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6 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday February 13, 2009 www.oakvillebeaver.com OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: NEIL OLIVER Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of Media Group Ltd. DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager Minister gets failing grade Provincial Education Minister Kathleen Wynne opened a very dangerous door this week with her surrender to Ontario school boards and the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO). After missing two earlier deadlines to reach a deal, the Province offered teachers a 10.4-per-cent salary hike over four years (along with a slew of other goodies) on Tuesday in a bid to avert job action. Wynne, with a straight face, denied giving in to the union's demands saying, "I'm giving in to the kids." Nonsense. She simply failed Economics 101. What she has done is send a message to all public sector unions that if they hold their breath long enough the government will capitulate to any demands. In an economic climate of lost jobs, layoffs, taking days off without pay, reducing hours, bankruptcies, plant closures, etc. one union -- whose members are paid by taxpayers (many of whom may be out of work) -- has thumbed its nose at a morethan-generous offer and had the government bend to its will. To recap, elementary teachers were originally offered more than 12 per cent over four years, but after failing to reach a deal with the Ontario Public School Boards' Association by an extended deadline of Dec. 5, that offer was pulled and the salary increases set at four per cent over two years. It should be noted all of the province's other education unions accepted the original offer by the Nov. 30 deadline. The new deal, accepted by the teachers late yesterday afternoon, calls for (including compounding) a two per cent raise each year for two years, then three per cent each for the remaining two years. The union had said it would not settle for anything less than three per cent a year, and had set today (Friday) as a deadline to have firm offers from school boards or face a strike by the end of March. ETFO has taken an unreasonable approach in these negotiations and we wouldn't be surprised if many of its members disagreed with the union's tactics. Often in contract negotiations it is about getting the other guy to blink first and ETFO has managed to win this staredown with Wynne. Wynne's declaration that it was "in the best interests of the students" to have labour peace may ring true, but what will the government say to other public sector unions during negotiations? Wynne gets an F for her efforts. The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Long-time southeast residents want say in school closure issue My wife and I are appalled to think that after paying Halton School Board taxes for 38 years that a proposal closing four of our schools in southeast Oakville will go ahead without our consultation or the consultation of other residents of our area, who don't currently have children registered in those schools. We have had four children educated in these schools and want to ensure that this and future generations of children in this area are able to walk to school and gain an excellent education similar to the one our children had. Our suggestion, if asked, would be to close one school and leave three others open for easy access to all current and future children in the area. We think that after 38 years of paying taxes to the school board in this area we should be entitled to a fair and open discussion on the decision making of school closures. We believe we are stakeholders in this matter and we don't believe the current school board process will give us, or others like us, this opportunity. How does their focus group process meet the Accommodation Review process guidelines and how does it meet the Cooke report recommendations regarding transparency and the support of a partnership with the community? With 20,000 new people living/working in Oakville in the next few years, where are the children going to play and what recreation facilities will be available to them? As residents of this area for nearly 40 years, we don't want it turned into a geriatric ghetto, which is exactly what will happen if children can't walk to school but must be bussed. The board should be considering the total current population and the future total population demographics of Ward 3 in its decision -- there's more to this than just dollars and cents. There's the whole culture of the area involved. We look forward to hearing from the board on this subject. HEATHER AND HUGH MILLAR Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com This week's poll This week's question is: Do you think the Province's latest contract offer to the elementary school teachers is: · Fair · Unfair · Overly generous To vote, visit oakvillebeaver.com. The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone 416-340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline.