If this is the deal, Philly teachers should strike
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
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.
50K-90K a year and they don't teach during the summer. What a job! Teachers whine and moan, while Johnny still can't read.— Pugh- Yes, the Philly PSD has been a font of opportunity. Not for the students, but for the employees.
You can pretty much track the decline of Philly schools to the rise of the union. This is more than coincidence.— samac - How can you possibly compare "public" school teachers getting the shaft to corrporate America. There is no Big millionaire to yell at here, this money comes out of our pockets. Philadelphia's public schools stink, why shouldn't the teachers get cut?— Anthony Palmer
- I am appalled, ashamed and embarrassed by this proposal. I am very grateful to so many of the wonderful teachers I know. As I read this I imagined my favorite teachers, with no desk, no place to eat lunch, no locker, no water fountain, standing in their classroom, holding their coats and bags, parched for a drink of water (they are eliminating water fountains). I support our teachers.— BronxK
- Please open up the comments option for the transgender 1st grader story. That is all.. Thanx k bye.— Chef Yummi
- g-town teach:
I notice that these days you've removed the test scores for Germantown from the school website...because they were too embarrassing.
Do you think the profound failure of Germantown is because of a failure to throw more money at the problem?
I don't. Germantown High School Class of 1970.— MaggieL - keep voting democrat and this is what you get....y'all deserve every minute of it— ratioactive
- one of your finest posts Will! good work. We need to stand behind our teachers. they are our brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles... we are all in this boat together. us being working people. we need to reject this lie that we need to "tighten our belts" , while the very rich are lavishing in spoils unseen in human history. this is not a way to operate a country. it will only lead to violent revolution once the working class has had enough.— Ryan
- Excellent blog, Will. You have all your facts straight. The constant teacher bashing based on gross misconceptions about the profession is a byproduct of well planned propaganda against public education that has been going on for decades.
No Child Left Behind was a Trojan Horse with its ludicrous demands for "100% proficiency" by 2014 on a fake test with a fake cut-off score. Using these phoney assessments, the State through its appointed commission has allowed the gradual dismantling and privatization of the school district.
The teaching profession has been demeaned on purpose to allow such insulting demands for pay cuts, smaller benefits, and impossible teaching/learning conditions.
Of course they are scaring the highest paid professionals into an early retirement. And they are trying to change work rules so that principals on tight budgets can discharge their highest paid experienced teachers so they can afford to hire lower paid novices.
Do they really expect teachers to accept unlimited class sizes while charter schools get to set class size limits?
Destroy the schools and you destroy the city. And that is no exaggeration.— Gendres - Absolutely. Great post. — carl and sons
- Will and the PFT are delusional.— CD75
- Democrat SRC. Democrat Mayor. Democrat City Council. Yet Willie misses thus point.— CD75
- Democratic SRC? Corbett appointed 3 of them and cut the District budget by $300 million and the state education budget by $1 billion. You're missing something and it's not just the point. — tom-104
- What a crock of BS. The budget had to be cut because the State got $4 Billion in stimulus funds in Rendell's last year from the Federal government, who just put it on the credit card. Had Corbett not "cut" back to the previous amount, he would have had to pass a big tax hike on people who couldnt afford it to make up the difference. Big difference. What you dontget is money comes from other people, it doesnt materialize from thin air. — tr88
- If you do not like your job or pay, go get s new one. I am sure these educators could find jobs in the burbs and in the free market. LOL.— CD75
- Andrew Sullivan
- Blinq
- Blogorrhea
- Blonde Sagacity
- Free Republic
- Instapundit
- James Taranto
- ScrappleFace
- The Corner
- Buzzmachine
- Eat the Press
- Editor and Publisher
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Media Bloodhound
- Mickey Kaus
- Pressthink
- Romenesko
- The Inksniffer
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Above Average Jane
- BlankBaby
- Citizen Mom
- Keystone Blog
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- Phawker
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Philly Future
- Phillyblog
- Phillyist
- The Clog
- The Next Mayor
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Young Philly Politics
- Afro-Netizen
- All-Spin Zone
- Atrios
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- Booman Tribune
- CorrenteWire
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- iFlipFlop
- Kiko's House
- MyDD
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Rowhouse Logic
- Slacktivist
- Suburban Guerilla
- Tattered Coat
- upyernoz
- AmericaBlog
- Andy Borowitz
- BuzzFlash
- Crooks and Liars
- Cursor
- Daily Kos
- David Sirota
- Drudge Report
- Echidne of the Snakes
- Fire Dog Lake
- Glenn Greenwald
- Hullabaloo
- Jesus' General
- Jon Swift
- Josh Marshall
- Juan Cole
- Kevin Drum
- Mad Kane
- Majikthise
- Matthew Yglesias
- Oliver Willis
- Raw Story
- Swing State Project
- Talk Left
- Taylor Marsh
- TBogg
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Think Progress
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- A Citizen's Blog
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Beer Leaguer
- Dick Polman
- Phillies Nation
- Philling Station
- Shallow Center
- The 700 Level
- The Good Phight
