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Grex > Aaypsi > #40: Ann Arbor teachers are on strike | |
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scg
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Ann Arbor teachers are on strike
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Aug 30 01:41 UTC 1994 |
The Ann Arbor Education Association, the teachers' union representing
teachers in the Ann Arbor Public Schools, has voted to strike. School in
Ann Arbor will not start tomorrow, as was originally scheduled. The main
unresolved issue, according to today's Ann Arbor News, is salary. AAEA
President Linda Carter says the district's offer for a pay raise was not
high enough, considering that there was what the Union calls a pay freeze
last year. However, Robert Mosely, a school district administrator, says
there just isn't enough money in the budget to give the teachers the raise
they are asking for. The school district has also in the past disputed
the union's claim that they took a pay freeze last year, since what the
district had considered to be a one time only bonus the year before last
was converted to a 2% "raise" last year. The teachers voted on
Sunday to srtrike, and negotiations will restart tomorrow morning.
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| 73 responses total. |
scg
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response 1 of 73:
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Aug 30 01:42 UTC 1994 |
AA/Ypsi 40 is linked to InBetween 52.
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carson
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response 2 of 73:
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Aug 30 02:20 UTC 1994 |
(I'm glad for the strike, for purely selfish reasons.)
(I hope the strike doesn't stretch for too long, but a couple of days
would be fine by me.)
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scg
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response 3 of 73:
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Aug 30 02:26 UTC 1994 |
While it's a bit of a relief not to have to go back to school tomorrow, I
wish the strike weren't happening. I've had my summer vacation now, and I
was already to go back. We're going to have to make up the time
somewhere, and I'd rather go back to school now than have it extended into
next summer when I would otherwise have graduated.
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rcurl
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response 4 of 73:
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Aug 30 05:05 UTC 1994 |
And of course parents are scrambling to make arrangements for child
care, or activities, etc. That's what we were doing this evening. We
also discussed, but did not resolve, why the negotiations (and strikes)
always come down to the last minute. Who is trying to pressure whom
with what?
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hawkeye
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response 5 of 73:
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Aug 30 16:28 UTC 1994 |
The sad part about this is that there are so many people who would kill
to teach in a district like Ann Arbor even though they only get a 2%
raise.
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chelsea
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response 6 of 73:
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Aug 30 22:51 UTC 1994 |
I didn't always feel this way but at this point I feel Ann Arbor
teachers are quite well paid and their demand for a 4.5% raise, each year,
for two years, is excessive. The average salary is something like $46,000
for *eight month's work*.
My brother-in-law is at maximum salary and on the picket line.
At this point he's barely speaking to me. But I think in his
heart-of-hearts he agrees.
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pegasus
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response 7 of 73:
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Sep 1 20:04 UTC 1994 |
What's the latest on the strike?
Pattie
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rcurl
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response 8 of 73:
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Sep 1 20:40 UTC 1994 |
They are out today. My daughter and I went to the Learning Center,
and she got some Algebra work books. Last I heard, she got stuck, so
went swimming instead. What a life.
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carson
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response 9 of 73:
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Sep 2 01:09 UTC 1994 |
(do you think the AAPS would react the same way if students went
on strike?)
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dang
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response 10 of 73:
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Sep 2 02:15 UTC 1994 |
Somehow I dount it. What's this about a rumer about a court order to
settle by tuesday? <dang dares to hope that maybe he can prepare for his
AP tests this year afterall>
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scg
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response 11 of 73:
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Sep 2 03:00 UTC 1994 |
Much has been said in the debate over the strike about there being no more
money in budgeted for a raise, thus making a raise impossible. However,
the Union has been telling the board since before the budget was passed
that they would not accept as small a raise as was being budgeted for.
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carson
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response 12 of 73:
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Sep 2 12:15 UTC 1994 |
(when was the last time the students had a raise in their
education? shouldn't *that* be budgeted for as well?)
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shf
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response 13 of 73:
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Sep 2 12:42 UTC 1994 |
YEAH!
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hawkeye
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response 14 of 73:
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Sep 2 13:19 UTC 1994 |
I found it amusing and sad at the same time to read that Liz Brater hosted
a party for the striking teachers...
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rcurl
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response 15 of 73:
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Sep 2 17:48 UTC 1994 |
There shouldn't be any parties for *either* the teachers or the board.
I fault them equally.
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roz
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response 16 of 73:
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Sep 3 20:29 UTC 1994 |
I understand some of the reasons why the teachers are unhappy. But I
know people who had to change their summer plans at great inconvenience to
be back on time -- they can't be really pleased.
One of the dynamics that goes into a strike is the danger to both parties that
the customers will take their patronage someplace else. But these folks have
a captive audience. I wonder, if I take my kids out of school for a week
midyear and call it a strike, will they just forgive the absence the way we're
going to have to forgive this stuff?
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scg
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response 17 of 73:
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Sep 4 03:49 UTC 1994 |
You might have more credibility doing that if you were protesting
something specific and your kids, while out of school, were walking a
picket line out in front. These teachers are not on vacation right now.
One thing that has to be remembered in this is that this was not a
spontanious move by the teachers, nor is it something that would have
taken anybody who's been paying attention to the issues by surprize.
Linda Carter, the union president, has been saying for several months,
since long before the budget without room for a bigger raise was passed,
that if more money wasn't budgeed for a raise a strike would be
inevitable. What seems to have taken so many people by surprize now is
that the teachers actually followed through with what they said they were
going to do.
It wouldn't be entirely fair to blame the current school board
either. The current, more liberal, board replaced the former,
conservative, board after the budget was already pretty much a done deal.
While it would not have been too hard to make room for teacher pay raises
when the rest of the budget was being torn apart anyway, it would have
been a very different matter for the new board to come in and, on the
spur of the moment, redo the budget that had just taken several months to
be made up, especially when they had to deal with allegations that the
election had been bought and paid for by the teachers' union at the same
time.
What we have here, therefore, is a remnant of the former CBE
board. They set the series of events in motion by turning a deaf ear to
the union's warnings of a strike. That was then followed by their
replacements not realizing the seriousness of the situation in time,
coupled with the union's decision not to back down and accept that they
weren't getting a pay raise to keep pace with inflation because a mistake
had been made by not listening to them. Afterall, if they accepted the
excuse that they couldn't get a raise because nobody had taken then
seriously when they asked for it, where would that leave them when they
ask for something in the future?
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carson
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response 18 of 73:
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Sep 4 07:51 UTC 1994 |
Since the money isn't there, does that mean that the schools won't open
at all this year?
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chelsea
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response 19 of 73:
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Sep 4 12:55 UTC 1994 |
Of course not, the money will be found. In the past there was a
fund available, worth millions, for emergency needs, but that was
exhaused over the past few years. They'll find the money but at
this point something will need to be cut, whether that's administrators
at the Balas Building, busing, maintenance...
Good summary in #17.
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scg
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response 20 of 73:
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Sep 6 06:11 UTC 1994 |
I just heard on the radio that a tentative agreement has been reached.
More details as they become available. Now I'd better go to bed incase
they open school tomorrow or something like that.
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scg
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response 21 of 73:
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Sep 6 14:52 UTC 1994 |
School will start tomorrow.
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vishnu
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response 22 of 73:
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Sep 6 19:33 UTC 1994 |
Really? Cool.
Er, actually, maybe not ....
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headdoc
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response 23 of 73:
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Sep 6 21:01 UTC 1994 |
Nope, teachers voted it down. School will not open tomorrow unless there is a
court order.
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scg
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response 24 of 73:
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Sep 6 22:23 UTC 1994 |
Yes, too bad. I was hoping they had come up with something acceptable,
but it looks like they didn't. I certainly hope the board doesn't ssink
so low as to go to court and force them to work rather than offering a
reasonable contract.
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