Education is an essential service, meaning teachers cannot strike.
This strike is not about little Johnny and his education. It’s all about who controls our education system, the union or the government.
The union has a lot of money to fight this war, collecting about $40 million a year in taxpayer-funded union dues.
The teachers are already grossly overpaid, and putting a moratorium on increases till the rest of the world catches up is not only long overdue, it’s the only responsible thing any government could do.
Poor little Johnny does not understand that the government is broke.
The B.C. government is almost $60 billion in debt, while our national debt is well over one trillion dollars.
That is about $130,000 per household, only slightly less than the Greeks at about $160,000.
About 30 per cent of the workforce in Greece are government employees and can retire at the age of 55 with huge pension and benefit packages.
They are the people who are rioting.
A lot of the people who used to work in the private sector are unemployed and have no voice.
In Canada, government spending is out of control and the debt will continue to skyrocket, while the Greek debt in all likelihood will stop growing before the end of this year.
That will happen when they go bankrupt.
Somebody should tell little Johnny that he is the one who will be paying for those excessive salaries and benefits the teachers are demanding.
The money has to come from somewhere, and as taxpayers, not only are our pockets empty, yesterday’s politicians, like the Greeks, have maxed out our lines of credit, trying to buy the teachers’ vote.
Anders E. Thomsen
Summerland