Hello Roy here, I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to the Roy Green Show ad-free on Amazon Music included with Prime. Put drops, tip-offs, first pitches, kick-offs. When the game is on, you call the shots. Head to Betway.ca and bet your way.
Must be 19 plus Ontario-only. Play responsibly, concerned about your gambling, visit ConnectsOntario.ca. Teachers unions, head to governments, add each other's throats, nothing new. Happening in Ontario between the four government of the Teachers unions have worked to rule campaigns about to begin with elementary teachers, high school teachers have been added and in British Columbia, some of the wars between the Teachers' Federation and the provincial governments have been legendary.
Mike Smith is opinions and political correspondent, a columnist with the Vancouver Province and show host on CKNWR Vancouver Radio Station and Mike is very good to us with his time. So now, Mike, I've been reading your column BC Government and Teachers Union on Collision Course again and Mr. Horkin, the NDP Premier who was the hero for the Teachers during the last Liberal regime is now the man the Teachers unions despise. Tell us the story please.
Well, I would stress the word again when it comes to disputes with the Teachers unions here in British Columbia because they do appear to be on a Collision Course. So when I hear that the Teachers unions are ready to duke it out with the Doug Ford government there in Ontario here in British Columbia, we're like, yeah, welcome to the club. The unions here, the Teachers Union here is very militant and we've had lots of strikes over the years, lots of work to rule campaigns, lots of disputes and we may be en route for another one. Now, there's no plan for a strike here by teachers at the moment but the union has been without a contract since the summer and negotiations are not going well and the union's not happy because this is an NDP government as you mentioned, allied with the trade union movement.
So they thought after 16 years of the Liberals being in power here in BC that this was payback time with an NDP government in power but talks are going very roughly and we may be into a strike here again in BC in the day's head. Well, is it about money? Yes, it is. It's about money.
So the teachers are seeking a raise and they're also seeking improvements to class sizes, class composition, working conditions and benefits and the government is simply saying there's not enough money. Now, if you go back to the last strike here five years ago when the Liberals are in power, John Horrigan, the NDP leader now the Premier, back then he said, well, just put more money on the table. It's real easy, just take the money out of contingency funds or just wherever you got to find it, put that money on the bargaining table and everything's fine. Now that he's premier, it's a different story and the union is saying put more money on the table and the government saying no, we don't want to put any more money on the table, we have other pressing needs here in BC.
Mike, we're going to have to follow up on this. I was chasing it down there looking for quarters, so we've run out of time, but it's the same old, same old, same old, same old, that doesn't matter where it is BC Ontario, it's the same old, same old. We'll touch base again. Mike Smith from Victoria, British Columbia.
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