How PA group shamed teachers in union fight
Business-backed, anti-union Citizens Alliance of PA saw Neshaminy as a recruiting field
How PA group shamed teachers in union fight
Joseph N. DiStefano
When Neshaminy School District teachers walked off the job in a labor protest last week for the second time this school year, a list of six hundred strikers' pay and benefits was quickly posted as an ad in the local newspaper by an anti-union group sympathetic to the elected school board's firm stand against boosting school pay and benefits.
The $1,600 ad was financed by Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania, a group founded in 2009 by former railroad contractor and Pennsylvania State Rep. John Kennedy (R-Cumberland) and financed by donors like Penn Waste owner Scott Wagner of York County to push for anti-union "right-to-work" laws, limits on plaintiff's lawsuits against businesses, and state support for private schools.
The ad, prepared from data collected by local activists in a Right-to-Know request last winter, showed the average Neshaminy striker receiving more than $100,000 a year in annual pay and benefits (with benefits accounting for one-fifth to more than one-third of each striker's total).
"It really defies reason that they though they should have access to (compensation) from taxpayers who have no hope of making that much," Citizens Alliance executive director Leo Knepper told me.
Citizens Alliance, based in Lemonye, suburban Harrisburg, celebrated as teachers cancelled their strike. The ad "turned the battle" against the teachers, Philadelphia landlord Bob Guzzardi, who blasts pro-conservative messages to a long list of fellow activists, insisted.
Knepper told me supporters filled his email with congratulatory messages after this public shaming of what they regard as a relatively privileged educators' group demanding more from less-privileged taxpayers. (The teachers said they agreed to return to work, in advance of a court order, "as a sign of good faith" in future talks with the school board.)
Knepper said he was hired by the alliance last fall after a stint at a Heritage Foundation-affiliated "grassroots organizing" group, and has been working for causes "that you might call conservative, but I'd call classically liberal," since he was laid off as an assiastant store manager at the Brooks Brothers outlet in Hershey in a recessionary "downsizing."
Why Neshaminy? Citizens Alliance saw the Bucks County strike as an opportunity to reach a broad public in a politically mixed area, by supporting the elected school board and other public figures who have resisted union demands. State Rep. Frank Farry, R-Bucks, a Neshaminy High grad, is among those pushing to ban teacher strikes across the Commonwealth.
"We're focusing on the labor propblems we have in Pennsylvania," Knepper told me. "We want to make Pennsylvania a more business-friendly environment."
teacher strikes are like cop and firefighter strikes. If your job is as important as you claim, how could you abandon it?
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- You are forgetting that their salary is for 180 days of work and not a full year. Assume 180 days * 7 hours a day = 1260 labor hours. A full year is 1800-2000 labor hours depending on your vacation and daily work. You need to multiply their salary by 1.45 to equate it to a full time job in the private sector.— tina848
- You do know that a portion of each teacher's paycheck is set aside so they can be paid during the summer and not go on unemployment. Get off the 180 day soapbox. So their salary is really for 12 months. Learn math and get the facts. Also factor in that PSD teachers spend up to $1000 of their own money for classroom supplies (pencils, folders, notebooks, etc...not supplied by the school district but necessary each day) and learning materials. Only $100 is reimbursed by the district. — herbie
- Teachers retire in 20 yrs.. Have tenure etc why??— Ubercatholic
- CleanupPhilly - I always agree with your posts. Without even looking it up, my take would be that SDP teacher salaries would be less than Neshaminey due to high turn-over. The Neshaminey teachers just got spanked.— Go-Eagles
- add to this the yearly cost of bloated pensions which is bankrupting our school districts and communities. taxes to support the pensions are going thru the roof. way pst time for real reform. the legislators also need a haircut.— jstash
- If you think the teacher's salaries are high why don't you take a look at the Union Reps/Leaders salaries and your eyes will pop out. That is where the problem is. the teachers are being the fall guys for the Union Biggies. Christie outed them in NJ and They should be outed in PA.— rduexpress
- Once again CleanUp makes assumptions...The average Philly teacher makes about $50,000 but I'm sure you'll find a way to bash us. FYI I work two jobs as does my fiance and I teach in Philly. How many jobs do you work? How do you pay each month in student loan debt?— teach02
- False. The average salary for Philly teachers is $63,255. The median *household* income for Philly is $36,251.
The highest paid teachers in Philly make $101,861.
Much more info can be found here:
http://www.openpagov.org/ - Hey tina848: The SDP takes well over $500/paycheck and "holds it in escrow for 10 months" for us while collecting INTEREST on our money and then in July and August give us our BASE SALARY...NO INTEREST! The SDP keeps the interest they collecting off our paychecks for 10 months but I guess we're greedy.— teach02
- So where is the article calling out the administration salaries, benefits and bonuses. That's due next as they are to blame also for this mess and the dropping scores in the district. That get bonuses to save money but our kids education is still the big loser here. The whole system is broke.— Bucks Dave
- Apparently the administration has the good sense to not shut the schools down and very publicly demand more money when they're already extremely well paid.
- teach02: That is just distribution of funds over the year and not the 9 months you work. You still do not working the same hours a private sector employee works. You are working 2/3rds of what I or anyone else works for a salary in the corporate world. I too have a master's degree and extensive education.— tina848
- I was told last night that the School District had refused to negotiate and that binding-arbitration has now been imposed...by a school teacher; I have also been told that there is a strong desire to allow for class-sizes to be increased to 35.
On the other hand, I have been told that salaries are bloated and pensions threaten to bankrupt the School District...by a CAP-member. I have also been told that this is perceived as a classic effort, akin to the Wisconsin election.
Sounds to me as if Irresistible Forces are encountering Immovable Objects!— Doctor Bob - Comment removed.
- If you want a quick solution to the union controlled public school system when they go on strike fire them all like Reagan did with the air traffic controllers and put up a help wanted ad. New hires with a reasonable education could probably do a better job teaching than those dispatched.— danandsis
- It's about time the public learned the truth— Honest_Cloud
- want to make the government more business friendly? I didn't think that was possible. how about more average citizen friendly. when are the conservative lemmings going to realize that corporate america doesn't have their best interest as heart.— Ryan
- Drive businesses away and the jobs go too. Attract them and they bring jobs with them. Considering your distaste for "corporate america", I can only assume you wrote this message on tree bark and hand delivered it to the Inquirer (wearing nothing but the skins of animals you killed by hand). Or did you use a computer built by one of those corporations that provided a product you thought was more useful than the money you traded for it?
