Members of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) are anxiously watching the various moves and countermoves by both parties in the contract negotiations between Tacoma Public Schools and Tacoma Education Association, the teachers’ union.
The fate and trust of 29,000 children and their families rest with both sides in this process. When a strike forces parents to miss work or scramble to find emergency child care, families and children are negatively impacted.
While we may personally sympathize with either side in this negotiation process, the bottom line is that strikes hurt kids and will not be supported by Washington State Parent Teacher Association (WSPTA) or its members.
WSPTA members adopted a resolution titled, “Uninterrupted Operation of Public Schools.” We resolve to “work to produce conditions with regard to the collective bargaining process which will consistently produce, in a timely manner, labor agreements negotiated and fully embraced by the direct parties thereto and which will not cause disruption to the school calendar” and “not support work stoppages and/or strikes which interrupt or disrupt the educational day.”
TPS and TEA need to agree that a strike is not the answer. PTA parents and families anxiously urge another option.
(Blakeslee is the legislative chair and Stewart is president of the Tacoma Council PTA.)
the babysitters will be in the classroom when the district agrees to reasonable terms.
Thanks, PTA, for stating your position on this.
Itkeffer? Well said. You get what you pay for, and if all teachers are to these parents is a babysitter- no more needs to be said.
Teachers should be paid more not less. Teachers should have more resources not fewer. Mr. Warren Buffet gave a suggestion about how that might be done. I like his suggestion.
So the Tacoma district teachers are taking one for the WEA team and will most likely be the poster child strikers for the illegal strike this year. Pathetic as usual.
thegolvesRoff
Talking about pathetic–anti-teacher, anti-public education nincompoops describe the word pathetic.
The strikes have been declared illegal. They need to figure out how to get it together without impacting the kids. Or make the strike actually cause them economic hardship. As it is now, they still get paid for the time they are off. Only the kids and the parents suffer.
If they actually lost their pay while they were on strike, I might be a little more supportive.
The real reason teachers are so quick to strike is that they lose no money by going on strike. They can hold kids hostage and break the law with an illegal strike without consequences.
There needs to consequences to an illegal teacher strike – do not pass school levies if teachers strike.
Who said anything about going out on strike? The teachers can actually vote to continue negotiations while they are back in the classroom next week.
According to State Law teachers are not allowed to go on strike anyways. The problem is that judges and politicians are to afraid of the WEA to actually enforce the rule of law… If they strike, they should ALL be FIRED and replacement teachers who are willing to follow the rule of law should be hired in their place (Teach for America maybe?). Until the individual teachers take their Union back from the WEA they should NOT receive our support.
Teachers are the most important employees that our state has. They are the ones who shape the minds of our future leaders. They should be paid ALLOT more than they are, but if they want an increase in their YEARLY salary; then they should work YEAR-Round, don’t participate in illegal strikes AND get a grip on the leadership of their union. Take your Union back!
Not as cut and dried as some would have you believe. This is involved a school district in WA a whilw back.
“The KEA disputes the findings that teacher strikes are illegal.
KEA spokesperson Dale Folkerts said Thursday that because there is no specific prohibition of strikes by teachers, as there are for firefighters and police, it is therefore not illegal for teachers to strike.
“There’s no section of law that says teacher strikes are illegal,” he said, adding that civil rulings in cases are different than state law.
Folkerts also said the Legislature has repeatedly declined to pass a specific law making teacher strikes illegal.
When asked about legal options, District Spokesperson Beck Hanks said the district would “look at all options.”
Fireman: “if they want an increase in their YEARLY salary”
please remember teachers do NOT get paid for the summer
What people are not understanding is that Tacoma teachers are NOT asking for a higher salary. Most other districts have negotiated budget cuts. Tacoma is refusing to negotiate.
Instead, they are proposing a DECREASE in salary from what teachers are already making as well as an INCREASE in class sizes. They want to do these things despite a $45,000,000 district surplus in money, which is well above the average reserve rate for a district this size.
Tacoma teachers are not asking for a raise. On the contrary. We just want to stay exactly the same as we are and keep our class sizes reasonable so that we may better help our students.
Fortunately, there are more reasonable people out there in the public who see this for what is is and they agree with you ConcernedEducator.
bigswinging ricky
Yeah, fail those levies to punish the teachers. Oh wait, that punishes kids and framilies more but what do you care, you hate public education anyway.
The reason that teachers get paid anyway after a strike is that they get paid for 180 days and they still work 180 days even if there is a strke. If state law changed and the days did not have to be made up after a stike, then the teachers would lose pay. Is that too simple for the anti-teacher, anti-school crowd?
Fireman? Lets say that for the sake of argument, firefighters went on strike. So we fire them. I do not think it would be in the best interest of public safety to bring in less expensive and fast track certified/ trained firefighters to do the job. Neither would “teach for America” be the wisest solution. Also, assuming that you are a fireman, you are one to talk about teachers getting paid for not working in the summer. Firefighters are paid a salary to sit at the station for days and wait for something to happen. Teachers are paid for 182 days of service and the pay is spread out over 12 months. Just saying….
If I remember correctly,at one time the teachers were paid for 9 months work.The other 3 months they were not paid as they were not working.Many of the teachers would find part time work and then when school resumed they would go back to their teaching job.Then someone came up with the smart idea of a yearly salary paid in evenly monthly increments.This solved the no paycheck period caused by the 3 months vacation with no income unless they found partime work.Now it seems as if the public is faced with the teachers holding the parents hostage for the strikes that aren’t supposed to happen.If I were in control of whether the schools were opened or stayed shut,because the teachers stayed home,I would lock the doors and keep them locked until the teachers decided to honor their commitments to the people that pay their salaries.Unfortunately the weak kneed school board members always seem to cave in to the teachers.I like President Reagan solution to the problem of the air controllers going on an illegal strike.
Do the anti teacher/ education crowd think that if teachers get a pay cut that they will get their money back? Where is the huge outcry for the 45 million dollars sitting in surplus and not even a couple million is being used to help the schools and teachers?
I just wish teachers got paid as much as babysitters.
This is a STATE issue not a district level issue. Districts have their hands tied their funds are being CUT – end of story.
I work for a school district, I work after hours, I do outside training to keep up on my skills…I am not a teacher but I have not had any sort of increase in 3 years going on 4 but the number of hours I work have increased the amount of work I do has increased and the amount of money I pay for medical has increased, the amount of money I pay for school supplies to send my child to school has increased, any/all fees that I pay to add activities to my child’s schedule has increased…
I do not get paid for the extra hours I work but do it all to support the ultimate goal…the education of the kids in our state..
Isn’t this happening to EVERYONE everywhere? Do I think wages should be reduced..no if at all possible the wages should not be reduced …but remember the amount that the state is funding to pay those wages is being reduced so the money has to come from somewhere else; maybe even class size increase.
A strike is not the answer…both sides need to negotiate fairly and ethically and right now neither side is. The district thinks there is no need because public opinion will be on their side and the teachers are using the threat of a strike as a bat to beat the district over the head with.
Pretty damned simple…no change in base compensation but close all schools down early 6 different days for non-paid furlough time. Parents may not like it but tough…if they close for more than 1/2 a day they will lose federal funding. As for class sizes? So long as no teachers are losing their jobs in order to increase class sizes (ie the district simply isn’t hiring new teachers or replacing ones who left) then I have no problems increasing class sizes as a short term stop-gap. The district, however, should being using their surplus money to hire para pros for any classroom that has more kids than is allowed under the current contract. If this isn’t a time to use a rainy day fund then I don’t know what is.
Given the state of affairs in the world, I think teachers should give thanks that they have jobs. Since when is life fair? Good teachers don’t get paid enough, lousy ones (and there are plenty) get paid way too much. Football players get paid boatloads of cash for chasing balls; actors make billions of dollars for pretending; models get wads of money for starving themselves and strutting their stuff. Fair?
If you are blessed enough to be doing the work you love, do it. There’s nothing wrong with negotiating for salary increases, but all this drama every fall…with the kids paying the ulitimate price…nauseating.
Teachers know best. They are smarter than we will ever be. After-all, they taught us how to learn. Hmmm… maybe that didn’t come out right?
There is not one nobel profession. A police officer, a lineman, a plumber, a teacher – they are ALL honorable professions that are equal to the other jobs every American wants to obtain. None are better than the other.
It’s a job folks. Not rocket science. They should get paid like every other employee – but right now, as Americans, we need to cut back a little, tighten the belt, and get out of this spending, a better contract or I will strike mentality.
Just for now. Can we pull together? Bring all our troops home – at least that we sent out for WWII and close our bases in Germany and Japan? That war’s over and will save billions each year.
Publico,
http://www.atg.wa.gov/AGOOpinions/Opinion.aspx?section=archive&id=5736
It is CLEAR, teachers are PUBLIC employees and therefore have NO right to strike. The KEA is NOT a legal authority.
jrd,
Teachers receive an ANNUAL salary. Yes, they are paid for their time off. Again if you want more money, push for a year round school and I would support the average monthly salary increase for the 3 months that you don’t work.
Frida,
Firemen CAN’T go on strike. It’s ILLEGAL, just as it is illegal for teachers. If we went on strike we WOULD be fired. Plain and simple. As for my day sitting around, I never said I am in operations. I may be in training or the Fire Marshall’s office, meaning a 8-5 Monday through Friday with a total of less than 20 days vacation per year and a salary of around $67,000/year. As far as those that may or may not be sitting in the stations, you fail to take into account the daily building inspections, the daily hydrant inspections, the daily maintenance, being puked on by heroin addicts, doing CPR on patients with active TB. But hey, I guess I am failing to take into account the vacations, breaks and teacher “Professional” days on top of snow days, and summer vacation. I am failing to take into account guaranteed breaks throughout the day (Something we don’t have). I am also failing to take into account that the Teachers Union thinks that the Drama teacher should be paid as much as a Science and Math teacher. Well yeah, I mean after all it isn’t like we are lacking in Science and Math and might want to recruit better teachers or anything.
You talk about TFA not being a wise idea, why? Because it has worked in other states? Because the WEA has issued talking points against it? My stance is the same as President Obama’s (On education).
Go ahead teachers strike… see where your public image is afterwards. The WEA is leading the charge for collective bargaining changes by the legislature and they don’t even realize it. I have worked without a contract for over 2 years, teachers go 1 day and they engage in an illegal strike!
harleyrider, you almost always come through with the simplest, most logical and ethical answers to dilemma. I’m afraid it’s too simple for some. They need it to be complex. They need a crisis. None are better are seeking a crisis to resolve than the Dems IMO. “The sky is falling” (and rich people are evil) –these are the mantras of the left. Never mind that they’d be nowhere without the likes of George Soros, Buffett and of course the strikingly handsome and fit Michael Moore who will no doubt cost the medical system a boatload as he grows old.
I like McKenna and will likely vote for him but until it’s specifically decided in the courts then it’s questionable whether they have the right to strike. His opinion is not legally binding even though it does carry a little weight.
Common,
alright then, how about the RCW.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=41.56.120
Jintz, you said “…Do the job you were hired and agreed to do for the wages you agreed to as compensation and S.T.F.U !!!”
That’s EXACTLY what Tacoma Teachers want to do! We want to work for the SAME WAGES that we agreed to as compensation when we were hired.
We are NOT asking for an increase. The district is trying to TAKE AWAY money despite a $45,000,000 surplus. They want us to work for LESS than what we “agreed to as compensation.”
Don’t believe everything you hear in the media. We are not going to strike because we’re not getting a raise. That has NOTHING to do with it.
Concerned,
Read the above links, you SHOULDN’T be going on strike because it’s ILLEGAL!!! Way to set an example for the youth. If we don’t get what we want, we will just break the law in order to get it!
I don’t see any District Staff getting pay cuts.
Fire person,
Teachers get paid for a ‘school year’ which is currently about 42 weeks.
The reason some ignorant people thank teachers get paid for not working is that most districts spread the 42 weeks of pay over the full year.
Still waiting for you to tell me why teachers should work without a valid contract in place.
Sozo,
The Rpots are so simple they have only three answers to any and all problems:
Blame the Unions, workers and the middleclass.
Cut taxes for the rich and big businesses, and
Increase defense spending.
The problem is that only the middle and working classes are being asked to tighten their belts and do more for less.
Fireman, we don’t want to go on strike.
We WANT to negotiate, like every other district in the state. The district has been refusing to do this.
Why would ANYONE want to go on strike?
xring,
Teachers DON’T have to work without a contract. They can quit. But I KNOW I have already proven that they can’t strike!
You say it’s 42 weeks per year, interesting because in the other thread you say it’s 180 days. 180 days equals 25.714 weeks. Let’s call it 26 weeks and give you a few extra days. I will even add in 1 week after school is out and 2 weeks prior to school beginning. Giving you a grand total of 29 weeks (Hell I will even call it 30 to make the math easy for you).
Now, we have 30 weeks of school and prep time, where to other 12 weeks come from? I REALLY hope you aren’t a Debate or Math teacher because you are terrible at both
ConcernedEducator,
Whether you WANT to strike or not isn’t relevant to the conversation… IT’S ILLEGAL IF YOU DO!
You have a choice, work without a contract, quit or break the law.
X-Ring,
You said that the School year is currently 42 weeks. Interesting because 42 weeks is actually 210 working days. Now since State schools are only required to go for 180 days or about 36 (work) weeks, AND I am willing to concede a week after school and 1 week before school, that means we are looking at a total of about 38 weeks. Where are you getting the other 4 weeks from bucko? I REALLY hope you aren’t a Debate or Math teacher because you have yet to dispute ANY fact I have brought up here or elsewhere and you can’t add.
As far as Teachers no working without a contract, they don’t have to. and I am not implying that they do. They can Quit, Work without a Contract or participate in an ILLEGAL strike. It really that simple. There are 3 options and 2 of them are the ones that they can legally do. What part of that don’t you understand? You can break the law or not break the law. it’s pretty black and white.
I have worked for longer than 2 years without a contract or mediation or binding arbitration. There is a Savings Clause built into our contract as there most likely is in the Teachers Contract, that covers us because it is ILLEGAL for us to strike.
Let me see if I can understand the other part of your argument, you are saying that (Using your faulty numbers) you work 42 weeks per year and make $53,450 (Your numbers from a different thread) dollars for that work? Let’s see 52 weeks in a year so $53,450/year with a guaranteed 10 weeks of vacation per year? Seriously, THAT is your argument? Thanks for proving my point with your own numbers bucko!
ConcernedEducator,
The point isn’t whether anyone would WANT to go on a strike… IT’S ILLEGAL. Your point isn’t relevant to the argument. You can break the law or you abide by it.
I would actyually support the teachers if they cared at all for the under paid working poor para educators in the district! Where were the teachers when the hours of special education paras were being cut? No where! Not one teacher came to any meetings yet they want my support as a parent??? Hello-I am the working poor and I am a district employee! I am impacted by this-I DONT GET PAID while they strike and I cant work because my union won’t let me. My union is a joke! They are not powerful! Really wish we had the support of TEA maybe then Teachers would come to bat for us Paras instead of them expecting us to come to bat for them!
FIREMAN: Teachers are paid for the time they are in school. The districts keep some of there money in reserve and pay them with this during the summer. Teachers are NOT paid for their time off.
Sincere,
What someone came up with was to spread the spread the 9 month salary over 12 months by lowering the average monthly payment without increasing the total ‘annual salary’.
And it is not a strike if there is no contract.
Commoncents,
What would you do with the kids of working parents on these 6 non-paid furlough days?
Fireperson,
Teachers earn their pay by working 183 days but receive that pay spread over 12 months.
Using 10 months for a school year teachers get paid for working about 18 days per month, but receive a paycheck for only 15 days.
One difference between your 20 day vacation and teaches time off in the summer is YOU get paid for
$67,000 per year / 260 days = $32 an hour. And that includes you 20 days of PAID vacation time.
Teachers have the option to vote to work without a contract.
But if there is not contract there is no strike.
In the Puyallup District
The 2010 – 2011 school year began on 2 Sept 2010 and on 27 June 2011.
The 2011 – 2012 school year begins on 1 Sept 2011.
Try as I may that comes up as 42 weeks.
LOL, I think Xring wants you to count the winter and spring breaks as “working” time for the teachers.
Great points Fireman. This is nuts, a modest pay cut, and a modest increase to class size shouldn’t even be a sticking point WHATSOEVER! If the teachers union called for matching percentages of decreased income for all adminstrative personnel; well that woudl be reasonable.
This union is lying about their position and their desires. They have minions of liberals claiming that if we don’t throw more money at the problem, we must hate the children. Our per student spending is through the roof, and we still have worse and worse educators.
When I have good teachers at my daughters schools telling me what teachers to avoid for the following school year(and this has happened for the past 12 years in my childrens lves)-an no-one has the ability to get rid of the bad teachers, we have a problem. Students who have parents that choose not to be involved in their education(or who have circumstances that don’t allow direct invovlement) get stuck in the poor teachers classrooms, because the involved parents are making sure their children don’t get stuck with those teachers. So the student that already has more challenges in their lives are stuck with the worst teachers………..talk about holding people down.
xring,
Maybe you should have my 3 year old start making your arguments for you, because he would do a MUCH better job!
Let’s break this down…
“Teachers earn their pay by working 183 days but receive that pay spread over 12 months”
Then let’s divide the median wage by 183 days. It is roughly 36.6 WORKING (5 days) weeks. I am NOT arguing this with you. I AGREE! You work 36.6 weeks and make roughly $55,000 dollars for those 36.6 weeks of school. You are making my point for me. YOU WANT TO GET PAID FOR TIME YOU AREN’T WORKING! Again, you are PROVING my argument! You receive an ANNUAL salary for working a 10 month per year job.
I don’t get paid for my vacation because I AM SALARIED, just like you! If I don’t take vacation this year, my salary doesn’t raise. So if I take 5 vacation days this year I don’t get paid for an additional 15 days, I get paid the SAME amount regardless of whether or not I take vacation. Just like YOU get paid a salary for working 10 months a year!
“Teachers have the option to vote to work without a contract.”
No, actually they don’t. They can work without a contract OR they can quit or break the law. There is NO voting.
What happens, under your definition, if teachers vote NOT to work without a contract? We have already PROVEN that they cannot strike, so then that leaves 1 option, QUIT! Again, what is your point?
“But if there is not contract there is no strike.”
Gonna have to explain this one, because it makes NO SENSE. If there is NOT contract there is NO strike? You don’t get it, There is NO LEGAL STRIKE ALLOWED!
“The 2010 – 2011 school year began on 2 Sept 2010 and on 27 June 2011.
The 2011 – 2012 school year begins on 1 Sept 2011.”
I LOVE how you decide to include Christmas Break, Spring Vacation, Holidays, etc when it come to 42, but when it comes to your salary, we can’t count those. If you want to debate, then stick to your own rules!
In fact, you haven’t been worth my time for a while. You talk in circles, you apply numbers 1 way in one post and a different way in another post. You can’t even come up with a specific argument without contradicting that argument in another post!
An idealistic 18-year old spends four years getting a degree in education….
Education involves studying, questioning, field trips and homework.
If the (now 22 year-old) graduate states that their goal was to teach children and that is their love and gift, well and good. Hurray for idealism.
However, idealism should not remain as the equivalent of naivete.
Had that 18-tear old actually practiced a practical application of study-?-field trip-and homework, they would have been prepared to engage in the realities of their chosen profession.
How much of their classroom education
actually addressed union contracts, the role of administration dept.s, the economics of supply costs and class size? Were they allowed to question and hear from opposing opinions and/or the actual realities of their future career?
Or were they led to blame the realities on others not involved with their choices?
Public education is as much about functional economics as it is about political ideology.
If it is really about the children, bravo and thank you.
But if it is more about using them as political and economic hostages every September and then blaming others when in fact both sides share the blame as a continuous operational model, then all I can say is :
“When it comes to school….there’s no place like home…”
tmell,
Wrong as usual. To repeat theaches are paid for 183 instuctional days, they ARE NOT paid for days not worked – such as breaks, snow days etc. A simple concept that is so simple y ou and fireperson can not grasp it.
fireperson,
The fact they you believe you are not paid for your vaction just proves that you are a fool and your posts are foolish.
Let’s see………they are not supposed to strike, but there is no penalty if they do unless and until a court rules. Guess what is going to happen!!!!!!
I support them 100%.
What do you want for this State, Wisconsin? Not me and not many of my friends.
Teachers deserve to be paid way beyond what they are currently earning and with that they will fulfill the requirements being set forth by those who claim teacher quality is important.
It will not work any other way. Some of this debate is Market Based.
Wisconsin would be an improvement, as this hostage situation engineered by the TEA is proving…..was not a smart time for the union to go after a pay raise…
And YES, they are asking for a pay raise in addition to not wanting the whopping 1.9 percent pay cut and 2 additional students per classroom. Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking this has anything to do about the “kids”