Teachers on Strike: Classic or Dud?

Josh OTM. I kinda feel like people don't really understand what a "middle class lifestyle" means when they start throwing around figures like that $150,000 number.

I think a lot of people have mixed views on teachers unions which seems to be a healthy position in a debate like this where there's not a clear 'right answer'

That's super true, but I'm talking more about the people who jump immediately to, "all unions are bad, eliminate them all", which isn't the answer.

In Wisconsin, if memory serves, a huge number of union members voted against the Scott Walker recall. I don't get it when people vote against their interests, but it does imply something deeper or at least more nuanced at work.

Union members in Wisconsin have a tendency to be socially conservative, Reagan Democrats.

And a lot of people in this state thought the recall was a massive waste of public resources in the service of a small portion of the population.

Public sector unions are not well loved here, even in liberal strongholds like Madison and the city of Milwaukee.

Even my friends who belonged to public unions hated them, and these are 20 something Democratic leaning voters.

Yeah, ime people I know or knew consider it kind of shameful to have to belong to a union b/c of their profession, like it's asking for trouble or a handout they don't want.

Plus I'd guess that there are schools in states without strong teachers’ unions where there are kids doing as lousy on tests as those in union states. Mississippi for example

You would have thought, though, after it got to that point, with all the money spent already, that they could have just swallowed some pride and voted against Walker.

Yeah, ime people I know or knew consider it kind of shameful to have to belong to a union b/c of their profession

This has not been my experience with the teachers I know, can't speak for other professions.

I don't know any union members who are ashamed of being union.

In Wisconsin, if memory serves, a huge number of union members voted against the Scott Walker recall.

I guess it depends what you mean by "huge." Per this coverage

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57447980-503544/how-scott-walker-won-the-wisconsin-recall-election/

union members went for Barrett over Walker 71-29, which is a pretty serious walloping. Wisconsin is about half Democratic and half Republican, and you'd be hard pressed to find a group of voters more solidly Democratic than 71-29. If I remember correctly, that's about the same as the vote breakdown for the city of Madison, and I would not describe Madison as a place with a huge number of Republicans.

So the Republican union members were possibly split?

One of the more fascinating stats about where I live is that apparently only 20% of the population of Oak Park comprises households with K-12 aged kids, which means that the vast majority of homes are paying for services they do not use.

LOL that's how i feel about the fucking FIRE DEPARTMENT

Ha. To be fair, a large role of the fire department is preventative.

so is education, if you think about it

on the civic level they should just rebrand education 'society insurance'

then there'd just be fuckers goin around all, i don't neeeeed insurance, i take care of my mind just fine, and other fuckers that would be all, i'll just go on the internet if i suddenly need to know somethin!

on the civic level they should just rebrand education 'society insurance'

― iatee, Friday, September 14, 2012 1:25 PM (56 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i like this. don't know if school boards in texas would go for it.

in case of nuclear war, we're going to put all the national merit scholars in a bunker

woo-hoo!

wait, where's the bunker

In between the sofa cushions...IN HELL.

Would be interesting to know who's funding that campaign.

― Temporarily Famous In The Czech Republic (ShariVari), Friday, September 14, 2012 8:32 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Some asshole.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, September 14, 2012 8:37 AM (5 hours ago)

Very much so - it's the Center for Union Facts, one of a number of front groups run by Richard Berman (father of the Silver Jews' David). See http://www.bermanco.com/advertising/print/

it's in north dakota dan, in the basement of NORAD

I just couldn't resist making a Buffy joke, it is actually in North Dakota...IN HELL.

bad news for some ppl: I was a Natl Merit Scholar

good news for everyone who likes watching ppl bicker tho

specially selected corps of deaf navy seals

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Deafseal.jpg

is that fella listening for nuclear subs

"Preventing conflicts is the work of politics; establishing peace is the work of education" - maria montessori

hippie

that's me

sigh

http://www.salon.com/2012/09/27/the_corporate_education_agenda_behind_wont_back_down/

I also met an entrepreneur who tried to convince me that the future of education was 3-D. He was in the conference vending hall repping his firm, Elixir XES 3D, which specializes in glassless 3-D video monitors. “With this technology we can bring dinosaurs or presidents or whatever to life!” he said. “Learning can be fun, just like a video game or a 3-D IMAX movie.” He then handed me a paper titled “3-D: The Technology Brought a Pot of Gold to the Motion Picture Box Office. It Has the Potential to Bring ‘Golden’ Learning Back to Our Schools, at Warp Speed.” The paper, which seemed simultaneously geared toward investors, advertisers and school board officials, explained that his super-exciting XES 3D technology is currently in 10 school districts and counting, bringing benefits to both students and advertisers.

what's next, this fool's TED talk?
smdh

industry rule #4080, textbook people are shady, same as it ever was, these bloodsuckers have been around since the day textbook companies and promethean boards were invented

teaching is already in 3D iirc

It has real potential for music class

*3-D trombone slides you*

We start one-day rotating strikes this week across the province. We'll probably be legislated back if a second day for any one board is imminent.

Waiting around for a decision from the Ontario Labour Relations Board tonight on whether our one-day walkout tomorrow is a) a political protest, b) an illegal strike, or c) neither, because they rule against us and we cancel. If it's the second, the Premier says fines or jail time are options. If I go in for some hard time, please, tell the world my story.

We're all still in limbo. Ontario high school teachers have been advised by their union to resume extra-curricular in exchange for...no one's sure, so I was glad to hear today that many of them will continue to boycott. If they buckle, we (elementary panel) surely will in short order.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ydqjqZ_3oc

Good job.

All that creepy jargon on political round-tables--getting your message out, winning the news cycle, etc.--seems more urgent when you're on the wrong end of it in your own life.

We're on work-to-rule right now. We appear to be heading towards something major next fall, but for now, relatively small stuff around provincial testing and report cards. There was a big development concerning the latter today--there won't be any, just a form promotion letter--and as I listened to the way it was being reported on the way home, it was infuriating to hear the other side's position being presented as fact, with nothing from us. What we should be saying seems incredibly obvious to me, but no response, not yet. I'm going to do something tomorrow I've never done in the close to 20 years I've been doing this--call the union and see if I can talk to someone. Basically I want to say, "You need to get someone in front of a camera, and here's what they need to say--you need to do this right away."

I wish I'd written this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/cayla-hochberg/tdsb-teacher-report-cards_b_7576696.html

I'll have to keep that in mind next time something's not being said that needs to be said.

So get in front of a camera and say it again. Or whatever you need to do!!

If a TV station stuck a mic in front of me tomorrow, I'd speak up. None outside my house right now--easier said than done. I do get a little nervous commenting about this stuff. Not here, but I just responded to the link above on Facebook, and that little voice in my head was saying "Be careful." I'm not sure if I'm more nervous about how my employer would react to public discussion of this or my union.

surprised this wasn't updated after the WV and OK strikes.

BREAKING: Arizona teachers vote to walk off the job in the first-ever statewide strike to demand increased school funding.

— The Associated Press (@AP) April 20, 2018

surprised this thread wasn't bumped, i mean. anyway, arizona teachers join the fray!

I brought it up a few times in the US politics threads to limited traction. anyway, right on, solidarity, etc.

oh, i mentioned the previous strikes a few times there, too. not exactly the best thread for it, though.

btw: CLASSIC