[WS:] I get a similar impression from my wife, who is a teacher in Montgomery County Public Schools.
Wojtek
On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 8:02 PM, <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
> "I expect we'll know the ansewer in the next two years as the assault on
> unionized teachers, federal and state employees, and other public sector
> workers, who are currently being made the scapegoats for the fiscal crisis
> of the state and widespread economic distress, gathers steam. They now
> comprise the majority of the US trade unionists, and are not as passive as
> is often assumed by virtue of their relatively higher status and income. In
> the 70's and 80's, the new unions of teachers, nurses, government workers,
> journalists, and other administrative, professional, and technical workers
> frequently engaged in militant strike action. But that was during a period
> when the public sector was growing rapidly and demand for their services was
> rising apace. The political and economic circumstances are different today,
> and whether they will have the will and capacity to emulate their European
> counterparts and defend their pay, jobs, and pensions in the streets is an
> open question."
>
> I just had coffee this morning with the head of the Oakland Unified School
> District's teachers' union. She said one of the biggest problems right now
> is the teachers' complete demoralization.
>
> The notion that the problem with education is unions is taken by many as
> common sense and trumpeted by the media everywhere. So here's the situation:
> teachers are miserably paid, working under horrendous conditions, have low
> status that is now further diminished because everything is their fault, and
> are threatened with job loss, health care loss, and pension loss in an
> economy where unemployment is about 20%. I don't think these people are
> passive, but demoralized and terrified they most definitely are.
>
> Joanna
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