Re: SC Teachers and unions

W. Rogers

Posted on 12/31/09

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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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