Dear Editor:

As of today, the governments in the provinces of B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, are working on contract negotiations with the teachers.

No signed contracts are in force presently in any of those provinces.

Teacher contracts are a hard sell in all 10 provinces.

Alberta’s present contract will end in 2015. It is a four-year contract that included three years with a wage freeze and a two per cent pay increase and cash bonus in the fourth year.

Saskatchewan’s last contract with its teachers ended in 2013. It was also a four-year contract with a 5.5 per cent wage increase over the course of the contract.

Manitoba’s last contract with its teachers ended in 2013. It was also a four-year contract and included a 7.5 per cent increase over four years.

Ontario’s present contract will end later in 2014 and is a two-year contract with frozen wages.

Quebec’s present contract with its teachers will end 2015. It is a five-year contract, with a 5.6 per cent wage increase over five years.

Nova Scotia’s present contract will end in 2015. It is a three-year contract that featured a 5.5 per cent increase over its length.

Newfoundland’s last contract with its teachers ended in 2012. It was a four-year contract that featured a total wage increase of five per cent.

Prince Edward Island’s last contract with its teachers ended in 2013. It was a two-year contract with frozen wages.

New Brunswick’s present contract with its teachers will end in 2016. It is a four-year contract with a total wage increase of only four per cent.

Here in B.C., the government is offering the teachers a 10-year contract, with a 7.25% wage increase over the first six years, with further open wage negotiations, in written form, after six years on the remaining four years.

But that’s not good enough for B.C. teachers.

They are demanding a wage increase of 13.5 per cent on a three-year contract.

But that’s not for the B.C. taxpayer.

The average B.C. teacher wage is $89,624 per year, which includes $70,624 in wages and $18,000 in taxpayer funded benefits.

The B.C. taxpayer also contributes 16.13 per cent of teacher wages to the B.C. teachers pension fund.

All in all, it is, in my humble opinion, a very generous salary and benefit package when teachers only have to work 188 days per year in relation to other taxpayers in the nonteaching profession that have to work 238 days per year.

The teachers in B.C. and their union are making completely outrageous wage demands in comparison to what teachers have negotiated in the other nine provinces.

I’m sure many other British Columbians agree with me.

Thanks for allowing me to write about this issue.

Joe Sawchuk

Duncan, B.C.