Something Else To Think About

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Mental Exercise": 
Questioning anything that goes against the teacher union mantra will land you in a heap of trouble be you a teacher or blogger. For example, the mantra that teachers don't get paid for the summer is disingenuous at best.At teacher making $60 K a year gets 10 pays @ 6K per month (tied into the months in the classroom) and not 12 pays of 5 K per month (which would include the summer months).Same pay!
Another myth is the fight over Bill 115 and its undemocratic imposition.It seems forgotten is what happened in 2007, when then Education Minister Kathlyn Wynn gave the teacher unions the ultimatum, acccept a 3% per year for 4 years wage increase by Nov 1, 2007 or get 0.This was at the start of a nasty recession and almost all teacher unions quickly signed up because after all money talks and to hell with collective bargaining.One union ETFO held out for more and wouldn't sign by the deadline.Ultimately facing an extended deadline and the threat of %0 they signed at the reduced rate of 2% per year for 4 years.Is it any wonder they walked away from the current negotions after 1 hour. The starting point for any negotiation with this union is the lost 1%. No wonder they are the most militant of all the teacher unions.Saying its about democracy is just an outright smoke screen for the real truth.
There. I've slagged teachers and don't understand the tough job they have....BS!
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Salary figures cited above have not been challenged, So,,,they are likely accurate. 
Here's something else to think about. 
Increases in  wage costs  for fire protection will go up by one point something million, this year. 
Aurora and Newmarket employ 289 people in that department. 
Fire protection represents 25% of the budget
Base rate  for a firefighter is  $100.000 a year.
Shifts are organised so that they spend  twenty-four hour days at the firehall, sleeping,eating, playing darts,billiards, waiting for calls.
The rest of the time, they operate businesses or have second full-time jobs.
I told you about the Toronto firefighter whose wife is a flight attendant. They live in Vancouver. He does his shift  in Toronto and commutes  to Vancouver. He doesn't even pay taxes in yhe city  or contribute to the economy from  his generous compensation.
Firefighters don't have to negotiate. Both parties are subject to arbitration. 
In the last term when  I was a member of the Fire committee, no contract was signed. Four years.
On one occasion,  the increase was paid in advance of signing the contract, because it was Christmas.
When the Fire Chief presented his budget this year, I asked  for a compartors. . He  said  it costs $145. a year  for every man woman and child for fire protection.
It costs $270.  for every man woman and child for police protection.Their contracts are also arbitrated.
When unions bargain, they know every comparator in the public sector. .
I heard a figure mentioned last week,of 126,000 elementary school teachers in the Province. 
Those numbers  influence politicians.
Police,firefighters, doctors  and nurses compensation influence teacher demands. . 
Not for nothing did the Honourable Dalton Mc Guinty boast of labour peace during his tenure. 
It's not hard when  everything demanded is given
While it is, people at the bottom are squeezed dry and  have to resort to food banks  and live in completely inadequate, unsafe, housing  because there's no money left for  social housing  either.
 The Honorable Hudac , Leader of Provincial Conservatives,
contemplates  privatizing the Liquor Control Board  which  provides the  revenue for horrendous cost of operating hospitals.
It's not reasonable to expect the Honorable Andrea Horvath 
to be on the opposite side of  organised labour.
We all know what they did to Bob Rae. Don't we ?
They didn't drive him out of politics. They drove him into the arms of the Liberal Party.
So who does that leave ?
Just  thee and me. .