Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[KelVarnsen]

Calgary schools require parents confirm child's sex at birth under new girls' sports rules

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...lity-1.7624128

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

The gov needs to pay teachers and stop ####ing around.

From 2012-2025, comparing percentage pay gains:
6.3% teachers
25.9% average for Alberta workers
33.9% inflation

The 12 or 13% the province is offering is laughable and no question should be rejected.

Also why don’t they just agree to a fair wage and link it to inflation so we don’t have this silly bs every few years.

We don’t need to look far to see what poor education does. We need good teachers and you need to pay a decent wage to attract any kind of talent. How about stop ####ing funding private schools if things are so tight?

AUPE just reached an agreement with the Alberta government (members still to vote on it). Of note is they agreed to 12% over four years as part of the agreement.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...vote-1.7624713

[Wolven]

For those of you who are feeling that Nenshi is being silent. @NaheedNenshiAB

Spoiler!

9 days ago - Pride is a protest:


6 days ago - Nenshi townhall (pretty bad audio but subtitles)


5 days ago - Danielle Smith and Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides don't care about your kids. (I like the part where he calls the UCP evil)


3 days ago - Labour day update


1 day ago - Another pride video:


Today's video regarding Teachers and the education system (also mentions the UCP being evil)

It certainly looks like he is warming up for the fall session to start.

[IliketoPuck]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

I personally have never seen this in a CBA. That isn’t to say it doesn’t happen or has never happened but to say that it’s “quite common” seems to lack foundation. Generally both the employer and the union want a little long term certainty of outcome and labour peace. Continually renegotiating every year doesn’t provide that and adds significant time and costs to the process.

I work for a company, and in an industry, where this is normal course. Calling it common is more than fair, and likely an understatement.

In fact, it is so common, that the pass through of the CBA changes is well understood by clients and their processes for handling these annual adjustments are smooth and consistent.

I appreciate you may have had different experiences. Now you have an extra data point from mine.

[Julio]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

AUPE just reached an agreement with the Alberta government (members still to vote on it). Of note is they agreed to 12% over four years as part of the agreement.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...vote-1.7624713

Don't know if you were looking at an old version of the story, but the deal was passed by the AUPE.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Julio

Don't know if you were looking at an old version of the story, but the deal was passed by the AUPE.

Yeah, I stand corrected. Deal was indeed passed by members.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by woob

Anyone catch the Alberta Book Ban segment on The Current on CBC this AM?

John Hilton-O'Brien (Executive Director of Parents for Choice in Education) was one of the guests, and I so badly wanted to go through the radio and beat him with a book.

I actually said out loud, in front my kids at the breakfast table, "Wow, this guy is an #######."

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Julio

Don't know if you were looking at an old version of the story, but the deal was passed by the AUPE.

I am glad for the members that they got a deal that they like... but I am sad for the rest of us that wanted to see the government flail about with multiple strikes screaming at them.

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

AUPE just reached an agreement with the Alberta government (members still to vote on it). Of note is they agreed to 12% over four years as part of the agreement.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...vote-1.7624713

The old CBA also had raises that would offset inflation, whereas the teachers have had a wage freeze for 10 years, so asking for a cost of living increase makes more sense with them.

[Point Blank]

I'll be real here, I've been pretty sad the last couple of days. The first day of school was marked with thick polluted air; kids couldn't go outside. Classroom libraries were empty (because teachers couldn't create a digital catalogue in time and the UCP said students aren't allowed to read books that haven't been digitally catalogued), any girls participating in sports have to bring a letter home to parents to verify that they were born females at birth, teachers have to ask for parental permission to use a student's preferred name and pronoun, the new curriculum is jammed pack with rote memorization, and the PAT results from the new curriculum are hovering at around 30%, and uncertainty with the teacher strike is looming.

Kids aren't allowed to go outside to play, aren't allowed to read, are forced in elementary to memorize a bunch of facts, will be outed by teachers if they are LGBTQ, have to prove they have two x chromosomes to participate in sports with other children, and will miss instructional hours because the adults couldn't agree. It all feels super dystopian.

[GGG]

Yhe only nice part about the letter is that you can just value you lie if it affected you are affected by it.

But even as a parent of a cis child the form feels like a gross invasion of privacy.

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

AUPE just reached an agreement with the Alberta government (members still to vote on it). Of note is they agreed to 12% over four years as part of the agreement.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...vote-1.7624713

The old CBA also had raises that would offset inflation, whereas the teachers have had a wage freeze for 10 years, so asking for a cost of living increase makes more sense with them.

[Doctorfever]

Originally Posted by Wolven

There are rumours that a number of the UCP have been bribed with massive golden parachutes should the mine go ahead. That is why they have not only broken the law that Lougheed put in place to prevent mines like this but have basically ignored all of the backlash and agreed to build in huge penalties against Alberta should the mine not happen (Smith keeps talking about the $14B penalty against Alberta if we fight this mine).

It might be one of the most corrupt things the UCP has done.

Where are you reading these rumours? Can you post your source?

[CFO]

One thing needs to be taken into consideration is anyone with a future sizable pension cannot be peered against higher paying private sector.

A $60k annual pension is similar to having saved around $2mm after tax dollars for retirement. I don't believe teachers are contributing that amount.

I'm all about reasonable pay. But the big incentive is retirement years.

Plus I hate screwed facts on both sides. Class sizes are all over the place. Both my kids class sizes over last 6 years have always been low 20s in size.

[Point Blank]

Originally Posted by CFO

Plus I hate screwed facts on both sides. Class sizes are all over the place. Both my kids class sizes over last 6 years have always been low 20s in size.

The problem with using anecdotal evidence as the premise to a “both sides” argument is that I can tell you my colleagues in high schools are teaching 3-4 sections per semester of class sizes of high 30’s to low 40’s; and we’ve had to convert a breakout space in the library into a classroom to meet the demand for space.

What you’d like is provincial data on classroom sizes…but this data collection was stopped by the UCP so people can use anecdotal evidence to claim a “both sides” argument.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by CFO

One thing needs to be taken into consideration is anyone with a future sizable pension cannot be peered against higher paying private sector.

A $60k annual pension is similar to having saved around $2mm after tax dollars for retirement. I don't believe teachers are contributing that amount.

I'm all about reasonable pay. But the big incentive is retirement years.

Plus I hate screwed facts on both sides. Class sizes are all over the place. Both my kids class sizes over last 6 years have always been low 20s in size.

You too could have a similar pension plan to a teacher if you saved over 20% of your salary each year. The government does give them a 9.5% contribution which is much better than the private sector generally but it’s not obscene like people make it out to be. Teachers contribute about 10.5%

https://teachers.ab.ca/news/teacher-...-rates-lowered

20k per year with an average historical return of 7% after inflation for 30 years from 25-55 would score you 2 million dollars.

The reason teachers have good pensions is they are forced to save.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by GGG

You too could have a similar pension plan to a teacher if you saved over 20% of your salary each year. The government does give them a 9.5% contribution which is much better than the private sector generally but it’s not obscene like people make it out to be. Teachers contribute about 10.5%

https://teachers.ab.ca/news/teacher-...-rates-lowered

20k per year with an average historical return of 7% after inflation for 30 years from 25-55 would score you 2 million dollars.

The reason teachers have good pensions is they are forced to save.

Yeah, and it depends on your situation, but I was in no position to save $20k/year at age 25. I didn't make enough money even to consider that.

There's no question that forced savings and compound interest are why those pensions are good. That's not unique to teachers; many DB plans have those factors working for you.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Slava

Yeah, and it depends on your situation, but I was in no position to save $20k/year at age 25. I didn't make enough money even to consider that.

There's no question that forced savings and compound interest are why those pensions are good. That's not unique to teachers; many DB plans have those factors working for you.

Not to mention the absolute and complete elimination of risk. If you didn't make returns on that money because everything you invested in was stomped on by Godzilla...someone is still legally obligated to pay you.

[CFO]

Originally Posted by GGG

You too could have a similar pension plan to a teacher if you saved over 20% of your salary each year. The government does give them a 9.5% contribution which is much better than the private sector generally but it’s not obscene like people make it out to be. Teachers contribute about 10.5%

https://teachers.ab.ca/news/teacher-...-rates-lowered

20k per year with an average historical return of 7% after inflation for 30 years from 25-55 would score you 2 million dollars.

The reason teachers have good pensions is they are forced to save.

But that's before tax, not after tax.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

Where are you reading these rumours? Can you post your source?

I think it was a content creator that brought it up back when the issue was hot.... I would have to dig to find the right one.

Searching the internet is just bringing up the $143M that the UCP has paid out thus far in settlements because of their little coal law reversal and re-reversal stunt.

The Tyee has a number of stories about Gina Rinehart and the UCP and the degree to which she lobbied the UCP to get the coal mine rammed through.