Quote:
Originally Posted by belsarius
And I think we are going to see C, but through freezes, not cuts. Management salaries have already been frozen for almost a year now. Word out of the teachers union is to expect a fight as the government wants to keep salaries the same for the next contract. AUPE just completed their contract so they have a few years before anything can be done.
The thing is I don't believe the public salaries are higher than market rates. Alberta still enjoys the highest weekly earnings of any province in the country, even with an 8.5% unemployment rate. Per capita the public service is expense but compared to the mean salary they are on par with other jurisdictions. Debt to pay expenses for the next 10 years would be disastrous, for the next 3 or 4 I think is acceptable to keep the economy growing.
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The teacher's union is running TV ads continually, you see them every day. While they are not political in any way they go out of their way to paint teachers in a positive light - again this is not bad and what you would expect from any union, organization, or company that is advertising. But teachers do not need to advertise their services for any reason really, it's not like they are competing for your kids. It seems to me this is a PR battle they are already waging with the government for when it's time to negotiate the new contract.