John Bolton - Teachers SHOULD NOT be in unions - Danielle keep them in DETENTION

00:00:00.000 Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel. Tuesday, October the 7th, my second video today. I hope

00:00:08.540 you're having a great day today. I still have my big blue mug of coffee and I want to weigh in on

00:00:13.340 the Alberta teacher strike. I haven't talked about this and I think I have a different perspective

00:00:18.780 on this. When these kind of things happen, I immediately think that public servants should

00:00:24.340 not be allowed in unions and I don't care who it is, whether it's federal employees,

00:00:29.060 provincial employees, or teachers, they should not be allowed in unions. And I'm going to run

00:00:33.120 through a number of reasons, and I got a bunch of them, in just a moment why they should not be

00:00:37.240 allowed in unions. Now, as far as this teacher strike goes, I really don't give a damn. I don't

00:00:42.020 have any kids. I feel for you if your kids are out of school right now. I do. And I have some sympathy

00:00:46.720 for you. My next door neighbors, their kids are out in the backyard yesterday playing. They're not in

00:00:50.260 school. I've been on some comment sections in local newspapers encouraging Daniel Smith to hold on

00:00:56.920 to keep the teachers in detention for as long as she can. I mean, a lot of teachers live paycheck to 1.00

00:01:03.780 paycheck as well. And pretty soon the kiddies are going to be screaming for their PS5s for Christmas

00:01:09.420 and the money's not coming in right now. I think the teachers will eventually cave.

00:01:14.240 So let's look at an article that got me thinking about this today. This is from the National Post.

00:01:19.120 Carson Jerema. I'm going to read a little bit. I'll put a link in the description. You can read the

00:01:22.920 whole thing. It's a good article. Carson Jerema abolished the teachers unions. Alberta strike

00:01:27.400 canceling classes across the province shows unions have far too much power. Okay, so a little bit

00:01:32.980 from this article. As much as teachers unions like to claim their members are essential to society,

00:01:38.200 the Alberta teachers strike that canceled classes for 740,000 students on Monday shows that the

00:01:44.660 exercise of raw political power matters more to them than educating students. How else do you

00:01:50.100 explain the rejection of a deal that included a 12% raise in the hiring of 3,000 more teachers?

00:01:57.240 When teachers go on strike, parents and students are disproportionately punished as there are few

00:02:02.480 other places to send children for school, especially in the middle of the year. While there are more

00:02:07.520 options in Alberta, which permits charter schools and funds private schools at a higher rate than other

00:02:12.360 provinces, it is not nearly enough to challenge the public school monopoly, which in practice is

00:02:17.860 little more than a teachers union racket. Alberta Teachers Association President Jason Schilling hinted

00:02:26.060 at what was going on when he said that the proposed agreement failed to meet the needs of teachers,

00:02:31.120 that it failed to improve student classroom conditions, and failed to respect teachers.

00:02:36.520 As everyone knows, respect is just union speak for more money. The government's last proposal would

00:02:43.340 raise salaries for the average teacher to $114,000 after 10 years, up from about $101,000 in the previous

00:02:50.640 agreement. Whether one finds that generous or miserly is beside the point, though I find it generous.

00:02:57.120 I do as well. The fact that the Teachers Association can shut down every public school in the province

00:03:02.560 accounting for 90% of students is untenable. Also untenable is the fact that the Teachers Association

00:03:09.300 is clearly motivated by politics. The ATA has clashed with Premier Daniel Smith's United Conservative

00:03:16.600 Party government on curriculum, the presence of books that depict graphic S in school libraries,

00:03:22.340 and whether schools should be mandated to tell parents if their children change their names or pronouns.

00:03:28.280 It is the government, not the ATA, that has a mandate to set education policy and funding priorities.

00:03:34.360 The fact that the Teachers Union is not merely interested in advocating for its members' wages

00:03:40.340 and working conditions, but in changing all manner of public policy, is poisonous. This is typical of

00:03:46.280 unions, but in the public sector especially, they should be politically neutral. It is difficult not to

00:03:52.940 come to the conclusion that the ATA's opposition to a deal with the province is driven by its disdain

00:03:58.420 for the party in power. So what can the government do to prevent this rank educational hostage-taking

00:04:04.700 from happening in the future? Most simply, it could pass legislation outlawing strikes in the public

00:04:10.440 sector, including in education. I think they should outlaw unions in the public sector altogether.

00:04:16.300 Going to happen? Not a chance, but here are my reasons why.

00:04:20.100 Number one, we pay their wages. The public pays their wages. Some of the teachers' wages go to union

00:04:29.040 dues. Those dues are used by the union to support left-wing political parties. I don't want to support

00:04:35.420 left-wing political parties directly or indirectly. Number two, unions use children as pawns to extort

00:04:44.560 more money from the government. The money comes from me. I don't want anything to do with this.

00:04:51.760 Number three, unions, for the most part, support left-wing parties. They can threaten those parties

00:04:58.020 with pulling their support if they don't get what they want. It's another form of extortion.

00:05:04.460 Number four, when left-wing parties are in power, they can give more of my money to unions to buy votes.

00:05:11.600 Number five, if someone is a union member and happens to be a conservative,

00:05:16.980 why should they have to support left-wing causes they disagree with by paying union dues?

00:05:23.120 And number six, unions openly support political parties that I disagree with.

00:05:29.000 All of these are reasons why I don't think public employees should be in unions. Now, for those of you

00:05:35.300 saying, John, unions cannot use money to support political parties. Folks, it happens all the time.

00:05:41.800 The other day, they had a get-together in front of the Alberta legislature where a bunch of people

00:05:46.260 showed up with signs screaming at Danielle Smith to make a deal with the teachers' union. 0.62

00:05:51.260 Money goes into things like that, and teachers' unions funnel money through third-party groups

00:05:55.540 all the time during election campaigns. So, don't say it doesn't happen.

00:05:59.220 As far as I'm concerned, Danielle Smith needs to hold out. 0.98

00:06:02.540 I think eventually that the union will cave and give in to more of her demands. 0.96

00:06:06.860 So, that's the way I see it.

00:06:07.980 Tell me what you think. If you like the video, give me a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel,

00:06:12.040 ring the bell for notifications, and I'll see you in the next one.

John Bolton - October 07, 2025

Teachers SHOULD NOT be in unions - Danielle keep them in DETENTION

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