Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
Out of curiousity how many workers were effected by the increase.
At the end of the day to me, with the budget spiralling out of control, and the day to day operations of government running a deficit any increase right now is outrageous.
It might be wrong, but when I searched for public sector employees and salary stats, in 2011 Alberta was spending more then 20 billion on salaries for over 345,000 workers.
Like I said I could be mis-interpreting the stats. But that means that the average salary is $58,000. So a 2% increase lets say across the board is $1160 x 345000 is over $400 million a year in increases, so if its 2% per year, thats a sizable increase since 2011 of about what 2 billion.
Like I said the PC's are firmly in the blame circle, but in these times, where the budget is in deficit its a huge issue, especially the day to day operating budget.
Right now even 1 to 2% increases aren't affordable.
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No one is saying that increases are agreeable at this point in time.
But to say that a 1-2% increase in wages per annum is unreasonable (in any profession) is demanding acceptance of a year over year erosion in purchasing power due to inflation. Call it what you want, but wage freezes are economic pay cuts. Teachers took it on the chin to have the privilege of continuing to work in the same bullsh*t environment and still get harassed by the public repeatedly for it.
Quite honestly, I wish my SO would stop teaching. The amount of garbage she puts up with from parents and students, combined with the complete lack of support from the school board is enough to drive someone insane. And then I have to put the pieces back together every goddamn day.
Then as if that isn't enough, the general population of the province who knows absolutely nothing about the profession piles on and says that teacher's need to take a pay cut to put up with the same terribly flawed system. Dragged through the mud, yet again.
That private sector employees are taking it on the chin, therefore public sector employees should too is a poorly constructed argument. Private sector employees choose to work in an industry that is driven by a commodity cycle. BY DOING SO WE ACCEPT THE RISK INVOLVED, and get compensated accordingly in both good times (bonuses, raises, yachts, yay!) and bad (layoffs, pay cuts, ouch). However, people forget that due to the success of our province, the cost of living, and therefore the cost of providing ancillary services (teaching?) will inherently be higher here than elsewhere in the country. Teachers still have to pay the same bloated prices for consumer goods as an O&G engineer folks.......
Education is a basic necessity of society. Just because the price of oil is down doesn't mean that classroom sizes have decreased, or that the coded kids in Alberta's classrooms have somehow miraculously become easier to deal with. Does the system need to become more efficient? Absolutely. Front-line workers are not the problem, but they sure as hell become the scapegoat at times like this.
Threads like this bring out the worst in me. I get infuriated. Am I biased? Yes.
But the inevitably terrible, one sided, cliche arguments that get brought up every time are so predictable, and do not consider the entirety of the issue.
Teachers are not government subsidized day care. Although it appears that a lot of people in this province think that's about all there is to it.