Teachers Robert Green and Catharine Hogan discuss the declining academic standards in Quebec’s schools with CJAD’s Tommy Schnurmacher
January 28, 2016
Why are university students lacking basic literacy skills? CJAD’s Teachers Panel discusses declining academic standards in Quebec’s public schools
January 15, 2016
An important point regarding pension changes in proposed contract
I recently received an email that made an important point about the changes to our pension plan in the proposed contract:
Hello again, Robert
Read your last article “…a hollow victory for unions“.
I think it would have been useful if you had added that the increase in deductions to the teachers pension plan would “consume”, according to my calculations, 72% of any increase proposed by the government (at least for anyone earning more than $54,900). That means, for the 1% increase in salary offered in the agreement, the real increase is only 0.28%. For the 2% increase offered, the real increase would be 0.58%.
With the other increases (CPP, EI, drug plan), the real increases would go further down to real zero or actual reductions in salary. It is understandable that higher absolute values of pensions payments require higher contributions, but most regular folks should be aware of the real numbers before they go to vote for the new agreement.
And you were talking about increases to cover inflation!
January 12, 2016
Quebec’s proposed deal with public sector workers: a hollow victory for unions?
After months of mobilization and negotiation, union leaders are more interested in claiming victory than in actually achieving it
By Robert Green | Published January 5, 2016 by Richochet.media
Prior to the holidays, teachers, parents and students in Quebec received some hopeful news: the Common Front, consisting of unions representing over 400,000 of the province’s half a million public sector workers, had overcome their final hurdle and arrived at an agreement on salaries. The news was filled with stories of satisfied union leaders trumpeting the fact that they had persuaded the government to move from their initial offer of 3 per cent in salary increases over five years to an increase of between 9.15 per cent and 10.25 per cent per year.
It may therefore come as a surprise to readers to learn that many public sector workers are preparing to vote against the deal. Delegates for the federation representing health care workers, which represents nearly one-quarter of the Common Front’s membership, have already voted to reject the deal. The FAE labour federation, which represents 34,000 teachers in the province’s French school boards (but is not a member of the Common Front), is recommending that its members reject a similar deal.
Why are Quebec workers, who have been without a contract since last April, skeptical of the proposed settlement? Because, on closer inspection, the deal on offer is not at all the victory that the Common Front leaders are claiming.
read more »
January 7, 2016
Discussing the details of the Common Front salary deal for Quebec’s public sector workers
Robert Green discusses the details of the Common Front salary deal with CKUT’s Dan Parker and Stefan Christoff:
January 5, 2016
Extracurricular activities are back on at the EMSB following tentative deal
By Katharine Wilton | Published January 5, 2015 by the Montreal Gazette
Excerpt:
While union leaders are recommending that teachers ratify the agreement, Robert Green, a teacher at Westmount High School, said he cannot support the deal. Green said he is unhappy that Common Front leaders are including lump-sum payments and adjustments to salary scales when calculating the 9 per cent pay increase.
“When these are removed, the actual salary increase is 5.25 per cent over five years,” Green said. “A lump-sum payment (1.5 per cent) is not a salary increase. The numbers the Common Front is putting out is being presented in a very manipulative way.”
A 2.4 per cent increase that was negotiated as part of a government plan to reduce pay scales for civil servants should not be included in the nine per cent increase, Green contends. “These were separate negotiations,” he said. “The unions are making it seem that the government has come further than it actually has.”
Green said he is also unhappy that there are still not enough resources for students with special needs. “We are left with a status quo that has 25 per cent of teachers leaving the profession in the first five years,” he said.
Montreal Teachers 4 Change.org 