|
1) Top Ten Union Officer/Staffer Quotes About EIA.
Over the years I have received some hate mail and criticism from readers
– not all of it from union members. I have been compared to the ayatollahs
and accused of running guns to the Contras (from Japan, no less). I don't go
out of my way to cheese people off, but that kind of reaction is a natural
consequence of writing about something important. I don't lose sleep over
it.
It might surprise you to know, however, that there are
a significant number of union members, staffers and officers who enjoy this
stuff, even if they vehemently disagree with me. I've put together a short
list of quotes from some of them for your entertainment. I keep my
correspondence and communications confidential, so I don't identify the
individuals, though each of them is either an elected teacher union officer
or hired staffer, state level or higher.
* "Everything you've written about us has been 100
percent accurate."
* "I'm very impressed with your stuff. As someone who
is intimately involved in a lot of the things you write about, I'm even more
impressed that you're right as often as you are."
* "We don't agree a lot of the time, but I appreciate
your skills as a reporter, and I think a lot of AFT members feel the same
way. You're getting stuff and publishing it before we get it."
* "As an employee of an NEA state affiliate, I get more
credible information from you than from my employer. I am thinking about
circulating your stuff either immediately prior to or immediately after
staff meetings just to liven things up!"
* "I've always been impressed with your ability to
report on events taking place in rooms where you're not allowed."
* "I have worked for the [teachers' union] for almost
ten years. Your reporting on the day to day issues I run into are unmatched
by any other source."
* "[EIA] must have contacts all over the country. The
speed with which they find out what is going on is amazing and frightening."
* "I don=t
want to be tarred and feathered by my colleagues, but I want to tell you
that you continually and consistently get it right.@
* "Your name was mentioned in a staff meeting today in
order to chill blood and strike fear into hearts."
* "Please know that I shall continue to depend on you
as the best and most reliable source of information about what's going on in
NEA and AFT – but don't quote me on that!"
2) Unions Poke Holes in $125,000 Teacher Plan.
So a proposed New York City charter school will
pay all classroom teachers $125,000, plus a possible bonus for
performance, and will pay for it by eliminating some support positions and
passing those duties on to teachers.
I'm skeptical, but it's a bold idea, and that's
supposed to be why we have charters. What surprises me is the raft of union
people who are also skeptical.
In the charter, the principal will make less than the
teachers. This, according to the head of New York City's principals' union,
will lead to "anarchy and chaos." United Federation of Teachers President
Randi Weingarten must have been taken off guard by the
New York Times, because she actually gave a candid explanation for
her hesitation: the charter isn't unionized.
UFT hasn't gotten teachers a $125,000 salary after 47
years of trying. A non-union charter schools opens with that, with no
negotiations required.
We have
two UFT charter schools, with regular contract salaries and all the
union protections and benefits a teacher could want. And we have The Equity
Project charter school, with $125,000 salaries and without those protections
and benefits. Let's see which one prospective New York City charter school
teachers prefer.
3) Obama Gets Oregon NEA Endorsement… Barely. Delegates representing
some 44,000 members of the Oregon Education Association voted to endorse
Barack Obama with 46,047 votes out of 91,971 cast (and you wonder why the
kids don't know math). That 50.067 percent total was just enough. Hillary
Clinton received 33,095 votes (36%), and "no endorsement" received 11,787
(13%).
Yes, I know that comes to only 90,929 votes, but
the idea is the important thing.
4) Calling Sister Mary Elephant! Mary A.
Carskadon, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University,
claimed at a National Sleep Foundation conference that
about 28 percent of all American high-schoolers fall asleep in school.
Voucher supporters may soon use this claim to bolster
their arguments, since we all know this sort of stuff
doesn't happen in Catholic school.
5) Six California NEA Locals Join AFL-CIO. Last
week the AFL-CIO Executive Council approved the affiliation of six more NEA
locals, all from California, bringing the total number of directly
affiliated members to more than 10,000.
The locals joined under the provisions of the labor
solidarity agreement
hammered out two years ago by NEA and AFL-CIO. The new affiliates are
the Hartnell College Faculty Association in Salinas, Hayward Education
Association, Oakland Education Association, San Leandro Teachers
Association, Fremont Unified District Teachers Association and the East Side
Teachers Association in Los Angeles.
When coupled with NEA-AFT merged affiliates, EIA
estimates more than 12 percent of NEA's 3.2 million members belong to the
AFL-CIO, a number that
would have seemed impossible just 10 years ago.
6) Last Week's Intercepts. EIA's blog,
Intercepts, covered these topics from March 3-10:
*
No NEA Endorsement This Year? Surrendering to reality.
*
Report: Weingarten to Retain UFT Position Upon Move to AFT Presidency.
Some teachers have to work two jobs to make ends meet.
* EdNews
Interview. The Internet's #1 source for education news and information
interviews the Internet's #1 source for smart-ass commentary about teachers'
unions.
*
Helicopter Parents and Stinger Teachers. The missiles are flying in
Baltimore.
7)
Quote of the Week.
"You tell me you have a shortage and then we try and show you how to take
care of a shortage by giving bonuses and the representatives of the
teachers' unions are opposed to that… We're doing everything we can for
alternative education. You don't see that to be on the front-burner for any
of them. When is it going to be about the children?... Let's look at some
different things we can change to maybe get more people through
non-traditional ways into the math and sciences, but I've got no one coming
forward to help on that. But when it comes time to talking about money,
money, money, I got no problem with people helping me on that." – West
Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, the latest in a long line of Democratic governors
(see
Item #6 here) who have found themselves at odds with teachers' unions.
(March 8
West Virginia Metro News) |
