The Editor,
Re: "B.C.'s teachers don't deserve to go 20 weeks without pay," the Now, Aug. 5.
When teachers join the BCTF, they agree to abide by the union's rules. When the union strikes, that means the teachers have to strike - this is part of being a union member.
This means that the teachers do deserve to go 20 weeks without pay. Such is the reality of a real strike. Don't like to go without pay? Stop whining, quit the union job and open your own private school or become a private teacher.
When the BCTF decided to strike, it decided to engage in a destructive activity on purpose, to blackmail the rest of British Columbians into paying even more for public education, which is very expensive as it is.
What the BCTF really deserves is a heavy fine for abuse of power and spreading corrupting socialist ideology and immediate disbanding of the union and privatization of government schools across B.C. The government is protecting the interests of the public, who is stuck paying for every union whim the BCTF comes up with.
Someone has to defend the public. Those who support the unions need to understand that money (tax) doesn't grow on trees.
David Simonov, North Delta