To the Editor: I am not a teacher nor do I have any family members directly involved in the schools as students, employees or otherwise.
During the 1990s Saskatchewan was on the verge of bankruptcy and our "Standard and Poors" rating was a B.
That meant that major financial institutions around the world regarded Saskatchewan as an economic basket case.
It was then that our 12,000 teachers stepped up to the plate and accepted contract settlements of zero percent year after year in order to help the government and province survive. The result was hundreds of millions that the Saskatchewan government could use for other important budget items while those teachers still delivered a first-class world-class education for our children.
Today, fifteen years later, we as are not only on our feet, but we've been rolling in the bucks for a few years now and there appears no end to our growing wealth. Standard and Poors now ranks us "Triple A," which means we're as economically strong as we can get.
So, do we do the honourable thing and share the wealth with the teachers who took it on the chin for us all when it really mattered? Do we show our appreciation for the work they do as the only sane stable influence in most kids' lives today? Do we offer them the healthy raise in pay they have deserved all along? Do we treat them with the respect? Absolutely not! Instead we dump on them.
The teachers' request of just over five percent a year is very modest. The government's offer of less than two percent a year is an insult, not only to teachers but to everyone involved directly and indirectly with our schools. No matter how this dispute ends, the stench of disrespect brought to it by the government side will last for a long, long time, well past the ends of many teachers careers and past many of our children's graduation dates.
I wouldn't fault teachers at all for a dramatic decline in their level of dedication and for not going that extra mile anymore. What form that decline will take may not be very subtle.
Denis Hall, Saskatoon, SK
