Legal victory would be a PR defeat for teachers union

[mopinko]

Change of Subject
OBSERVATIONS, REPORTS, TIPS, REFERRALS AND TIRADES
BY ERIC ZORN
(me- a good socialist, laobr supporter if ever one worked for the trib)

The Chicago Teachers Union raises some good points in the formal complaint it has filed with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.

It its effort to lengthen the classroom day by 90 minutes for elementary students, the Chicago Board of Education is using a provision in the union contract that has traditionally been used to let teachers at individual schools make minor adjustments in the daily or yearly calendar to try to implement a systemwide change that significantly alters key provisions in the agreement.

Administrators have been going school by school offering incentives to staffs that vote to work a longer day. It's analogous to the owner of a unionized factory going department by department and offering bonuses and other goodies to workers who agree to ignore major parts of their labor deals. Such an effort makes an end-run around contractual rights and takes the "collective" out of collective bargaining.

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2011/09/legal-victory-would-be-a-pr-defeat-for-teachers-union.html

[dkf]

1. He is right.

I was perfectly fine with public unions until the teachers in our state refused to teach on non instructional days they were being paid for without getting more pay. After that public unions lost me.

[msongs]

2. yes Dog forbid teachers should be paid for days they spend prepping materials and planning. nt

[DrDan]

3. my wife just left teaching - last year - each Saturday and Sunday

6-8 hours of prepping. Every evening - 3-4 hours of prepping.

Each Saturday, Each Sunday, Each and every evening.

Guess how much pay she received for all the extra time?

Go ahead - guess.

After you ponder that and make your guess, guess why she left teaching last year - after 20-some years of teaching.

Go ahead - guess why she left.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Yes of course. Those teachers are selfish and greedy!

Wanting pay for more work. How dare they!