Let me back up. Wikipedia defines right-to-work laws as:
A right-to-work law is a statute in the United States of America that prohibits union security agreements, or agreements between labor unions and employers that govern the extent to which an established union can require employees' membership, payment of union dues, or fees as a condition of employment, either before or after hiring. "Right-to-work" laws do not, as the short phrase might suggest, aim to provide a general guarantee of employment to people seeking work, but rather are a government regulation of the contractual agreements between employers and labor unions that prevents them from excluding non-union workers.KDKA reports that Pennsylvania could follow. Could Pennsylvania Be Next For Right To Work Legislation? Local unions are on alert, according to KDKA.
What would that mean to Mt. Lebanon? It has been said that the MTL school board is cheerleading for the unions. I don't know if that is necessarily true, but it occurred to me that the YSA, for all intents and purposes, has unionized the ball fields in Mt. Lebanon. In effect, the new Sports Advisory Board is representing groups which are required to pay "dues" to use school district facilities. The municipality collects no money for use of fields. Isn't that essentially what the Joint Maintenance Agreement is? It was initially an agreement to maintain school district fields. The YSA controls ALL fields for its members, in essence, the right-to -play. By the way, what is the status of the Joint Maintenance Agreement?
26 comments:
Unions had a time and place. The argument that they are completely responsible for wages and work weeks and such is kind of a joke. The free market and transient nature of employees has made Unions practically obsolete.
In the year 1900 if I was unhappy with my job in a factory where people were literally losing hands, arms, and lives to antiquated and dangerous machinery, it was important for people to stand up together and demand safer working conditions. And those people were right. At some point it morphed to include collectivism whereby all members, regardless of abilities, would be part of a collectively bargained wage scale.
In the private sector today you are generally paid what you are worth. If you feel you are underpaid, you can get into the job market and try to find someone to pay you more.
In traditional union jobs, you will be paid what the union says you will be paid.
There was a time and a place for Unions, and in fact, there does exist a place for Unions now. However, I feel that place is when it comes to ensuring the safety of its workers and not collective bargaining.
This, of course, would make practically all public sector unions obsolete. Kind of like what FDR warned against.
9:23 two items you don't mention.
Pensions, the unions have pushed states and local governments and school districts to the brink of bankruptcy and at some point the public pension crisis will have to be dealt with.
Second, many argue that unions stand in the way of education reforms. More and more money is thrown at education with little movement in results.
Look at Lebo, despite whining that Corbett has cut funding (never Obama) look at the districts expenditures over the last 4 years. In '09 expenditures were $72 million. In 2012 expenditures are $80 million. By 2016 district expenditures have been projected to rise to $100 million.
With all this escalating spending is the district educating more kids... No. Are test scores, graduation rates showing significant positive gains...No and No.
There are always examples of unions pushing too far- I won't debate that. Just like I'm sure there are examples of companies screwing employees. The reality for my family is that the mine workers fought for contracts that brought my grandfather and father out of poverty, gave us medical insurance, and yes pensions that still work for my mother. Their hard work and struggle helped me achieve things they never could. I don't know many western PA families that don't have a similar story to tell. Don't kill an industry but I believe unions are good for this country.
Here's is an interesting article regarding teachers unions from Standford and the Brookings Institute.
Reading it you may ask, what does this have to do with Lebo, we don't have a rubber room. Read on though it is thought provoking. Besides if the federal government waste money supporting New York's rubber rooms that is less money for other districts throughout the country.
http://politicalscience.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/images/MoeT_ProblemUnionPower_Chapter1.pdf
Wikipedia - now there's a source! Guess your Lebo education didn't teach you much about research!
No, we were all transfixed by the 1972 high school construction.
Elaine
12:33 yeah OK wiki may not be the best source of information in every instance.
What's your opinion of the PDF from Standford and The Brooking Institute submitted by 12:13.
I'm assuming you also made the pro-union comment at 11:34. I too have to thank family union members that stood up in the Homestead steel strike. But this isn't 1892 and MTL teachers aren't working in unsafe conditions, tied to a company store, paid slave wages, no health care, no pensions or no vacation time.
Just compare the average teachers salary to the average private wage in MTL. On top of that, tell me any other occupation that has tenure.
So knock off the elementary bull. If the teachers, and it's not so many years ago that they were, are working for slave wages I could agree with you and back them. Unfortunately, they've gotten greedy.
Why do Mt Lebanon teachers spend valuable class time discussing union business when they should be teaching?
Mr. Ostergard should be commended on his analysis of the salary discussion at this weeks board meeting.
Will they have any impact though... doubt it!
How long can the district exceed the Act 1 limits (this year 1.6%) by handing out 2.8 ano above raises? At some point the district runs out of money.
Must be that new Lebo math that makes it possible eh 12:33!
2:02 Really, they don't teach anything they just all stand in a group and discuss union business? Which class were you monitoring? Just wondering...can you name names? Where did you get such info?
I'm still waiting to see how much the Rec department paid to use the fields....
3:20 no comments on the 12:13 submission?
I doubt there's much pro-union brain washing going on, but there was some green agenda pushing.
Remember Remely postulating how if we pursued LEED initiatives, the kids would get educated in being green. Then they could go home and teach their parents to change light bulbs.
Not kidding, he really said something like that in one project discussion as an excuse for $800,000 investment in LEED pursuit.
3:20 PM,
2:02 PM was in the class where union business was often discussed.
2:14 the total cost of the contract the Board just passed was 4.2% including benefits.
I wonder what the total cost of our Superintendent's raise and Jan Klein's raise were in percentage terms.
5:03 I could be mistaken, I believe I heard the raise THIS year amounted to 2.8% and included the benefits.
The 4.2% you mention, wasn't that the cash increase only over the term of the new contract? Benefits, contributions and pension increases weren't included?
I used the 2.8% because it's easy to see, as Mr. Ostergard explained the district can't go around increasing spending by 2.8% when the district is subjected to a 1.6 Act 1 cap. Feel free to laugh historically here, because as we all know Jan has a big bag of tricks to skirts that cap.
It's just going to cost taxpayers a ton of money to see 'em!
Elaine - isn't the JMA expiring soon ?
In less than three weeks. The next commission meeting is January 7.
Elaine
5:38 the total cost of the contract over five years was 4.2%. including the salary and benefit increases.
The Act 1 limit averaged 1.6% over the last three years.
That is 1.4%, 1.7% and 1.7% averages 1.6% over three years.
Yes I forgot to mention that 1.6 was an average.
So it's apparent I completely misunderstood the discussion.
I understand where the Act 1 average comes from, but where did Dale get the 2.8?
" . . . the total cost of the contract over five years was 4.2%. including the salary and benefit increases."
What is the total cost of the 4.15% teachers contract including all benefits and the salaries?
An interest article: http://politicalscience.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/images/MoeT_ProblemUnionPower_Chapter1.pdf
Sorry 12:33 it's not a wiki article for you to dismiss!
Mt. Lebanon School District Communities Served:
Mt. Lebanon
Levels: K-12
Enrollment: 5,297
Staff:
Admin 26;
Prof 434;
Other 273;
Total: 731
Ratio: 7.25 Students to every 1 employee (5297/731= 7.25 students per 1 employee)
Source: AIU website 12/14/2012
12:46 AM, I wouldn't worry about the wiki comment. It came from someone who is trying to diss the thread. Gee, who could that be?
Elaine
There is an interesting article on the front page of the ALMANAC this week. It begins:
Superintendent addresses BP contract issues
By Terri Johnson and Patricia Van Horn The Almanac tjohnson@thealmanac.net
In an open letter to the Bethel Park community, Bethel Park School District Superintendent Nancy Aloi Rose broke her silence on the lack of a contract between the district and the Bethel Park Federation of Teachers with hopes of reaching an agreement.
The most recent agreement ended June 30, 2010, and since then, nearly 400 teachers, nurses, sociologists and guidance counselors have worked under the terms of the expired agreement.
“Up to this point, I have been conspicuously silent in this regard,” Rose wrote Dec. 7. “As the superintendent of schools, I am in the peculiar position of advising the board as well as leading the staff. Sometimes, those two roles are in conflict.”
In the lengthy letter, Rose said she realized the frustration of the teachers and other union members, but acknowledged educational realities in Pennsylvania have changed.
“Districts across the state have experienced large reductions in state and federal funding, and coupled with legislation that prohibits school districts from raising taxes above a state-set index, school districts are now in the unenviable position of looking for ways to trim their budgets to live within these new economic realities,” Rose wrote. She continued by writing that Bethel Park has been fortunate to avoid “massive layoffs by streamlining our administrative team and cutting back on all levels of staffing through attrition. WE HAVE ALSO REQUIRED THAT OUR FAMILIES OF OUR STUDENTS ASSUME SOME OF THE FINANCIAL BURDEN BY PROVIDING THE MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES (PREVIOUSLY PROVIDED BY THE DISTRICT) AND PAYING FEES TO ALLOW THEIR CHILDREN TO PARTICIPATE IN EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES.”
(Caps added). http://www.thealmanac.net/alm/story11/12-12-2012_bp-contract
USC charges $150 for a child to participate in two sports. How long can the Mt. Lebanon School District continue to provide fields for $12 per child paid only partially to the school district?
Elaine,
I think that when my class graduated the student-to-faculty ratio was 30:1.
Does anyone have a history of the student-to-faculty metric over the last 40 years?
Do you know if there are any credible studies that examine scholastic performance versus the student-to-faculty ratio?
I want to clarify my question concerning the association between the student-to-faculty ratio and scholastic achievement - I was referring to a credible study that was performed in Mt Lebanon.
Post a Comment