Not sure about teachers, but nurses are paid 30$/hr starting now and cap off at around 40$/hr on their LEVEL 1 (just standard ward nurse with 8-9 years of experience). They also have pretty sweet benefits being in the govt sector, med/dent and good pension also, probably comparable to teachers.

Also if you guys do a search on vancouversun.com/pay you'll notice that a huge majority of the people on there under the health-services are nurses.. standard ward nurses pulling over 100-200k/year on massive OT.

I have worked in union and non union positions. There are pros and cons to both for the employer but it all depends on the non-union company.

Pros-
-The union had set pay increases with the collective agreement.
-They also paid for my schooling and paid my wages while I was at school.
-collective agreement also stated at least 4 journeymen for every apprentice.
-tool allowance
-all overtime double pay
-meal pay
-pension
-full benefits

Cons-
-so many politics (working as a welder or fabricator you are stuck to those duties only even though you can do other things)
There were many instances where I twiddled my thumbs for 4 hours while I waited for an electrician to supply and plug in worklights, very frustrating
-doesn't matter if you are a good or bad worker you get paid the same.
-set wage limits