Martens letter

The editor:
I would like to respond to some of the letters that were published in the Nov. 6 “Bulletin.” The strike by the teachers in this area and in this province shows the very reason we need the provincial government to step in and put a stop to the problems that are in the system.
It is obvious that the teachers run the schools and that the present school boards do not have the backbone to step in to protect the students. The teachers have a legally binding contract to teach which has been broken without cause, by this strike. The local school board has not lifted one finger to even attempt to hold them to the contract, and in fact, the school board by its inaction, has encouraged the teachers. It should be the school boards that go to court to get the injunction not the government. The teachers have run the schools simply by way of their power over the school boards, and the teachers have no one to answer to.
The system has deteriorated to the point that there are no controls left. The right to strike is, at best, questionable for the teachers, not because they provide a service that is a matter of life and death, but because they do serious harm to innocent victims–their students. A strike does not harm the school board or the government who actually benefit in some ways by saving money.
The other major harm done by this strike is what it does teach. This shows an entire generation that a legally binding contract and the law means nothing. There are many legal methods of protesting. The teachers should know this and should have had the sense of decency to maintain the law even if there are some things in the bill that threatens their position of power.
Sorry that we have
lost our legal system,
Bernie Martens