The Teachers' Unions' Lack of Moral Character

In my most recent post, I wrote these words: "We will learn a lot in the coming weeks and months about the priorities and values of the various stakeholders, won't we?" Yes, indeed.

Reinforcing the point of that question, John McCain is quoted in an earlier post about war:

"Character," writes the younger [John] McCain, quoting the 19th century evangelist Dwight Moody, "is what you are in the dark," when nobody's looking and you silently make decisions about how you will act the next day.

The teachers' unions are conducting a war against our children, using them as pawns to blackmail School Committees and citizens into caving into their contractual demands for further adult entitlements. Their demands have nothing to do with education. The unions' actions are devoid of character and are morally offensive.

The actions by the West Warwick AFT union are the latest unprincipled actions and are described in this earlier post:

The School Committee has exercised its option to let its current teachers contract lapse after three years rather than four, a move that prompted the union to announce that its members would immediately start working to rule — doing only what is strictly required under the contract.

The contract with the West Warwick Teachers Alliance [an AFT teachers' union group] that took effect last Sept. 1 was a four-year agreement — providing annual raises of 3.9 percent — but it includes the proviso that either party could choose, before Sept. 1 of this year, to eliminate the fourth year (ending in 2010) and instead negotiate a fresh agreement.

The School Committee voted unanimously on Tuesday of last week to take that option, Chairman Daniel T. Burns Jr. said.

Given the district’s fiscal straits — it entered the current fiscal year with a budget $1.7 million out of balance — it "would have been fiscally irresponsible to let it go to the fourth year," Burns said on Tuesday. "I can’t promise you a rose garden if all I’ve got is weeds."

Yesterday, Donald E. Vanasse, president of the 340-member teachers union, announced its new stance.

"The long and the short of it is that, over time, teachers will not be performing duties that are not part of the school day," said Vanasse. "The teachers will do what they’ve been contracted to do. They’ll do their jobs and do them well. But they’re not going to do the extras that aren’t required but that they always do anyway."...

In July, the school board reconciled its budget, slashing after-school programs and middle school athletics, and laying off a number of teacher assistants. It also proposed cutting transportation spending, reducing the number of substitute teachers and reducing its special-education tuition budget, with the hope that the state Department of Children, Youth and Families cuts down on the number of placements it sends the town...

The next fiscal year is expected to be even harder. The state-imposed cap on tax-levy increases will tighten, leaving the town with even less money to provide to the district.

With those kinds of cuts, Burns said, it would have been unjustifiable to keep the current teachers contract in force for the full four years. Now, he said, the district can assess its finances when the time comes to decide what it can reasonably offer the teachers.

Burns said he has no qualms about the board’s vote because it was an option available to both parties.

"I don’t know why they’re upset," Burns said. "Their side could have chosen to opt out if it wasn’t to their benefit."

For now, the union will wait to see if the board will rescind its vote — an action that would allow the dynamic to return to normal, Vanasse said.

"The union door remains open, but someone has to walk through that door," Vanasse said.

And from a second ProJo article:

..."The teachers that serve the West Warwick Public Schools felt that their trust has been broken and that their professionalism is not recognized," Donald E. Vanasse, president of the West Warwick Teachers Alliance, said in the letter to board Chairman Daniel T. Burns Jr. "Your committee’s recent actions have left all teachers feeling that they have been devalued in the eyes of their own employer."...

A few days after the committee’s vote on the contract, the union announced its decision to work to rule. In his letter, Vanasse said: "It is unfortunate that these events have unfolded in this matter, but be assured that we, as an organization, will continue to value the process of good-faith negotiations.

"In that vein, we stand prepared to rebuild the relationship that previously existed between the West Warwick Teachers Alliance and the West Warwick School Committee once your body takes steps to reconcile the manner in which it has recently begun to conduct labor/management relations."

However, Burns said it is the union’s current posture that will make it difficult for the next contract negotiation session in a few years.

"The work-to-rule environment that the union leadership has instructed classroom teachers to practice is not sitting well with this School Committee," Burns said. "And it is the wrong move if the teachers are looking for a better contract in the future."

Schools Supt. Kenneth M. Sheehan said he’s baffled by the union’s actions. Sheehan, who once headed the teachers union in Seekonk, said he’s seen unions employ the "work to rule" strategy when teachers were working without a contract, but never when educators were in the midst of a "lucrative" agreement.

Some of the "unwritten rules" of the strategy, Sheehan said, include refusal to volunteer for nonpaid clubs or activities, participate in parent-teacher organization meetings, or sit on unpaid committees for the district. (The school open houses, which began in the district last week, are a part of the teachers contract, Sheehan said.) Those moves, he said, undoubtedly hurt the quality of education in town and, ultimately, shortchange students.

"I have difficulty in accepting [using] children or students as pawns when the fight is with the School Committee," Sheehan said. "It’s always a problem when you put kids in the middle."...

Think about this: Both sides had the contractual right to opt out of year 4, the school district is in deep financial trouble and had already cut programs, the school committee exercised its legal right to opt out, and the teachers' union went work-to-rule even as the remaining 3 years of the contract remain in force. And the union said that only outright capitulation by the school committee would undo the new dynamic, restore trust and show respect for teachers. And, of course, the children are the pawns who suffer along the way - because the union does not give a damn about them.

Forget the happy public relations talk. West Warwick is the latest real-world example which shows citizens what are the priorities and values of the teachers' unions.

And why do we let these unions retain monopoly control over our public education system?

Remember: Anchor Rising is THE place to go for information on the teachers' strike and contract issues in Rhode Island. See the Extended Entry for all relevant links.

To get up to speed, here are the links - in chronological order - to all Anchor Rising posts about the East Greenwich teachers' strike and the NEA:

Saying "No" to Legalized Extortion

Education Partnership Reports: Learning a lot more about RI teachers' union contracts (The reports linked to in this post make an important contribution to understanding how teachers' union contracts are about adult entitlements, not the education of our children.)

Reflecting on Labor Unions on Labor Day (This is a particularly important post for understanding the NEA's political agenda and financial resources.)

Update on the East Greenwich Teachers' Contract & Suggested Future Actions
Breaking News on Anchor Rising: East Greenwich Teachers to Strike on Tuesday

More on the Issues in the East Greenwich Teachers' Union Strike (This is a particularly important post on the substantive issues in dispute in East Greenwich.)

The NEA's Latest Disinformation Campaign in East Greenwich
Sometimes What is Old is New: Misguided Incentives Drive Public Sector Taxation
East Greenwich School Committee: Press Release & General Update
Mr. Subliminal Must Have Written the EG Teachers "Open Letter"
The Continuing NEA Disinformation Campaign in East Greenwich: Lies, More Lies & Even Some Melodrama
News Flash: Judge Orders East Greenwich Teachers Back to Work on Friday, September 7

Another Lie by the NEA: East Greenwich Teachers Would Take Pay Cuts Under School Committee Proposals (This is an important post to read as it torpedoes another critical lie by the NEA.)

The NEA in East Greenwich: Reflections On The Week That Was (This post includes some important comments on the issues underlying the debate about the unresolved statewide education funding formula issue.)

The Two Alternatives Before Us: Educational Programs & Teacher Jobs OR Excessive Adult Entitlements

Other relevant posts on Anchor Rising include:

Burrillville Teachers to Students: Let the Pawns Skip School
Crowley, You Charmer
Researching from Outside the Library
Children Are Their Life? No, Children Are Their Leverage.
Citizen Context for Negotiations
One Side of the Phone Conversation
My Favorite Samuel Gompers Quote
The Guidebook to Public-Abuse
Not Quite Breaking (Except of Taxpayers' Backs)
The Other Side of the Conversation in Tiverton
The Rhode Island Right's Bizarro Politics
A Case of Crossed Hands
Best We Can Do Is Get Involved Every Time
The Continuing Saga of the Funding Formula Distraction -- A Tale of Two Cities

(These three posts immediately above in this section address the important questions of (i) what RI law and court decisions say about teachers' strikes; (ii) the tax cap and level funding of education; and, (iii) statewide education funding formula.)

This Is the Way the System Works, the System Works, the System Works
A Mere Suggestion for the Teachers' Unions
Tiverton School Committee Shuffles Its Offer
Hold on, hold on. Keep the money coming!
These Are Professionals?
Other Public Education News