Profiles in Dishonesty -- Randi Weingarten

I just read the column by Randi Weingarten that appeared in USA Today. According to the head of the teacher's union, when teachers get slashed, children suffer. So? It never fails to amaze me that the teachers' union never talks about the real issues. The question is not will the school districts have to cut the number of teachers. Rather, the proper question is whether or not the teachers would be willing to take a pay freeze and a diminution is some benefits to make sure that there is no teacher laid off. According to Weingarten, all of the teachers to whom she speaks only care about how the layoffs will affect the children. What BS. If that were the case, these teachers would gladly give up their raises and accept lower benefits in order to avoid inflicting the teacher cuts on the students. The problem is that under the law and the union contracts, the only way left for districts to balance their budgets is to reduce the number of teachers -- they cannot reduce or freeze compensation and they certainly cannot alter the benefits. that would require agreement from the teachers union.

So, the straw man that Weingarten raises, i.e., the layoffs of teachers, need never be reached. The real question is why the teachers feel that they should not take a apy freeze when over 27% of all workers in the country have taken pay cuts during the current recession. Do they really think that they can get away with the old lies? do they really think that the average citizen has not caught on to the game? The choice is not just between paying teachers ever higher salaries or laying them off. The choice is to pay the teachers reasonable compensation and benefits.

No one wants teachers to work for nothing. None of them do. If we could approach the issue honestly and without the political gamesmanship that liars like Weingarten inflict on the process, the problems would not be that hard to solve. Sadly, until the union has chosen to inflict suffering on the children rather than to deal in an adult manner with the problem.