http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/ra...857/story.html
As a teacher this frustrates me. I personally do not feel that we need, nor deserve at this point, an increase in salary. In parallel neither do any of our executives downtown in the CBE (this happens regularly)! We are already brushing up against 100k a year (at the most senior levels) and in my humble opinion that is more than a fair compensation. Combined with our benefits package and retirement fund we are very lucky. To argue that we have "paid our due" under our previous contract is nonsense. We make enough money, it is time to reconnect with the public we serve and focus on benefits for the students.
All I want out of this contract negotiation is smaller class sizes. This will improve the quality of the education each student receives as well as employ a number of new teachers who are struggling to find employment. By creating more "teaching blocks" new teachers will be mentored into a system that has a terrible history of reactive planning, rather than proactive planning. We have a massive shift of administrative level positions and we need new teachers to fill those voids. However, they will also need quality mentors to aid them in the start of their career.
I wish the ATA would focus on this aspect of our contract,
I don't want more money. I want my students to have more individual support, and young teachers to have employment. Shake your head ATA I don't care what our previous contracts embodied, if you pursue salary in this climate you will ostracize our public supporters. Embarrassing, I apologize.