Unions

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The American Federation of Teachers is abusing its access to children for politics.

By Justin Katz | January 28, 2022 |

Parents and other Americans have plenty of reasons to oppose the activities of teachers unions, but Randi Weingarten and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is adding one more, and it’s a doozy of abuse of access: In a partnership announced this week, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) said it will purchase licensed copies…

A water drop and ripples

Why is the head of a labor union such a thorough partisan?

By Justin Katz | January 24, 2022 |

Here’s a line worth teasing out from Ted Nesi’s latest roundup column: NEARI union leader Bob Walsh said he is considering a run, adding, “I am also weighing what is best for the Democratic Party to keep this seat in Democratic hands.” Yes, the answer is obvious, but it’s worth pausing to ask:  Why is…

Boy in a library

Anybody who wants to help disadvantaged minorities should support this.

By Justin Katz | January 19, 2022 |

You can’t help but be moved by stories like this.  Similarly, you can’t miss the political reasons they aren’t more widely spread. [Denisha] Merriweather’s future looked bleak. “Teachers would sigh when I walked through the door,” she said of the district schools she attended. “Another Merriweather,” they would judge. “My family name was not that…

A water drop and ripples

Remote learning leads to negative behavior, and teacher unions don’t care.

By Justin Katz | January 12, 2022 |

Well, this is no surprise: “Remote learning poses a challenge for children’s behavioral health and functioning,” study co-author Emily Hanno told UPI in an email. “This aligns with what we know about how stress and disruption affect children’s behavior,” said Hanno, a post-doctoral researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, Mass. Stress…

A water drop and ripples

We do have an alternative to shutting schools.

By Justin Katz | January 11, 2022 |

With the head of one of Rhode Island’s teachers unions saying “the responsible decision” is to shut schools and force students back into distance learning, his reasons are worth a look: … the overwhelming number of cases, the inability to do meaningful contact tracing, the arctic temperatures we are expecting so windows cannot be opened,…

A water drop and ripples

We can hope for (but not count on) the COVID shutdowns’ being the end of teachers unions.

By Justin Katz | January 10, 2022 |

Many of us sure do hope that Lindsey Burke is onto something, here: The only way out of this mess is to free families from the clutches of the teachers’ unions. Funding students directly would empower families to access educational alternatives. The good news is that the unions’ political games could further the movement to…

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Politics This Week with John DePetro: On the Political Theater of the Incompetent

By Justin Katz | December 13, 2021 |

John and Justin review instances of political theater in RI and the harmful effects the reactions are having.

A water drop and ripples

Unions like choices, but only for their own members.

By Justin Katz | December 7, 2021 |

Here’s an interesting take on a policy that’s apparently new to South Kingstown: A local chapter of the nation’s largest teachers union has acknowledged the importance of school choice, at least for its own members. Thanks to an agreement quietly reached between the South Kingstown, Rhode Island, chapter of the National Education Association and the…

A water drop and ripples

At this point, McKee and Council 94 are just spitting in our faces to prove they can.

By Justin Katz | December 3, 2021 |

All the mandates.  All the fanatical insistence that naturally acquired immunity, let alone religious or medical scruples, will suffice to avoid vaccination against COVID-19.  And now we read this, regarding the $3,000 vaccine bonuses that Democrat Governor Dan McKee negotiated with government employees in the Council 94 labor union: Workers can get the bonus without…

Gavel with a speech bubble

RI unions have gotten away with implied intimidation for too long.

By Justin Katz | December 2, 2021 |

Here’s an interesting section from William Jacobson’s running notes from the Rhode Island Superior Court hearing in the case of the National Education Association of Rhode Island and Nicole Solas: The court then moved onto that anti-SLAPP portion of the case. Union attorney says Solas didn’t present evidence of bad faith or motive of harassment.…