The Price Of The Labour Dispute In My House

Here we are, teetering on the precipice of a new school year, and for the first time, I dread what is to come.

Normally, I eagerly await the beginning of school, buying school supplies (I always pick up a few office supplies for myself, because a compulsive list-maker needs notepads), finding a new outfit for each child, and spending time sorting out snacks, re-setting sleep schedules and returning our home to an oasis of relative calm from the usual summer chaos.

But not this year.

Instead, I have purchased the barest minimum of school supplies to get my kids started off for the year, and I am left wondering when that will be. I have not bought any new clothes, because whatever money we have has to last us until this dispute ends. Back-to-school shopping has been replaced with food stockpiling; Secunda needs a new bike, but we need to make sure we can pay rent and utilities to keep a roof over our heads in the face of being virtually penniless by September 15^th. Why do I sound so alarmist? It's simple: I am the wife of a BC public school teacher.

We are still working to re-pay 11 years of student loans for Hubby's three degrees. There is no nest egg, no rainy day fund. We live simply; we don't have cable, we eschewed a landline to reduce our phone expenses, we don't go to the movies unless it's at the second-run theatre, and even then, only on cheap Tuesday. Our kids have handheld devices thanks to the largesse of grandparents, when they upgraded their own phones. Our home is filled with second-hand furniture and electronics, and our big expenditure this year was a $70 splash pool so that we wouldn't be paying out of pocket to take the kids to the rec centre. We buy our gas and dairy south of the line, because that's how we can afford gas and dairy. We cancelled the kids' martial arts lessons, and they have not been replaced with other activities. Secunda would dearly love to take piano lessons, but I just can't justify the expense right now.

We are members of a hobby group and have had to significantly curtail our activities in it, even though up until the lockout, we played very active roles. This is a hobby that has been a great source of enjoyment for our family for a number of years, and serves as a stress release for me and Hubby. The unofficial motto of our group is “Real life comes first”, and we have really put that to the test this year, forgoing events and delegating responsibilities at them because it just wasn't financially responsible to go.

We are careful with our money. I have a calendar where I write down every bill, every due date, every time money comes into our house, and painstakingly monitor when each gets paid to ensure that we are never at risk of having our power cut off, or of getting an angry call from the landlord.

These past three months have been an exercise in spinning plates, deciding what bills must be paid now and which can sit for a month; making those excruciatingly embarrassing phone calls to utility companies to ask for extensions, explaining our circumstances and hoping for an understanding and lenient person on the other end of the phone.

I can't help but shake my head, because shouldn't teachers with their professional training be able to make ends meet better than this? Should we still be living hand to mouth 8 years post-grad?

We have four children. The oldest is 12 and will enter middle school this year; the youngest is not yet four and is at home for another year. The agreement we made was that while the kids were small and at home, one of us would be at home with them. Hubby's earning potential is higher, so it was a no-brainer. Even so, this summer, I have secured some very part-time work, and I am earning some money doing commission crafts. I have also made a preliminary inquiry about a job that would give more hours, and hopefully, keep the wolves from the door for long enough to see a resolution to the dispute. Hubby would already be out there, doing something else, but no employer in his right mind would hire someone who would leave as soon as the labour dispute ended.

I have watched him throughout this whole thing; I have seen him run the full gamut of emotions. Many days, I have seen him bring home a bag weighed down to the breaking point with marking. I have watched him formulate letters to parents and segregate himself from his family to make phone calls home, and I have watched him organize strike shifts; I have seen his face light up when reading a student's essay, and I have seen him despair in the face of the government's contempt for his profession. It breaks my heart to see that a government that is supposed to be representative of the people of BC would vilify the very people who educate our children and bring forth generation after generation of critical thinkers, decision makers, artists, athletes, and public servants. To watch as they seek to dismantle one of the best education systems in the world in order to churn out worker drones for their pet projects.

I have lost all faith in the provincial government. I have no belief that they have any interest whatsoever in resolving this. I see my children being denied their right to an education while the BC Liberals wait out the appeal of Justice Griffin's decision in October.

How long must my children wait for their rights to be protected? How long must my husband be denied his livelihood? How long must we all suffer at the hands of people who have no thought for the people they purport to serve?

How long are you willing to wait?