Quincy teachers strikeout
The Quincy Teachers Union and School Committee have come to an agreement ending the teachers illegal 4 day strike. The teachers went on strike lat Friday, even though it is illegal int he state of Massachusetts for teachers to strike, are expected to be back on the job tomorrow.Winners and Losers?
Teachers - They ended up with with basically the same deal offered before the strike except they have a 3 year ramp to the 20% health care costs instead of 2 years. The upside is they now have an agreement after 15 months of negotiations and 10 months without an office contract.
Committee - Finally pushed the 20% health care costs onto the teachers but had to endure a tense situation in order to get it done. Too bad they were not able to avoid the strike and work out these issues many months ago.
Students - Got 4 days off but unfortunately now have to go to school next week when everyone else will be off for the summer. Hopefully they used this time wisely to study for finals.
Parents - Many were upset by the strike and how it affected day-care arrangements or forcing them to take time off from work to care for their children. I'm sure this was a pain but as working professionals they must understand the teachers union's need to do something to force a resolution.
In the end, there were no winners or losers just 4 days off for the kids, 4 days of headaches for working parents and 4 days of intense negotiations that led all parties right back to the place they started from. Hopefully in 3 years from now they can avoid this situation and work things out in advance. Maybe they should start now.
posted by TheWino @ 11:03 AM
2 Comments:
Rant alert!
Teachers are the biggest frickin' group of whiners. They are a bunch of "poor me" victims. Even though they have greatly rewarding jobs (not monetarily, but if they are good at what they do, they make a difference in someone's life at least once a week), but they are still not happy.
Let's talk about pay. Teachers work 9 months out of the year and get every holiday off. You are in class from 8AM to 4PM (or something similar) and you get paid for extracurriculars such as coaching. You knew going into the profession that it was not a high paying job, yet you are surprised to find out this was true? Any teacher that decided to marry another teacher has pretty much committed themselves to a life of sub-par earnings. However, since you and the auto workers are pretty much the only unionized labor forces still around, you get raises and benefits while people in your town around you don't. Plus, your retirement plans look pretty juicy, as our principal just left (AT AGE 55!) with a full $92,000 a year pension for the rest of her life. That's a pretty good deal, and makes me want to go teach somewhere.
I had a teacher tell me they need that summer break to recharge their batteries. Like everyone else in the world doesn't work! WTF??? Are these students of yours mentally wiping you out? Maybe you should take a year off just to be sure you have enough energy to get through a full year of work.
Every teacher I know spouts MCAS, MCAS, MCAS. Standardized tests have been around for as long as I can remember. Smart kids pass, and dumb kids fail. Stop wasting your time trying to get the dumb kids to pass the test, it is not just you who is responsible, it is the parents as well.
I will admit that it is a lot harder being a teacher now than it was a decade or two ago. I wouldn't want to teach a high school class in certain cities, and respect from your students is now something to be earned versus expected. If we are going to continue to pay teachers lower salaries (and why should we pay anyone more than $35,000 a year to teach addition and subtraction?) then the PARENTS are going to have to start to get their kids straightened out enough so that the classroom has is a proper learning environment. That way teaching stays the candy-assed easy job it has been in the past, and we don't have to pay bloted teacher salaries!
Lee Lee said...
J-man, I think you should write a letter ;)
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