"If this is the deal, Philly teachers should strike"

[Teamster Jeff]

>>>
It's not like we haven't seen this story before: Working men and women asked to take a sizable pay cut...and work longer hours...and pay more for shrinking benefits

But just when you think it can't get any worse, here come the contract demands that the Philadelphia School District would like to cram down the throat of the city's unionized school teachers. The news -- first reported by Kristen Graham of the Inquirer -- is a jaw-dropper:

-- Large pay cuts imposed in teachers up to 13 percent for those making (a whopping) $55,000 a year or more. then frozen until 2017.

-- A sizable jump in out of pocket costs for health coverage.

-- In return for this honor, teachers would have to increase their work day from just over 7 hours now to eight hours, and "would also have to lead professional development, attend meetings, perform bus, yard and lunch duty and be available for parent meetings outside work hours with no extra pay."

-- There's a lot more, but one of my favorites is that the district would no longer have to provide, among other things, "water fountains, parking facilities, [or] desks for teachers..." (although presumably some teachers would retain these? Who knows?)

-- It should be noted that many of these cuts are not so much harmful to the teachers as to the kids -- lifting limits on class sizes and not requiring librarians or guidance counselors in every school, for example.

This is outrageous for so many reasons that it's hard to know where to begin
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http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/If-this-is-the-deal-Philly-teachers-should-strike.html

[Squinch]

1. Yes. They should. And they should discourage people from becoming new Philly teachers till the

city gets a grip.

I can't believe this. They think 55K in a major city is a cuttable salary.

[Sherman A1]

2. K&R

They should absolutely strike if this is the deal.

[MichiganVote]

3. K&R

[MrSlayer]

4. They've already ruined the school system here.

It's all for-profit charter schools now. Public education is almost completely dead. This is a city that has been run by Democrats for over 50 years but they still do the worst right wing bullshit. They should have struck a couple years ago. I don't know how effective it will be now, there's practically nothing left to fight for.