Yes. And honestly, even if I get legislated back to work, I’m no longer teaching in a classroom. The main reason I am striking doesn’t even affect my day to day work anymore. But, unlike the UCP and their supporters, I choose to listen when my colleagues tell me about their work conditions, and I choose to support the right for all students, regardless of socioeconomic status to equitable opportunities at life.
Sometimes when people tell us things, we can listen without being paternalistic about their needs. Something I think UCP and their supporters can’t seem to grasp.
So you work downtown? What’s your take on the horrendous rental agreement the CBE signed paying triple the going rate for office space that is occupied by people who have been creating the class size issue hand in hand with the UCP? The financial responsibility of the CBE leaves as much to be desired as this government.
So you work downtown? What’s your take on the horrendous rental agreement the CBE signed paying triple the going rate for office space that is occupied by people who have been creating the class size issue hand in hand with the UCP? The financial responsibility of the CBE leaves as much to be desired as this government.
I came into the profession after the Ed Centre was already signed, there’s been three chief superintendents since I became a teacher, and I don’t know anyone in senior leadership who was involved in the deal. My scope is somewhat limited but everyone I know acknowledges that it was a mistake; I met Brad Grundy, the CFO, super early in my career and he implied that he came into CBE after the deal was signed, and was pretty frank about it being a terrible decision.
You and I have both worked in head office and seem to have different experiences, and both are valid. I don’t offer any defense for CBE; all I know is that the colleagues and leadership that I currently work with in downtown are the strongest educators I’ve ever worked with. My system principal actually taught me many years ago and she was the best teacher I’ve ever had. I also believe that the work my service unit is responsible for is important and necessary to advance practice in the classroom.
I can’t do anything about what CBE is now strapped with, but I believe in public education and will say that my service unit and past teacher colleagues equally care about students. So despite what occurred with Ed Centre, when I advocate for public education it’s also advocating for my colleagues, both in downtown and schools.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hockey Fan #751
The Oilers won't finish 14th in the West forever.
Eventually a couple of expansion teams will be added which will nestle the Oilers into 16th.
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Day 10 of the strike tomorrow. Looks like this is going to go into next week. A lot of the discussion lately is around the UCP's possible use of the notwithstanding clause to suspend our Charter rights and force us back to work.
Section 33 of the Charter allows for suspension of Charter rights in order to pass a law that the government knows is unconstitutional. Smith using this clause to end the strike is anti-democratic, full stop.
If Smith does this, it will be a full out assault on workers' rights in Canada. It is being used as a political weapon to undermine the collective bargaining process. This is critically important not just for educators, but the democratic fabric of our country.
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Day 10 of the strike tomorrow. Looks like this is going to go into next week. A lot of the discussion lately is around the UCP's possible use of the notwithstanding clause to suspend our Charter rights and force us back to work.
Section 33 of the Charter allows for suspension of Charter rights in order to pass a law that the government knows is unconstitutional. Smith using this clause to end the strike is anti-democratic, full stop.
If Smith does this, it will be a full out assault on workers' rights in Canada. It is being used as a political weapon to undermine the collective bargaining process. This is critically important not just for educators, but the democratic fabric of our country.
“Strong and Free”… give me a break.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hockey Fan #751
The Oilers won't finish 14th in the West forever.
Eventually a couple of expansion teams will be added which will nestle the Oilers into 16th.
So you work downtown? What’s your take on the horrendous rental agreement the CBE signed paying triple the going rate for office space that is occupied by people who have been creating the class size issue hand in hand with the UCP? The financial responsibility of the CBE leaves as much to be desired as this government.
It really is time to stop going on about the Ed Centre deal. As Point Blank has already pointed out, everyone that was involved in that decision is long gone (including the elected Board of Trustees members who unanimously agreed to move forward with the decision) and everyone internally knows and agrees it was and is a bad deal.
Also, let's be honest here. The amount we are talking about is less than 1% of the overall budget of the CBE (around 13 million annually out of $1.67 billion) and in the grand scheme of things is really just a drop in the bucket.
BTW, not all of us work out of the Ivory Tower. My team and many others works out of Highfield, an early 60's worn out, old mishmash of a building with furniture to match. My area has water stained ceiling tiles, lights burnt out or missing, is either too hot or too cold and no matter how many times we have it fumigated, has an infestation of boxelder bugs up in the ceiling that will occasionally fall into your hair, coffee, keyboard etc. while you are working.
Has there been bad decisions? Yes.
Is there inefficiencies / wastage? Yes
Are there people in positions that shouldn't be there? Yes
But name me any large organization for which these things are not true.
(for scale, the CBE has about 16,000 employees and over 250 buildings to manage & maintain, over 50% of which are 50 years or older)
The vast majority of all staff, teaching or non-teaching, that work for the CBE are caring, hardworking people that go above and beyond to try and keep things on track with less and less resources and to compare the CBE to this Alberta government is insulting and just plain wrong.
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BTW, not all of us work out of the Ivory Tower. My team and many others works out of Highfield, an early 60's worn out, old mishmash of a building with furniture to match. My area has water stained ceiling tiles, lights burnt out or missing, is either too hot or too cold and no matter how many times we have it fumigated, has an infestation of boxelder bugs up in the ceiling that will occasionally fall into your hair, coffee, keyboard etc. while you are working.
So a few things about this. The first is that your response makes it about money, not education quality. And I cannot name a career, job or industry where having to do more with less is not common, it is not about fairness but about doing what you have to do to keep your job, often does not come with any additional compensation.
And really it is not about fairness at all. Does a grade three teacher in Hanna with 12 kids in their class and few complexities deserve the same pay as a grade 8 teacher in Calgary with 30 students in their classroom with many complexities? Probably not, no that is not fair, however that is the reality.
Flip side of this, you may need to pay more to get teachers to go to the smaller remote communities around the province. It's easy to attract teachers to Calgary, not so much Manning. Or Oyen.
Flip side of this, you may need to pay more to get teachers to go to the smaller remote communities around the province. It's easy to attract teachers to Calgary, not so much Manning. Or Oyen.
I saw that Manitoba has really high paid teachers compared to other Provinces. This did make me wonder if there is some type of premium to get people to work in some of the remote regions.
It's tough to account for everything, but teaching 32 kids in a Calgary grade 11 Advanced Placement Science class vs an elementary class in Fort Chippewan is two different worlds.
On one hand Edmonton is far cheaper to live in than Calgary. On the other you get to deal with mouth breathers in unwashed sweat pants....so how to you assign a dollar figure to that?
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I also think it's inievatable that the teachers will get legislated back to work under the terms of the agreement that got voted down by 90%. They'll (Prov. govt) claim they provided them with a good deal and we'll have toxic classrooms for at least the next 21 months....
__________________ "Some guys like old balls"
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It really is time to stop going on about the Ed Centre deal. As Point Blank has already pointed out, everyone that was involved in that decision is long gone (including the elected Board of Trustees members who unanimously agreed to move forward with the decision) and everyone internally knows and agrees it was and is a bad deal.
Also, let's be honest here. The amount we are talking about is less than 1% of the overall budget of the CBE (around 13 million annually out of $1.67 billion) and in the grand scheme of things is really just a drop in the bucket.
BTW, not all of us work out of the Ivory Tower. My team and many others works out of Highfield, an early 60's worn out, old mishmash of a building with furniture to match. My area has water stained ceiling tiles, lights burnt out or missing, is either too hot or too cold and no matter how many times we have it fumigated, has an infestation of boxelder bugs up in the ceiling that will occasionally fall into your hair, coffee, keyboard etc. while you are working.
Has there been bad decisions? Yes.
Is there inefficiencies / wastage? Yes
Are there people in positions that shouldn't be there? Yes
But name me any large organization for which these things are not true.
(for scale, the CBE has about 16,000 employees and over 250 buildings to manage & maintain, over 50% of which are 50 years or older)
The vast majority of all staff, teaching or non-teaching, that work for the CBE are caring, hardworking people that go above and beyond to try and keep things on track with less and less resources and to compare the CBE to this Alberta government is insulting and just plain wrong.
I am going to simply agree to disagree here. I worked downtown under the current leadership and they are not different than the past ones. I was given perks and an experience that was absurd compared to the teachers I supposedly worked for.
Also, why do we forgive an institution for the mistakes they made? That is easy in a public system like the CBE to say, yet I know we don't apply that same logic to corporations or any other public entity. Christ mention Nenshi, the best leader I think we have had, and you can't go three sentences without hearing about the big blue ring. The CBE has been absolutely fiscally irresponsible. Are they underfunded, absolutely, but I cannot simply say they should be given carte blanche, just because it happens. Look at the Catholic System for fiscally responsible leadership. Same funding scheme, significantly, by ratio, less top heavy.
There are some great people working downtown, but there are equal or more people that are riding out a sweet gig and playing any political game they have to to stay at a 9-5 position with no marking, no planning, and a sweet lifestyle compared to being in the real world of education.
In the schools, the real world I completely agree the vast majority of the CBE are incredible. I would stand by my teams all day everyday, but the fiscal reigns were taken out the hands of schools many years ago and the current leadership has done nothing to reverse those mistakes. It would be simple stop centralized funding, give it 100% back to the schools. However, if they did this they would never be able to fund their ivory tower on 8th street.
I'm all for people using whatever power they have to try and get theirs, whether it's people leveraging increased workloads or other alternatives into higher pay or by belonging to a union and using it, it's the same thing. They fought for that power and have the right to use it. It's always a risk either way. You can get locked out, you can get let go instead of getting the raise you asked for, or you can overplay your hand and have to decide to capitulate or walk away.
There's downsides to belonging to unions, but I think everyone would love to be a part of one when it came to negotiating a salary. Most of what keeps salaries low in the corporate world is a culture of not sharing compensation with coworkers. Just doing that can drive up wages.
“ Tuesday Update: Bargaining is once again at an impasse. Government will not return to the table unless teachers present a more "reasonable" offer. Teachers believe the offer presented last week was exceptionally fair and reasonable. The biggest sticking point continues to be Government's unwillingness to even consider the issue of class size/composition.”
Looks like we’re gonna get legislated back to work, and then the government is going to use the notwithstanding clause to ram their offer through.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hockey Fan #751
The Oilers won't finish 14th in the West forever.
Eventually a couple of expansion teams will be added which will nestle the Oilers into 16th.
Flip side of this, you may need to pay more to get teachers to go to the smaller remote communities around the province. It's easy to attract teachers to Calgary, not so much Manning. Or Oyen.
Very likely the case. Or certain other teachers too. Like gym teachers...
I am going to simply agree to disagree here. I worked downtown under the current leadership and they are not different than the past ones. I was given perks and an experience that was absurd compared to the teachers I supposedly worked for.
Also, why do we forgive an institution for the mistakes they made? That is easy in a public system like the CBE to say, yet I know we don't apply that same logic to corporations or any other public entity. Christ mention Nenshi, the best leader I think we have had, and you can't go three sentences without hearing about the big blue ring. The CBE has been absolutely fiscally irresponsible. Are they underfunded, absolutely, but I cannot simply say they should be given carte blanche, just because it happens. Look at the Catholic System for fiscally responsible leadership. Same funding scheme, significantly, by ratio, less top heavy.
There are some great people working downtown, but there are equal or more people that are riding out a sweet gig and playing any political game they have to to stay at a 9-5 position with no marking, no planning, and a sweet lifestyle compared to being in the real world of education.
In the schools, the real world I completely agree the vast majority of the CBE are incredible. I would stand by my teams all day everyday, but the fiscal reigns were taken out the hands of schools many years ago and the current leadership has done nothing to reverse those mistakes. It would be simple stop centralized funding, give it 100% back to the schools. However, if they did this they would never be able to fund their ivory tower on 8th street.
The government loves referendums, put this one to the people. I don't have kids, I won't ever have kids and I have zero problem with my tax dollars going to this plan.
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If teachers get legislated back, they may refuse to do any extracurricular, arrive as the bell rings, and leave when the bell rings. No tutorial time, no clubs, no sports.
This will significantly reduce many teachers’ workload, but do we think this is what Danielle wants? To contrast what private schools are offering versus public and continue their agenda of privatizing education?
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hockey Fan #751
The Oilers won't finish 14th in the West forever.
Eventually a couple of expansion teams will be added which will nestle the Oilers into 16th.
