Teachers are not terrorists Letter writer buried under avalanche of responses Dear Sir: Your October 10, 2001 edition carried a letter from Mary-Ann Freeman in which she compares the contract negotiations in the public education sector and the positioning of the parties to those negotiations to the acts of the terrorists who killed thousands of innocent people on Septem- ber 11. 1 find her remarks ill-advised and offensive. Both teachers and employers are engaged in a labour negotiation that is governed by law and accepted as appropriate practice in a free and open democratic society by all levels of Canadian gov- ernments and by the United Nations. Ms. Freeman made her te- marks in her capacity as the President of the District Parents’ Advisory Council. # When she made a similar presentation to the Board of School Trustees, she made it clear that she was speak- ing for herself and not for Mary Ann the DPAC. Freeman | ask that she clarify the status of her remarks in this regard. __ In recent years, every effort has been made by the teachers’ unions, Board representatives and the parents’ organization in this district to main- tain open lines of communication and to avoid making inflammatory public comments that might harm the mutual respect built as we work together towards a common goal. Ms. Freeman’s remarks will seriously harm that trust and co-operation. I ask that she withdraw them. Frank Rowe, president Terrace District Teachers’ Union Not holding hostages Dear Sir: When I read Ms Freeman’s letter on Wednes- day I had to stop and read it twice. | could not believe that I, as a teacher, was ‘-being compared to Osama bin Laden and Al- ’ Qaeda, accused murderers of thousands of inno- cent people, by the president of DPAC! “oll get-really angry:when-Vamy being. accused of . -holding innocent: men,:women and children as' “hostages” because EF am involved in the collec- tive bargaining process. Nothing could be further from the truth. ‘The possibility of strike action is the last thing “teachers want. We don’t want to walk out be- catise it’s a day off or we enjoy not getting paid. :» We are considering a strike as a last ditch ef- fort to have our voice listened to by our employ- . er . Collective bargaining is a process where the . employer and the employee agree to a contract that belongs to them bath. ~~ Our contract, for example, does not belong to teachers alone. It is signed by both the employer cand the union. _’ Both sides have agreed to it. No one is being “held hostage.” Bargaining is a process where both parties enter with a position and with dis- cussion arrive al an agreement somewhere in the middle. Strikes and lackouts cecur when communica- tion breaks down. No one enters a strike on a whim, In the last nine years 4 million school days have been lost to strike action. This is the num- ber that has been repeated in the press. What has not been said is during that same time there have been L billion school days taught, which means that the annual amount of class time lost to strikes over the last nine years is only 27 minutes, What seems to be forgotten by many people in all of this is that teacher’s working conditions are also student’s learning conditions. I would think that any parent would want the best classroom environment possible for their child, This would include the best people attracted to the teaching profession, smaller ciass sizes and the appropriale support for students with dif- fering needs. Teachers are being asked to do more with less. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - AS CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The lente DAVID CARLSON appealed to city council last week ta support calls for a new deal on soft- Wass owood lumber export quotas, if, as suspected, a new trade deal is in the works. Say no to quotas, tariffs Dear Sir: I appeal to all citizens of the Pacific. North- west to come together with one voice in a choir of communities to lobby the Honourable Pierre 5. Pettigrew, Minister of International Trade. The mechanisms for the previous softwood lumber agreement was flawed. Previous sales to the U.S. market determined your allocation or quota in British Columbia. , Northwest forest companies by geography alone, were in a weaker posilion to access the U.S. before the quota system. At least the market conditions in the U.S. determined when. northwest companies were in or out of the market. Forest companies at least tried to create customer base with products. Discussions are ongoing in Toronto. A deal could be struck at any time. What goes on be- hind closed doors we'll never know about until there is an agreement and it's too lale. Please join me, in a letter writing campaign to: Honourable Pierre S. Pettigrew, Minister of International Trade, Lester B. Pearson Building, Sth Floor, .Tower B - 125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, ‘Ontario, KLA 0G2. Pax: (613) 996-8924 email: pettip@parl.gc.ca Let Minister Pettigrew know your concerns. Let him know that the northwest communities call on him to bring home a softwood lumber agreement that is market driven. No quota — no restrictions — no tariffs. You can communicate with Minister Petti- grew at the above address, No stamp is necessary to email to govern- ment, You may also drop your letter off at any of the constituency offices of the MLA‘s or M.P.A, Burton. their staff would be happy to forward your letter for you. Timing is everything. The clock is ticking. Stand behind all elected officials at all three le- vels of government from the northwest in saying yes to free trade, no to tariffs and no to quotas. David B. Carlson Representative for Pulp, Paper & Wood- workers of Canada Local 4 Prince Rupert B.C. 1 work in a school doing my best to teach children. | don’t have to be a teacher, but ! choose to be one. ] am insulted and deeply hurt that fam being compared to a terrorist. A. Carrel Terrace B.C. Did DPAC approve? An open letter to Mrs. Freeman: As a parent in this community, [ am incensed that you would send such a Ielter to the teachers in this district. I also doubt completely that the District PAC would approve of such a letter. First, | cannot, for the life of me, figure out what the tragic events of September 11 have to do with the teachers’ contracts. Perhaps you could show us ail the connection, Secondly, the teachers have a contract to set- tle. Such is life in a union position. You may not agree with their disputes, but you have to admire those who sit with our child- ren day after day and are helping shape them into the leaders of tomorrow. If yours are the true words of the District PAC, I am truly sorry that they feel this way. If they are your own words, then perhaps it would be best for you to stand down, as this is not a position to expound your personal views, but one to represent the parents as a whole. Chris Adam, parent Uplands Elementary School This is fear mongering Dear Sir: What?! 1 had to scrape my eyebrows off the ceiling after reading the letter from the President of the District Parents Advisory Council to this paper. To draw some analogy between the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the legiti- male bargaining process between the BCTF and the BCPSEA is somewhere between plain ignor- ance and pathetic fear mongering. ‘Tam more concerned however, that a letter like this appears to indicate a real lack of know- _ ledge of the issues at stake in this round of nego- tiations. I will certainly be attending the next PAC mecting al-my child's school to find out just what Mary-Ann Freeman and the Terrace District Parents Advisory Council are telling the parents of this district about these negotiations. Holding my children and their education “hostage” is a shallow interpretation of this criti- cal democratic process. [ expect more balanced Statements from a group such as this. Michael Bruce Terrace B.C. Disgusted by letter Dear Sir: It was with shock and disgust that I read the Oct. 10th letter to the editor written by Mary-Ann. Freeman. As a former PAC president and current mem- ber of two local school Parents’ Advisory Councils, 1 would like to ask Ms. Freeman, who is the self-appointed president of School District 82 PAC, for a public letter of apology to this School District, its employees, parents and stu- dents, and her resignation as the president of the District PAC and the Uplands PAC, She was not empowered to write a letler on behalf of the district organization, and she had no business signing it as such. Ms. Freeman is certainly welcome to her per- sonal opinion, but to equate the current circum- stances in B.C. education to the recent terrorist altacks in the United States, is horrifying. While potential job action by teaching staff may cause some inconvenience, not one person will lose their life because of it. | Shame on the Terrace Standard, as well, for giving that letter valuable space in the commun- ily newspaper we encourage our children to read! Carol Lomas Terrace B.C. Shocked and offended Dear Sir: 1 am writing in response to Mrs. Freeman. In August I was very surprised and dishear- tened to heat the media repart that the provincial PAC Association did not want to support tea- chers’ contract proposals. I was amazed that anyone who wanted the best possible public education would not support smaller class sizes, more resources for all spe- cial needs, staff involvement in decision making, attractive benefit packages and yes, higher salar- ies. Has it not long been known that workers pro- duce more then they are appreciated and in- volved? After reading the letter in last week’s Stan- dard, | am again shocked and disheartened and in addition, deeply offended, Mrs. Freeman’s letter strengthens an atmo- sphere of confrontation and to compare.us to the teal tragedy going on in the world today is to tri- vialize and belittle those life and death events. I call for school PACs and our district PAC to look carefully at what the teachers are proposing and to speak in support of the teachers through their provincial body, If this is not possible, perhaps now is a time for parents 10 speak form their individual con- Sciences and not to rely on the official state- ments from their executives, ; Mary Steeves Terrace B.C, Not just adult curlers An open letter to city councillor Marylin Davies I was disappointed at your comments regard- ing the Curling Club, which appeared on the front page of The Terrace Standard (“Masons, natives lose out on new city taxation plan”) Oct 10, 2001. , Please be advised that the Terrace Curling Association is not an organization strictly for adult recreation. Last season approximately 2,500 school child- ten, school leagues, and our junior curling pro- gram used our club. Two years ago our juvenile boys did our com- munity proud by winning a gold medal at the B.C. Winter Games in Quesnel, Last year they again came third in the pro- vince at the provincial play downs. It is hoped that perhaps this was a misprint in the paper. Our organization usually gets our fair’ share of sports press from the local paper and | cannot imagine you would be so ill-informed. 1 do not recall seeing you in the curling club so 1 would extend an invitation to visit us on a day when the school curling or our junior pro- gram is taking place, the coffee is always on. Kelth Melanson Terrace B.C, MLAs tour to hear oil, gas drill opinions several A GROUP of provincial Liberal MLAs will tour the northwest and northern Vancouver Island next month looking for opinions on lifting the oi] and gas drilling moratorium now in place off of the north coast. Up to five MLAs will visit Kitimat, Prince Rupert, Bella Bella, Port Simpson, Skidegate, Port Hardy on northern Vancouver Island and Ter- - race, says Skeena MLA Roger Harris. He’s the chair of the Liberal north- ern caucus, from whom the committee will be drawn. Although Harris has removed him- self from active participation because of a previous business connection with the energy industry, he is involved in drawing up the meeting schedule, The touring group of MLAs include Bill Belsey who represents’ the North Coast riding and Dennis MacKay from Bulkicy Valley-Stikine. The plan is to tour beginning mid- November and conclude by mid-De- cember, A report to the northern caucus is expected in January and it'll then con- sider that and a scientific panel’s re- port before making its own recommen- dations to Premier Gordon Campbell, said Harris. “We want to get this done before the end of January,” he said. Some estimates indicate there could be up to $100 billion worth of oil and gas waiting to be tapped under- neath the waters off of the north coast. A moratorium on exploratory dril- ling has been in place for nearly 30 years and any energy industry leases taken out have since expired or been turned back in. But interest has grown in the past years by north coast businesses and politi- cians who see an oil and gas in- dustry as the answer to replace the ailing commer- cial fishing and forest industry. Any plans to lift the moratorium are being op- posed by environmenta! and native groups who say the risk of spills is too great. Energy companies haven’t exactly Roger Harris rushed to embrace the prospect of an offshore industry, saying the federal and provincial governments must first resolve which government would be in charge. They also say native land claims must be setiled. For the moment, those companies have said they are getting substantial benefits from their investments in the proven northeastern B.C. gas and oil fields. A public opinion pol! commissioned by a lobby group with energy compa- nies as clients indicates a majority of B.C, residents — 64 per cent — favour drilling if there were no risks to the environment. But 61 per cent are opposed if there is a threat to the environment, indi- cates the pall conducted for Western Policy Consultants. ' The November and December MLA tour replaces a plan drafted by North- ern Commissioner John Backhouse to have meetings in smaller centres and four main events in larger cities, in- cluding Terrace. That plan was released in July, however it was immediately discredi- ted by the Liberal government as being too slow. But the timetable of the touring MLAs group is now substantially the same as what Backhouse had in mind. Backhouse’s team agreed to a schedule that would have seen all meetings finished by mid-December and a final report in to government by Dec. 31. Backhouse in his final recommen- dations had urged Victoria to instead set a final deadline of March 31 to allow more time to put the report toge- ther. .