Re: SC Teachers and unions--A call to arms....you in or not?

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Drop me a line on my private e-mail (wlr107@yahoo.com). Plan to
visit hardeeville for a day or two.

Figure what you REALLY want, and how you would like to get it.

Will

On 1/01/10, I'm in!! wrote:
> Will- what should we do?
>
>
> On 1/01/10, Will Rogers wrote:
>> On 1/01/10, Theodore A. Jones wrote:
>>> I agree that a majority of the professional and labor
>>> unions are not the best
>>> things going but that does not mean by any strech that
>>> you people do not need the representation of a
>>> professional barganing unit.
>> *****When you refer to "uyou people" do you refer to
>> individuals with Master's degrees, skilled in political
>> science, helped broker 3 congressional races, 2 us senate
>> races, help elect two presidents (Clinton and BushII), got
>> 2 judges elected, was a political science teaching
>> assistant as a SOPHMORE in college, helped write the
>> current laws for welfare, helped write a US budget, acted
>> as a union negotiator three times in PA (won all 3
>> contracts, thank you very much), parlimentarian in a
>> georgia political party congressional district , acted as
>> county party chair and parlimentarian, helped PSU create
>> it's current student fee program with administrators,
>> staff, and students?
>> Or are we STILL living in a angry world where YOU need
>> to become an agent of change! MAKE A CHOICE HERE...SNIPE
>> OR CHOOSE TO ACT. If you want help, e-mail me direct at
>> wlr107@yahoo.com. I will gladly set a time where you come
>> here, we can meet and talk.
>> I am more than willing to work to set up an
>> organization that will help teachers here, and
>> elsewhere...but I am NOT willing to just sit and whine...I
>> ACT, I MOVE FORWARD.
>>
>> So the question becomes......youo just going to while, or
>> are you REALLY WILLING TO ACT.
>>
>> Let me know, I'm listening....wo else is in? If you want
>> change, e-mail me....we can start something here.
>>
>> Will
>>
>>
>>
>> As you said it is the
>>> current form that has outlived its usefulness. So come
>>> up with another form. I think the laws of SC that are
>>> revelant to the profession of teaching have allowed the
>>> formation of a condition known as company unions which
>>> federal law prohibits. I was once employed by a SC
>>> "Christian" school which actually had a
>>> company union. Dues were charged and the president was
>>> always the school's "business" manager. One
>>> thing you need to know about SC employers. According to
>>> the US Dept. of Labor SC employers have one of the
>>> highest noncompliance rates to FLSA and other
>>> employment statutes than employers in other states. Not
>>> many SC employees are represented by collective
>>> barganing either. As for your retort in regard to
>>> Southerners, Yankees, and WWJD, etc. It is my opinion
>>> that I am acting in the best intrest of the SC
>>> classroom teacher and it is your mind set that is still
>>> in opposition.
>>>
>>> On 12/31/09, W. Rogers wrote:
>>>> Please see comments below, preceeded by
>>>> "*****" - Will
>>>>
>>>> On 12/31/09, yeah... wrote:
>>>>> On 12/30/09, Theodore A. Jones wrote:
>>>>>> Any person or group of persons in the US can form
>>>>>> a collective bargaining unit or unite with one
>>>>>> that already exist to obtain the strength found
>>>>>> in solidarity.
>>>> *****Very true, and at the beginning a VERY positive
>>>> change in the worker- employer relationship. But
>>>> during my graduate studies and observances of
>>>> Pennsylvania teacher union effectiveness, they have
>>>> outlived their usefulness in their current forms.
>>>> During my research of WESTLAW and Teh YALE Library,
>>>> COngressional committee reports, and PROQUEST (just
>>>> to name a few...we were required to site over 20
>>>> different resource locations to obtain our sources
>>>> for our research and associated papers), the current
>>>> system has become top-heavy and ineffective. When
>>>> union reps make arounf 3 to 50 times the members,
>>>> there is a REAL problem! Once union reps can take the
>>>> same pay of those whom they represent, there cannot
>>>> be a full understanding of what teacher go through.
>>>> When you combine that with union protecting teachers
>>>> who do not do their job, do not fully consider more
>>>> support for the lower-level teachers (ever see a
>>>> union negotiated pay scale...MASSIVELY weighted
>>>> toward the teachers who have seniority), the unions
>>>> must CHOOSE to work for the benefit of ALL teachers,
>>>> just as each state MUST be fair in what they do also
>>>> when it comes to ALL types of employees.
>>>>
>>>> However in the post by W. Rogers a complicated two
>>>> part divisive mind set between North and South is
>>>> evidenced that is particular only to the Southerner.
>>>> WWJD means "What would Jesus do?" and is
>>>> the religious component of the mind set. *****Yes,
>>>> that is true. For those who choose to set their
>>>> personal standards to reflect how to best assist
>>>> their fellow man, even at the pain and sacrafice of
>>>> ones self, it is a good thing. I choose to not accept
>>>> a 70,000 a year job, and decided to teach at 42,000 a
>>>> year. Why? It is simple: the children in the South
>>>> Carolina Lowcountry need people who care for them,
>>>> will accept and love them just as they are...my
>>>> personal choice. I served in the US Navy and the
>>>> Pennsylvania Army National Guard before going to Penn
>>>> State and late Saint Vincent College, both in PA. My
>>>> cooperative teachers were AWESOME!!! I learned so
>>>> much from them, and they gave so much of themselves
>>>> for their students, years later...I am still in Awe
>>>> of them! :-) Unfortunately, not everyone is like
>>>> them...I wish I was wrong, but I am dead on. But it
>>>> is not just just teaching unions fail, unions are
>>>> failing across the board....a topic for another
>>>> board, and I digress.
>>>>
>>>> The other part of this mind set is "I would
>>>> become like a
>>>>>> Yankee if I join a union and Jesus would not do
>>>>>> that.",
>>>> ******I completely believe that is false. Being a
>>>> yankee has nothing with what a true christian will
>>>> do...just as being a former sailor (not a
>>>> "squid") has nothing about my choices...but
>>>> I can only speak for myself.
>>>>
>>>> regarding that the word Yankee to a Southerner means
>>>> a person from the
>>>>>> northern section of the US where collective
>>>>>> bargaining units were once common.
>>>> *****Wrong Mr. Jones. A YANKEE is someone who shows
>>>> lack of respect for others, is borish, bull-headed,
>>>> self-centered, concerned only for their needs and
>>>> wants, at the expense and pain of others.
>>>>
>>>> The US Southerner constructs most of his foolish
>>>> thinking around this mind set. Hope this helps you a
>>>> bit, aye, and I think I might be bringing out the
>>>> best the Southerner has to offer. *****I agree
>>>> completely! A trus coutherner is one who not only
>>>> whines, but tries to help his fellow neighbor better
>>>> their lives in any way they can. A false person
>>>> (northerner or southerner), a person who has no
>>>> spine, or is not willing to help others, or offer
>>>> solutions to problems we call jellyfish or whiners.
>>>>
>>>> Once we all decdide to try and help others to the
>>>> best of our ability, we in the teaching profession
>>>> can move forward. Once teachers can come together and
>>>> stop back-biting and hurting each other (you know,
>>>> act as professionals), we teachers, not
>>>> administrators, SHALL control what happens in a
>>>> positive direction.
>>>>
>>>> Positive social change comes from teachers teaching
>>>> the children positive social skills and strong
>>>> ethical skills....teachers CAN change the world, one
>>>> year at a time.
>>>>
>>>> Will Rogers
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>> Some jelly fish do not live in the sea for
>>>>>> example. On 12/30/09, Canadian Teacher wrote:
>>>>>>> Dear SC Colleagues,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I was just perusing this site and came upon
>>>>>>> this thread.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Why can't SC teachers form a union (if they
>>>>>>> wanted to)? Don't American workers have this
>>>>>>> right? I'm confused.
>>>>>
>>>>> They can form a union. But because of right to work
>>>>> laws, the state will not engage in collective
>>>>> bargaining with any union. It wouldn't do any good,
>>>>> even if folks could get their butts behind a union.
>>>>> They would first have to force a change in state
>>>>> laws. Wish I had known this stuff before moving to
>>>>> SC. It is hard to even imagine that a group of
>>>>> people would give up the right to have fair
>>>>> contracts, fair pay and fair working conditions.
>>>>> Right to work = right to be fired for any reason or
>>>>> no reason whatsoever. Strange stuff
 

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