Marte, Burnaby
The editorial pages editor is Gordon Clark, who can be reached at gclark@theprovince.com. Letters to the editor can be sent to provletters@theprovince.com.
