If this is the deal, Philly teachers should strike
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If this is the deal, Philly teachers should strike
Apparently the old saying is wrong: You can get blood from a stone after all. In a world where "the American Dream" has become a year in which your salary stays the same, the so-called City of Brotherly Love is on the brink of setting a new standard in squeezing middle-class workers to death. It's not like we haven't seen this story before: Working men and women asked to take a sizable pay cut...and work longer hours...and pay more for shrinking benefits. Usually such reports alternate with the news that the CEO of that same outfit is leaving with a golden parachute worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe millions.
But just when you think it can't get any worse, here come the contract demands that the Philadelphia School District would like to cram down the throat of the city's unionized school teachers. The news -- first reported by Kristen Graham of the Inquirer -- is a jaw-dropper:
-- Large pay cuts imposed in teachers up to 13 percent for those making (a whopping) $55,000 a year or more. then frozen until 2017.
-- A sizable jump in out of pocket costs for health coverage.
-- In return for this honor, teachers would have to increase their work day from just over 7 hours now to eight hours, and "would also have to lead professional development, attend meetings, perform bus, yard and lunch duty and be available for parent meetings outside work hours with no extra pay."
-- There's a lot more, but one of my favorites is that the district would no longer have to provide, among other things, "water fountains, parking facilities, [or] desks for teachers..." (although presumably some teachers would retain these? Who knows?)
-- It should be noted that many of these cuts are not so much harmful to the teachers as to the kids -- lifting limits on class sizes and not requiring librarians or guidance counselors in every school, for example.
This is outrageous for so many reasons that it's hard to know where to begin. It is worth noting a couple of cavaets. Obviously, this is an opening negotiation gambit and not the final offer; it's hard to imagine that even if the district sought to impose terms on the union (which would surely cause a strike -- more on that in a minute) that they could possibly be this draconian. I've heard that some of this may be a spring offensive to get hundreds of teachers to take early retirement -- and I'm sure it will work. Those things said, one also senses that the schools district -- egged on by its high-priced Boston consultants -- "means business" this time.
I think there's three levels to look at this. Human nature tends to look at the micro, and people are going to be tempted to point out all the management waste and excess that preceded this -- late superintendent Arlene Ackerman's $900,000 severance check and her cadre of overpriced spin doctors and how Ackerman's replacement William Hite came in and gave pay raises -- to 25 non-union employees. (Just the first three that popped into my head, frankly.) But this goes so much deeper.
On what you might call the middle-macro level, this would appear to be the final offensive by a grand alliiance of hedge-funders, libertarians and assorted right-wingers, the purely profit-minded and misguided philanthropies and their well-heeled consultants to destroy public education in Philadelphia, once a font of opportunity for children from every social class.
But look, the real outrage here is on the macro-macro level. Do we really live in a nation where millions obsess over the "freedom and liberty" of CEOs to make 380 times as much as his average worker or not to provide those employees with health insurance, but no one gets worked up when the people teaching our children are nickled and dimed out of their jobs? Where it's an act of political derring-do to suggest that just maybe workers should get a minimum wage of $9 an hour? Where there's not any problem that can't be solved by asking rank-and-file workers to take a few dollars less, while working a few hours more -- and jacking up their kid's college tuition while they're at it?
The time to stop this downward spiral of bulls--t is right now -- and what better place to start than Philadelphia, the city where America began. Hopefully, this contract proposal from the Philadelphia School District will die from its own ridiculouslessness, albeit after they've scared some good and dedicated veteran teachers out of the classroom. But if this really is the deal, Philadelphia teachers need to walk off the job. That's right -- strike. And anyone who cares about the ability of the middle class to raise a family -- particularly a well-educated family -- needs to stand behind them. Be inspired by what happened in Chicago, where most of the community stood behind its teachers.
Strike? I know what some of you are saying -- what about the kids? Spare me. Aside from the basic -- and fairly obvious -- fact that the long-term education of Philadelphia's children would die the death of 1,000 cuts here, there's something bigger at play. What I would like Philadelphia's...no, America's....kids to witness first-hand, more than anything else, is that they can grow up to be adults who will fight for their rights, for their families -- and for their human dignity.
And win.
Part of the difficulty here is that these decisions are not being made on the local level. Decisions are being made and policy is being set hundreds of miles away in Harrisburg. The inability to hold the state government accountable to the citizens of Philadelphia is exactly what they were counting on when the state took over the district. We could protest, stop traffic, strike et al, and the Harrisburg policy makers will neither notice nor care.— Billy Pilgrim- Don't forget that they won't be responsible for copiers. Oh, and textbooks.
What people should be angry about is not this proposal-but those who are proposing it. The folks in Upper Darby got upset over the budget responses to the arts and other specialties by making signs and attending meetings, voicing their displeasure to a school board that took notice because they knew that their jobs were at stake because they were elected to those positions.
The SRC is a group of appointed people-appointed by politicians at the city and state level.
Where are the Tea Baggers complaining about big government when the state is telling us how we should educate our children, or how to spend our money attempting to meet national standards that EVERY STUDENT passing tests?
Why aren't citizens and parents more upset over the fact that the people in charge of public education in the city have NO ACCOUNTABILITY for their actions? Some of these people sit of the boards of other companies that have profited from their position on the SRC, yet the outrage is focused on Ackerman's deeds? Vallas didn't do the district much help when he left, either. But you know who has been here that whole time?
The School REFORM Commission.
All they have reformed is their retirement plans, not the future of the children of this city.— Skwimua - There isn't any tea baggers b/c this is a Demorat city. If the teachers strike, fire them all for breaking the law.
- Amen Mr. Bunch! PFT needs to demo every Friday afternoon from this til August 31st and every day after that.
— hmmm - Will, thank you for this thoughtful post. What a sad day in American when TEACHERS, teachers are the people we wage war against. I left the district over 2 years ago, but my heart hurts for the people who still work with children in this thankless profession at this awful time.— radicaleducator
- This was planned long ago. Ridge tried to privatize the public schools. When that didn't work, they've been laying the ground work ever since. "Venture philanthropies" like the Broad Foundation have been preparing this a long time. Hite has said recently that the school closing plan began two years ago. That would make it under Ackerman's administration. If you really want understand what is going on, read this article in Chicago's Substance News:
http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=4016§ion=Article
— tom-104 - I've worked as hard as I can for 11 years for the district. I've taken a total of 5 sick days in that time. I just want to be able to do the job that I love and be able to take care of my family because of it. If we go by this proposal, I'm not sure I'll be able to keep the pretty modest house we have now or ever pay for my kids to go to college. I guess the city thinks that is me asking too much. I'm so embarrassed that I work for people that would make such a ridiculously draconian offer to us with a straight face.— TeacherInPhilly
- Are these union teachers the real "middle class"? I just read an Inquirer article yesterday that Philly teachers with at least 10 years experience are paid $90K per year. Middle class? Eh...not so sure...And on top of that they get to retire with a full pension in their mid 50s. Actually, it's not even close to the real middle class.— chrissmith
- @chrissmith- You read wrong. I have ten years in the district with a Masters Degree and don't earn close to $90k...and you have to work for 35 years in the district to qualify for a full pension. Any less years, you don'r earn close to a full pension.
I also had to pay for the Masters Degree out of my own pocket. But a masters degree wasn't my choice, it is a State mandate. If I don't earn 30 credit hours after five years of employment, your certification will lapse and you will be fired immediately. so the requirements, (and prices to fulfill those requirements) continue to rise, but the pay drops. I fail to see the logic.
You can hate us all you want, but get your facts straight before criticizing us.— woodyung - It's not hate at all, just facts. You're just spreading misinformation to support the union.
According to an article in the Inquirer dated 02/26/2013 by Kristen Graham: Now, the top-paid tier of educators are considered “senior career teachers” — those with 10 years of experience or more, plus other qualifications. That category would disappear. (A senior career teacher makes about $90,000.)
Secondly, if you graduate from college at age 21, and work for 35 years (as you claim), then yes, you do get to retire with a full pension in your mid-50s.
Easy. Done. :)— chrissmith - Your getting your "facts" from Kristen Graham? She left out important info: the other "qualifications" are 60 credts beyond a bachelor's degree or a Ph.D. That's a lot of schooling and a lot of money invested in becoming a lifelong learner and better educator.
Do you think - honestly - that most district teachers with more than 10 years experience have that education? Senior career teachers are rare in the district - they're usually older and have devoted much of their career to learning more and improving their art of teaching.
And, by the way, I am NOT a senior career teacher defending them. I just hate seeing people not have all the facts.— omseeker - here you go look up your self and know what your teacher is making in Philadelphia. My son has three teachers 2 of them making 78k and 1 making 94k.
http://php.app.com/PAteachers10/search.php— PhillySM - Unfortunately you have an employer (the school district) which is going bankrupt. Poor management and unsustainable mretirement and other benefits combine with declining tax revenues from a declining city. I feel sad for the hard working teachers. But this is a grim reality. No advice from Will as to what to do about it.— BillMcG
- The state took over the School District over ten years ago when Ridge tried to privatize 64 schools with Edison. When that didn't work, they began undermining the school district budget and, under Ackerman, starving the public schools while funding charter schools to make them appealing to parents. You don't think this budget deficit was deliberate? The fox has been minding the hen house and now he is moving in for the kill! — tom-104
- If these proposals would go into effect, after day care costs, I would bring home $15,000 a year. I'd rather tighten the belt and live off one salary then deal with this BS. I care deeply care about my job and the students, but I also have to pay the bills and take care of my family too.
Ironically, I won teacher of the year in my school last year and tonight I just sent an email to my uncle to see if his construction business needed any extra workers. Regretting getting that masters degree for a Level II Cert like that state mandates. Thank go I took on those extra student loans to earn the jump in salary the district promised.— woodyung
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