The following video was shared with us by the Capistrano Unified Education Association. In the video, the teachers tell their side of the story. They want to negotiate, they have no problem with a temporary pay cut. They are only asking for the cuts to be temporary, and the Board won’t even negotiate the point.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MokabFgZptk[/youtube]
One of the teachers in that video taught one of my daughters. She’s an outstanding teacher — one of the best I’ve ever met. Thanks, CUSD teachers!
The teachers aren’t impressing anyone. What would impress us is if you struck during the summer and took time away from your three-month vacations. It would impress us if you showed some spine, challenged your union and stopped paying $1000 annually in dues that’s used for political purposes — are your knuckle-dragging bosses taking a 10% cut?. What would impress us is stopping the tired, fallacious “it’s for the children” rhetoric when we know it’s really about your own greed. We’d be impressed if you dropped the “continuing education” claims and realize that everyone in “professional” employment does that on their own time and often at their own expense. We’d also be impressed if you showed some respect and deference to those you’re now calling “scabs” — maybe they’re your neighbors who are tired of paying for people who work all of six hours a day? Maybe the “scabs” just see an opportunity for work that you’re too lazy or arrogant to do. Maybe the “scabs” are part of the 12.6% unemployed in California who think you’ve got a lot of nerve to be complaining when CA teachers are the highest paid in the country? Maybe all of us are tired of paying for your inflated pensions and medical benefits that we never voted for?
The District’s out of money. Are there any math teachers on the picket line that can explain that?