Labor

Newport Superior Court Judge Vincent Ragosta has rebuffed the Tiverton School Committee’s attempt to “block the teachers’ union from picketing on Monday [this afternoon] at the workplace of the committee chairwoman, St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River.” Anybody considering elected office in Tiverton with the intention of upholding citizens’ interests against the unions — or…

This is a plea to the teachers of Tiverton: Please step back for a moment and consider the depths to which your union is bringing you: Tiverton teachers plan to picket the workplace of School Committee Chairwoman Denise deMedeiros on Monday afternoon and have notified the president of St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, Mass.,…

Not a group to let some rain disrupt their protest, the teachers stood at their seats in the auditorium before tonight’s Tiverton School Committee meeting: My habitual area for sitting is occupied, so I thought it best to hide in back. (That, and I’m afraid that Pat Crowley might be in the audience and offend…

Will Ricci makes an interesting comment to my post on Mr. Crowley’s self expression: … I think it’s a golden opportunity for those of us who are actually concerned about our state’s below average educational quality to show what the other side (those who don’t care if kids fail, as long as their check clears)…

Not one to shoot ducks in a barrel, I’ve resisted the urge to post this photo, but NEA-Tiverton President Amy Mullen’s reaction in the Sakonnet Times suggests that more should be made of it: Amy Mullen, a special education resource teacher at Pocasset Elementary School, treasurer of the National Education Association Rhode Island and president…

I suppose the truth of the following depends on the measure by which one gauges “control”: “There is no plan to subcontract people out of these jobs. It hasn’t been studied. It’s just kind of like shooting from the hip to justify those cuts,” said Richard Ferruccio, president of the prison guards’ union. “It’s not…

Tonight’s Tiverton School Committee meeting gave a taste of how things might operate in a union-free school district: a quiet and respectful audience; parents and teachers making reports and suggestions as if giving testimony as concerned and/or informed parties; a general feel of give and take. In other words, there wasn’t the sense that a…

A while back, the NEA’s Patrick Crowley released a highly spun spreadsheet related to union and school committee healthcare proposals in Tiverton. It left me with more questions and concerns than I initially had. Recently, I asked the school committee whether they’d publish an itemized budget, as the town council does, and although it might…

In the comments to a previous post, Brendan writes (beginning by quoting me): I simply don’t believe that communities would begrudge them ample provisions, remuneration, and benefits no matter their employment structure. Entirely too trusting Justin. Look at West Warwick and Johnston- running two men per truck when NFPA calls for 4. Look at Providence-…

Among the qualities from which I recoiled during last night’s school committee meeting in Tiverton was the teachers’ apparent enthusiasm for playing the unionist role. I’m simultaneously amused and discouraged to learn that they have actually gotten so much into it that the union itself is having to do some reining in: Last week, Rearick…