Monday, April 6, 2009

All Hail, Almighty Union!!


There are a lot of reasons why I'm glad I'm retired from teaching but one of the biggest is due to the amount of abuse being dumped on the teaching profession these days. I have no patience with it anymore and if I were still active in the profession, I would no doubt get myself into trouble with letters to editors and comments at budget hearings. For example, here is an excerpt from a recently published letter:

Dear fellow citizens of Newtown,
It is time that we stood up to the powerful Board of Education and teachers' union. For a long time, the Board of Education, the PTA and the teachers' union have used fear as a method of soliciting more money for the school budget every year.


I chose this particular passage because it is typical of some of the stuff that comes out every year at budget time. There are so many things wrong at so many levels with this that it's hard to hold this piece to a reasonable length. First of all, the writer targets the Board of Education and the teachers' union (usually an adversarial relationship) but then goes on to include the PTA conveniently overlooking the fact that the 'P' in PTA are parents. So I guess it's safe to say the writer here has a problem with the Board of Ed, the teachers' union and all parents!! Interesting. The issue that prompted this letter was the teachers' union's refusal to consider a salary/step freeze for the coming year. What the writer doesn't know or perhaps conveniently overlooks is the following:
1. The teachers' contract is up for negotiation anyway. There is no need to 'open' it.
2. The teachers in this town, unlike any other area town as far as I've been able to determine, have been furloughed 6 days for the coming year thereby effectively resulting in a salary cut for many that could be in excess of $2500.
3. Even if this wasn't a 'contract year' as we used to call it, you do not simply just open a contract for renegotiation. The consequences of that can be enormous.

The bottom line here is that the Board of Education, teachers' union and their members are nowhere near as powerful as many would have you believe. I'm sick to death of hearing and reading of people complaining of how powerful the unions are. The fact is the real power lies with the voters. Pure and simple. Does the person who wrote the above excerpt actually think that every time the voters turn down a budget, the Board and union have the authority to overturn that vote? These are very difficult times for many people-no doubt about it. But before people vent their anger and frustration on a particular group, they need to get the facts. Publicly running off at the mouth serves no purpose and results in more harm being done.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unions were the backbone of families and the middle class. Now unions are rare and families and middle class are floundering. The "right of spring" to blame schools and teachers for everything wrong with communities (social and financial) has begun. I abhor the fact that people can vote ONLY on town and school budgets and the are therefore "hammered" each year. State and Federal budgets are voted on by our representatives and are insulated from the venom of direct public attack. It is crazy!

gael lynch said...

Amen, amen...AMEN! It's very difficult to be a professional in this climate, and to take the high road here. Do you know, Brookfield's superintendent lead with a plan to completely cut all sports programs? That got the parents running, yelling and screaming too...not only to restore sports, but to quit picking on their teachers too!

There is no sense in the methods for making cuts in our town. It truly makes me want to cash in my chips and find a district that values its teachers. When property values begin to plummet...a year or two, or even three years from now, it'll be too late.