The BCTF argues, however, that there is an oversupply of teachers, with many more teacher graduates produced every year than there are jobs available in the province.

One area where the OECD and the BCTF do agree is merit pay. Santiago says he likes rewards for teachers but not if they are based on individual student performance, as it is very difficult to determine the influence of one teacher on a student.

"The results of students actually do reflect a lot more than the particular impact of a single teacher, which affects not only the impact of all the teachers that the student has had throughout his or her studies, but also all the other non-school factors which influence the performance [like] socio-economic background," he says, adding the tests to determine student achievement would also be expensive to implement and encourage teachers to teach to the test instead of the curriculum.

Fair depends on where you sit

Part of the reason this bargaining process between the BCTF and BCPSEA is taking so long could be that, according to former deputy education minister Charles Ungerleider, it's difficult to determine what is a fair wage in any labour dispute because there is more than salary to take into account.

"There are things like benefits: who pays for the benefits, if it's a shared benefit what proportion is paid for by what party, the employee vs. the employer. There are issues such as working conditions that include everything from grievance procedures, performance evaluations, professional development, etc." he says. "There's a whole range of things that are addressed in any collective bargaining process, of which salary is only one component and in the process of negotiation, often trade-offs or compromises are made among the various things that the parties want."

Ungerleider, who did not go through the teacher bargaining process when he worked for B.C.'s NDP provincial government from 1998 to 2001, says what's fair pay for teachers is a difficult question to answer, and depends on what side of the table you sit. He agrees with the government mantra that giving a raise to one group of public employees would mean having to give a raise to all public employees, but adds that any group whose wages have been capped for a period of time will inevitably experience a period of catch up.

He doesn't think it's fair to compare teacher salaries between the provinces, either, as higher salaries don't appear to be drawing teachers out of British Columbia.

"We don't have a lot of inter-provincial mobility of people because of wage rates. I think we have more inter-provincial mobility when people are unemployed and move to a place where there are jobs," he says. "I don't think many people move between jurisdictions even within the province, and I stand to be corrected about this."

He also cautions teachers against using this argument to get raise, as it could backfire on them.

"I can imagine at the bargaining table there could be a conversation that goes the other way, which is to say in these other jurisdictions there are in fact people being paid less who have the same level of qualification and experience as you do. You have to be careful, not just teachers or anyone in that situation, in terms of what you articulate as a relevant comparator," he says.

While deciding what is fair compensation for teacher is complex and contentious, Ungerleider offers this simple advice: compensation that's imposed on teachers, rather than agreed to, is not likely to increase teacher quality nor advance student achievement.

[See more Tyee education coverage.]