BCTF STRIKE II: $$$ Before Education

This summer's must see blockbuster will be the ongoing BCTF contract dispute which looks to open on July 1st and take us all on a dramatic roller-coaster ride of adventure into the early Fall season.

"That's right, this one is gonna be huge...HUGE!", Morty Monyfurst, BCTF business consultant exclaimed. "Jinny is so in the zone on this one...IN THE ZONE!"

And how. This week Jinny "Vader" Sims, President of the BCTF arrived for contract negotiations (as pictured above with her "team") prepared for battle. This time, she is determined to not have any leaks like she had before exposing her strike plans.

However, her plan does not seem to be working In the words of one of the greatest philosophers of our time: "Doh!".

This intrepid Poly has learned that the BCTF will pay the teachers their "signing bonus" should the BCTF force a strike since the Government kas stated the signing bonus will be off the table if the contract is not signed by June 30th...however, this will only really be a loan as the BCTF will be raising their union dues by three percentage points starting October 1st. This way, the BCTF will be "taking back" those "signing bonus" from the teachers in roughly three years time. This has led some people to suggest that the BCTF is bargaining in bad faith.

"Well of course that's that case my feathered friend," Morty exclaimed. "In this business it is called an advance...AN ADVANCE! It's gots to be paid back to Jinny...TO JINNY!"

On Monday, the BCTF moved from their outrageous demand of a 24% increase to their out-of-line hold-up of 19% over three years (7% - 6% - 6%)...Oh! And once you add in all the extras the BCTF is asking for such as more prep time, days off, additional benefits and enough money to finance the BCTF executive Viagra fund, their proposal is closer to the 42% range. In contrast, yesterday the Government countered with a 10% raise over four years (2.5% per year) which is in line with the other public service contracts settled with over 280,000 union members. The BCTF's wage plan will cost the taxpayers an additional $2 billion while the Government's plan is pegged at $600 million.

"Those are terrific projections....TERRIFIC!", Morty declared. "It's all about the money...THE MONEY! Add to this the number of people we will be screwing over and it will be huge...HUGE!"

That's true. Last year's illegal two week strike by the BCTF saw 4.5 million student days lost.

Morty squealed, "Sequels always do better...ALWAYS! So for this strike we are looking to top 10 million student days lost...10 MILLION! This will be huge...HUGE!"

To us here at the Poly, this does not make sense. Instead, if the BCTF go on another illegal "blockbuster" strike, perhaps the Province should consider fining this mob a base of $1 million plus $1 per student per strike day. This would certainly get their attention.

"That's not fair...NOT FAIR AT ALL!", Morty retorted like a victim from Kicked in the Nuts. "Some of those folks will not vote for the NDP...THE NDP! When we invest in students, all we ask for is blind, unquestioning loyalty...UNQUESTIONING LOYALTY!"

For another perspective, we turned to NDP Leader Carole James to see what she had to say about the ongoing BCTF salary neogotiations. "......................................."

Now THAT's a kick to the nuts.