ee ews 6 - Friday, February 15, 1985 - North Shore News Editorial Page News Viewpoint Why not MLAs? he shrieks from the B.C. Teachers Federation over increases in the . remuneration of MLAs surely has to be a case of mock outrage. MLAs presently receive about $26,500 a year in straight salary---roughly equivalent to that of a junior police constable or social worker, and less than a unionized janitor. They also get a tax-free expense allowance of about $13,500, for a total of $46,000. Given the endiess calis on a conscientious MLA’s pocket, from the cost of necessary public functions and travel to charitable donations, it doesn’t tnke long to use up the $1,100-a- month allowance portion. ‘These figures, incidentally, are the result of a 10% pay CUT in 1982, since when MLAs’ salaries have been frozen. Tke recommended hike takes the form of a '$60-a-day ‘Capital City Allowance’ to cover the first 50 days of a Legislature sitting. For out-of-town MLAs other than the Victoria members (who’ve already hinted they may forego it) that barely pays the price of an hotel room and three meals. By contrast, efter a double-digit raise in 1983, teachers this year are seeking a further increase over and above automatic annual in- crements for many of them. The average B.C. teacher’s salary is now around $35,000 and appreciably higher in more than a few cases. Meanwhile, many principals and school ad- ministrators are paid in the $60,060-$90,000 brackets. The BCTF claims more money is needed to . attract the best teaching talent. Why don’t comparatively lowly paid MLAs, whose. work directly affects almost every aspect of our lives, merit a similar argument? |Take THAT, You! ; anadian politicians of the sledgeham- mer school of repartee in dealing with their opponents could do well to study the art of the gracefully devastating putdown as demonstrated by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Propesitioned by a drunken guest at a recent official dinner party, the Iron Maiden, smiling serenely,/told him he had excellent taste but wasn’t quite up to the job at the moment. : f : / . Display Advertising 980-0511 ‘Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-2131 Circulation 986-1337 Subscriptions 985-2131 1139 Lonsdate Ave., North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 Publisher Peter Speck Marketing Director Operations Manager Robert Graham Berni Hitliard Advertising Director Circulation Director Dave Jenneson Bill McGown Editor-in-Chief : Noel Wright Display Advertising Maneger Production Director Mike Gocdsell Chris Johnson Classified Manager Photography Manager Val Stephenson Terry Peters North Shore Naws, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule Ili, Part lil, Paragraph tl of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Synday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed lo every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Entire contents © 1985 North Shora Free Press Ltd. All righte roservad. Subscriptions, Norih and West Vancouver $25. per year. Mailing rates available on request. . No esponsibility accepted for unsolicited malenal inctuding manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. Member of the B.C. Press Council ef 55,770 (average, Wednesday SOA DIVISION Friday & Sunday) THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE Truths about teachers’ pay LOT {S BEING SAID these days about A education funding, and while our Educa- tion Minister has pointed out that British Columbia teachers are the second highest paid in the country, the BCTF would have you believe the teachers have received no increases for the last two to three years. To begin with, it should be remembered that about 80 per cent of the funds for education go to salaries. And contrary to BCTF statements that teachers have not receiv- ed any increases, | can tell © you, and the BCTF should tell you, that each year teachers not yet at maximum salary or who get a higher form of teaching certificate, receive an annual pay in- crease in the form of increments. It is certainly better than what most British Colum- bians get. It’s aiso one of the reasons school budgets con- tinually are on the rise. What are increments and how much money is involv- ed? At least one school district’s contract with teachers described increments this way: ‘‘Annual salary in- crements are paid in recogni- tion of a further year’s development of a teacher’s capabilities and not solely for the fact that the teacher has had another year of ex- perience.’’ Increments vary from school district to school district and also depending on the category of a par- ticular teacher. But on a provice-wide basis about $18 million is paid out to teachers annually through increments. ANNUAL $830 HIKE Scales vary from district to district, and as an example, West Vancouver's School District No. 45, under the 1984 agreement a teacher at the lowest end of the scale receives an annual increment of $830 each year for ten years and the teachers at the highest certificate level receive an annual increment of $1,658 over ten years. In Surrey, increments range from $815 for ten years to $1,517 for eleven years. Penticton’s District No. 15 increments range from $935 for ten years to $1,452 for eleven years. School District No. 2 in Cranbrook has their low end increment at $1,035 for ten years and their high end increment at $1,649 for ten years. if a teacher’s development is, shall we say, less than satisfactory, how often do principals (members of BCTF), superintendents and the school boards hold back increments? Very rarely. The process is lengthy and involv- ed. The board would have to document their reasons for the holdback, the superinten- dent would have to make a number of visits to the teacher's classroom and then report in writing to the board. If, after all this, the board chooses to withdraw the in- crement, the BCTF would file a grievance and take the matter to court. So, the incre- ment amounts to an automatic annual pay increase. Then there’s the matter of the B.C. Teachers Federa- tion's annual budget. BCTF FEES With all the talk about cut- backs, taxes and as the BCT F claims the teachers are not paid enough, it is interesting © to note that the BCTF con- tinues to take a larger share of teachers’ salaries in membership dues. In 1982 teachers gave a total of $7,860,662 to the BCTF in membership fees. In 1983, the total fees amounted to $8,966,388. Could not the BCTF reduce its membership fees demands and put more money back in the hands of the teachers, thereby reduc- ing salary demands? The BCTF annual budget for 1984, at around $14.5 million, was more than the combined annual budgets for 10 other major British Col- umbia associations, and at least 10 times greater than the annual budget of the B.C. Schoo! Trustees Association, at about $1.4 million. Those 10 other B.C. associations are: The B.C. School Trustees Association, the Union of B.C. Municipalities, the Business Council of B.C., the Interior Lumber Manufacturers’ Association, the Mining Association of B.C., the B.C. Hotels’ Association, the B.C. Hospitals Shared Systems Society, the B.C. Federation of Agriculture, the B.C. Medical Association (Cana- dian Medical Association - B.C. Division), and the Law Society of British Columbia. The combined budgets of these 10 organizations total about $14.2 million. In 1983, the BCTF budget was $11,076,960, up $1.2 million from their 1982 budget. They spent a total of $2,491,518 in 1982 and 1983 on ‘bargaining’. A total of $694,960 was spent in 1983 on their “Job Defence Pro- gram’’, and also the BCTF spent a total of $4,873,942 in two years on ‘'Government’’. Are the “Job Defence’? and ‘*Government”’ programs campaigns. against : the Ministry of Education? EL SALVADOR GIFT Are B.C, teachers aware, and in agreement with $195,702 of their money be- ing spent on partisan politics in the BCTF’s 1983 ‘‘Provin- cial Election Program?’’ Was that money split equally among. the province’s political parties or was it all spent on behalf of the NDP? Were funds also used to help elect school trustees who are sympathetic to the BCTF? Looking at the BCTF’s 1983 budget, some other questions arise about its ac- tivist politcal stance: eWhy did the BCTF send $31,500 in 1983 to the Federation of Central American Teachers Organization? eWhy did the BCTF send $4,000 in 1983 to ‘*Teacher Leaders in Exile’’? What is “Teacher Leaders in Exile?’’ eWhy did the BCTF send $37,599 in 1982 to El Salvador Teacher's Assistance Fund? eAre B.C. teachers aware and in agreement with their funds being used for these purposes? Is there any ac- counting as to what happens to the money once it reaches Central America? lam sure that our teachers, as well as British Columbia parents and taxpayers would be more than interested to know the facts.