The letter from Kee Lan Teo-MacDonald in which the writer plays semantics regarding the teacher’s job action or strike is irritatingly offensive (‘Teachers are not on strike’, Progress letters, Jan.17). I really don’t care what the heck the action is called, all I know is that the union has convinced the teachers to withhold certain services from the students. The students are the innocents here, but that’s the union way, isn’t it?
Okay, the writer claims the classroom sizes at 25 are too big. Maybe, however, a lot of us survived much bigger classes throughout our school years. Sometimes you have to just bite it when times are tough.
The other complaint is they work “12 to 16 hours a day, six days a week, facing insurmountable challenges”. If it’s that bad, (and I do think there might be a bit of hyperbole with those hours for all teachers) then there is the option of looking for other employment. My wife and I have our own business and we work – and worry – a hell of a lot of hours without the holidays, without the professional days, without teacher’s salaries or benefits. We would happily take either the salary of the average teacher or the benefits. Either one would be like manna from heaven during these economic times.
As independent business people we don’t have the option of negotiating with the government for more money or better conditions. We chose it, we live with it and we haven’t moaned, groaned, our torn our hair out about it. But it burns our butts to hear how hard done by the teachers are especially after looking at salaries and benefits.
And by the way, what cuts to what services should the government make so our teachers can get more for themselves?
Andy Fraser