November 19, 2006
The UAW (United Auto Workers), AFSCME (American Federated State, County, Municipal Employees), MTA (Mass Teachers Assoc.) and local teacher unions are very different. Teacher unions always like to take the alleged high ground by saying what they are doing is to the benefit of the children. That route cannot be taken by most other unions.
However, read the following story in today's Boston Globe. After reading the story, there were two important points to note.
(a) If the Boston Globe, a paper so far to the left on social and political spectrum publishes this much of the story, it leaves me to wonder what a more neutral paper might say about the actions in Boston by the teachers and their union.
(b) The teachers are demonstrating their true colors - that it has nothing to do with children. It is all about the money - oh, I am sorry - respect. Respect like the athlete who believes he is disrespected by a $3 million per year contract. But, for teachers, they have salaries that pass $80 thousand per year for a part-time job.
So, the teachers (50 who signed up) boycotted a math workshop. Further, they voted to stop participating in unpaid training workshops, attending meetings held before or after school, monitoring bus drop-offs and pick-ups, and providing demonstration lessons for their colleagues. That last one truly shows the true interest of the teachers - not willing to work with their own colleagues.
I guess we are left with the 1990's Red Sox - you remember, where they were mocked as 25 cabs for 25 players. The Boston teachers are showing that they only care about themselves and how much money, er respect, they can grab.
And no, I do not want to hear from all of the apologists who claim they cannot control the activities of their union leadership. If you are a teacher, belong to the union, then the activities and statements of the union are yours. If you do not agree, then it is your responsibility to do something about it. Run for union leader, organize an opposing view, do something. Doing nothing means that you condone the words and actions of your elected union leaders.
Hundreds in Hub teachers union picket at school
Members protest stalled contract talks, By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | November 19, 2006
More than 300 members of the Boston Teachers Union picketed yesterday outside West Roxbury High School to protest stalled contract negotiations and pressure teachers to boycott a daylong math workshop scheduled at the school.
The early morning demonstration was the first in a series of planned events to demand a better contract from the Boston School Committee, said Richard Stutman, union president.
Union members -- including school psychologists, nurses, instructional assistants, and retirees -- balked at the School Committee's proposal to increase health insurance costs and lift the cap on class size. None of the 50 middle and high school teachers who had signed up to attend the math training went into the building yesterday. They stayed home or picketed alongside their colleagues, who wore buttons that said, "Respect = A Fair Contract," and held blue-and-white signs advocating "Contract Fairness."
"It upsets me a lot that we have to stand out here doing all this to get what's fair," said Isilda Colonette, a second-grade teacher at the William Ohrenberger Elementary School. "We don't get the respect, and it really irks me that they don't treat us as the educated professionals that we are."
Last week more than 500 teachers and other union members voted to abstain from performing certain voluntary services, such as participating in unpaid training workshops, attending meetings held before or after school, monitoring bus drop-offs and pick-ups, and providing demonstration lessons for their colleagues. However, teachers will continue to volunteer to tutor students after school, meet with parents, and write recommendations for students, Stutman said.
"The school department knows we can shut down any activity," Stutman said. "They should take a more serious stance at the bargaining table."
The union did not discourage teachers from attending other trainings around the city, including a union-sponsored workshop on analyzing data, which about two-dozen teachers attended.
Since negotiations with the 8,000-member union began in January, the two sides have made little progress on key issues, Stutman said. Teachers have been working without a contract since Aug. 31.
The School Committee presented a compensation package Friday, but neither Stutman nor Superintendent Michael Contompasis would provide specifics yesterday. Stutman wrote in a union bulletin Thursday that teachers could expect the city to propose a 1 percent to 2 percent raise this year and each of the next three years, reflecting what has been offered to other unions.
Base teacher salaries in Boston range from $42,355 for a first-year teacher with a bachelor's degree to $81,702 for teachers with doctorate degrees and nine years of experience. Boston teachers, on average, make $67,632 a year.
As part of the negotiations, the School Committee has proposed gradually increasing union members' contribution to health insurance premiums from 10 percent to 20 percent over four years.
Union members are also upset by the school system's proposal to curb union rights in up to 25 low-performing schools so the superintendent could more quickly improve them -- a move supported by a coalition of Massachusetts education and business leaders.
"We need to think very seriously about how to turn around a school without simply closing it," Contompasis said. "We need the flexibility, and we're hoping the union will be a partner in this."
Another proposal that angered union members would mandate 48 extra hours of unpaid teacher training and remove the class-size limit.
Currently, the maximum number of students allowed in a class is 25 for most elementary grades, 28 for middle schools, and 31 for high schools. Contompasis said the school system's goal is not to increase individual class sizes but to give small schools more flexibility in staffing by using a school-wide class-size average.
The school department proposed more hours of teacher training, Contompasis said, because the school day is too short to fit in all the training teachers need.
Stutman said union members feel particularly slighted since principals this year received an average raise of 11.7 percent. The increase was necessary for the system to remain competitive in retaining good leaders, Contompasis said. Most principals also now work a longer year, he said.
The union undertook a similar campaign in November 2003, when members picketed math workshops held at the same school. A couple of teachers at the time attended the training despite the protests of their peers, Stutman said. A contract was hashed out the following spring after the union threatened a one-day strike.
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Joseph Gillis Jr.
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