If you walked into your boss’s office and stated “I want the same pay raise that Johnny Depp received for his new Pirates movie,” what would your boss say?

After they stopped laughing, they’d likely respond with “what does your pay have to do with Johnny Depp’s?”

Yet, that is precisely the type of argument the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) is trying to use in their current negotiations.

If you go on the STF’s web site, they have a chart that compares their pay with that of nurses and provincial politicians. But what do nurses’ salaries and politicians’ pay have to do with the issue? Why not have a bar showing the average plumber’s salary or the price of bacon? Such numbers would be equally as irrelevant.

Nurses go to school and learn how to give needles, assess patients and conduct other medical procedures. Their skills have nothing to do with those needed to teach in a classroom.

What the teachers’ union has cleverly done is picked a profession that recently received a large pay raise and argued their union deserves the same.

But what the teachers’ union sheepishly failed to note is that nation-wide there is a shortage of nurses. Just like the price of gold, when there is a shortage or low supply of something, its value tends to go up.

By comparison, there is no shortage of teachers in Saskatchewan. In fact, according to government data, there is a surplus. Government stats note that of all the university graduates that are ready to teach in a Saskatchewan classroom, 40 per cent can’t find work.

In other words, the surplus of teachers should put downward pressure on salaries, just like it does in the private sector. In fact, considering the surplus of teachers, the government’s current offer is generous.

Well, it’s more than reasonable under the current system, but that’s not saying much as the current system is quite archaic. After all, it determines teacher pay based on years served rather than performance and contributions to the school.

Under the current system, you could be the best teacher in the province and help out with the school’s soccer team, drama club and patrols. But when it comes to your pay, it would be solely based on years served and the degree you have.

Thus, you could be paid the same or less than as a teacher that shows up with the bell, delivers horrible lessons and leaves at 3:30PM.

You can see how the current system is a slap in the face to the best teachers out there who bust their butts.

So if you’re wondering what to do to help those great teachers, call the Premier and teachers union and urge them to move to a modern day pay system – one that rewards teachers based on performance.

The teachers union will argue that it’s difficult to pay teachers based on performance because many factors impact a student’s grade that are beyond a teacher’s control. That’s true, but at the same time, mankind has walked on the moon. Surely we can come up with a better model that’s fair for teachers and taxpayers; and is better than the status quo.

If you pull aside a teacher you respect and ask them who the best teachers are in their school, they can tell you. So why not make peer evaluation and principal observation part of the criteria?

One thing is for sure, the system needs a shake-up. It should begin with an economics lesson for the teachers’ union and a new pay system to help the best teachers out there.