The Michigan Extortion Association is, well, practicing what it does best: using strong-arm tactics to get its way.
In this case, the teachers union thugs are threatening a statewide strike if Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed budget cuts are enacted.
A letter by Michigan [Extortion] Association President Iris Salters to 1,100 locals asks them whether the union should authorize “job action,” up to and including illegal strikes, to “increase pressure on our legislators.”
The union and other education advocates have criticized Snyder’s proposal to cut funding to schools by $470 per pupil as excessive.
Salters’ letter cites proposed budget cuts, privatization of government services, mandatory health insurance payments and a new law giving emergency managers for cities and schools sweeping powers.
The letter states it would not be possible for schools to replace all or most school employees in the state, should they have an illegal strike — suggesting a statewide action.
“While there may be some inconvenience for your students, you will need to weigh that against the impact of the Legislature’s actions,” the letter states.
This is how kidnappers operate. Put a gun to the victim’s head and demand the loved ones cough up the ransom money. In this case, the victims are the children who attend Michigan schools and the loved ones are the parents and other taxpayers.
All Snyder is asking for is Michigan teachers pay 20 percent of their health care costs, something not out of the ordinary for people working in the real world, as opposed to the Fantasy Island known as the public sector. The Governor says that having the teachers union thugs pick up 20 percent of their health care would offset the proposed cuts.
Sounds like a fair trade-off to me.
But not for the selfish, it’s-all-about-my-luxurious-salary-and-Rolls-Royce-benefits teachers. Dig this one up the next time the schools beg for a tax increase and say: “But … but … but it’s for the children.”
You have no idea what you are talking about. 1. Most people with the same level of education as teachers have more pay than your average teacher. 2. Most people with the same degree level get more when they retire. 3. The summers really are not off, most good techers spend the summer moving stuff and planning stuff for next year, as well as getting increasing their level of education. 4. Most teachers also have to sacrifce huge parts of their annual salary on things like better education materials that the schools can not or will not provide. 5.They stay way past 5pm on average, and their jobs during the school year are pretty much twenty four seven thanks to the demand of correcting papers, lesson plans, and extra stuff to prepare our kids for tests.
Actually, I am involved in the education field, so I do know the subject at hand. Nine months work for a job not done all that well to begin with. The teachers union has managed to block out new teachers by structuring CBAs to require that all jobs be filled internally before anyone on the outside gets to apply. They’ve also blocked off summer school jobs, which used to provide valuable hands-on experience for aspiring teachers, by making them union jobs part of the CBA. And they make over $100,000 a year including salary and bennies.
Nice work if you can get it. Most of them aren’t any more useful than your garden variety banana slug.
How are you involved in the education field? You are obviously not a teacher because you are completely wrong. And the strike involves cutting per pupil funding to schools which involves a lot more than teacher salaries. Stop spreading your lies!
Yes I am. I can tell you exactly what is made. Arguably the worst urban school district in the state is Milwaukee Public Schools. The average — yes, average — compensation is $105,000 a year. That’s for doing a job that a banana slug could do. Kids can’t read, write, spell, do math. That’s an awfully high salary for a babysitter.
You know what? Reducing the state aid (which is my money) will work just fine if the school districts use the tools to make the useless banana slugs pay their own way instead of demanding the rest of us pay it.
I myself am not a teacher but there are teachers in my family. I agree with a lot of what The Underground Conservative says but disagree with some. In general I think most teachers care about the kids and want to do a good job. Sure, there are some just collecting a paycheck. There are also those that go above and beyond and deserve more than we can afford to pay them. That is true in every profession. My biggest issue with the MEA is the message they are sending to the kids. Unhappy with something? Throw a fit, stomp your feet, yell, refuse to do what you know you should do. If you do this long enough you can bully your opponent into giving you what you want.
Say, doesn’t Michigan have an anti-bullying policy for all schools. Maybe it is time to suspend the MEA.