A Seattle mother struck the nail squarely on the head concerning the reality of illegal teachers’ strikes when she told the Seattle Times, “I hate this tactic every year. It’s hurting parents, not the school district.”
The Seattle teachers’ union has entered into its second week of an illegal strike this week. And, it’s working families who continue to deal with the consequences. The Seattle Times reports,
“Ginger Feretto, 30, an architect, can’t take advantage of any of the free services because her child has type 1 diabetes as well as a peanut allergy. Her child’s blood-sugar levels have to be monitored every two hours, and a trained nurse is needed to administer an EpiPen for the allergy.
“So Feretto and her husband, a manager at a Barnes and Noble, have alternated using their vacation days. Feretto has used just one so far, but if the strike continues, she will have to use more of her allotted three weeks. Her husband has run out of vacation days. ‘He could get fired if he stayed home anymore,’ she said.”
Working families who depend on the school district’s free lunch program are also feeling the impact of the illegal teachers’ strike. According to KOMO News, the district “normally provides 27,000 meals every day to students and staff.” With the illegal strike in place, disadvantaged children can no longer rely on the program.
All in all, the illegal teachers’ strike is costing the school district a whopping $100,000 per day. Already, the district has been forced to eliminate three snow days and may have to shorten holiday breaks. Additionally, the district may also extend the school year.
According to the Seattle Times, the teachers’ union and school district has reached a tentative agreement. If both the union board of directors and representative assembly approves the contract, school will start on Thursday. Details of the contract have not been released.
I’d love to see some of the school districts play hardball with the unions. Tell the teachers that the strike is illegal, and tell them that they have 48 hours to return to the classroom. Those that do not are fired, and forfeit all seniority and tenure benefits, and will have to reapply as new hires. (They can’t go after the pensions, but they can make strikers start at the bottom of the pay scale.) I suspect that a policy like that would break a lot of the strikes as teachers with a few years of experience would return to the classroom rather than risk losing their seniority. Of course, that would send the union leaders over the edge, as their senior members would start defecting en masse. but that’s a feature, not a bug.
I’m curious to why this child seems to need a RN to administer an EpiPen when anyone in the state that isn’t a paid caregiver can do it under good Sam laws? And what penalties are these teachers participating in an illegal activity are being levied?
Here’s a plan. DON’T PAY teachers to strike. Let the schools keep the original schedules and teachers lose a day of pay for each day they are gone. What a concept. Unfortunately government is too stupid to do anything that makes sense.