Union Bosses Care More about Collective Bargaining than Students
Openmarket.org
In Massachusetts and Louisiana, union bosses’ recent actions indicate collective bargaining privileges and lavish contracts are their number one priority.
First in Massachusetts, the AFL-CIO and American Federation of Teachers linked up to combat so-called “divisive” legislation that proposes to introduce merit-based pay over tenure to determine hiring practices for public school teachers.
The Boston Globe reports:
The Massachusetts chapter of the AFL-CIO, the state’s largest organized labor group, issued a statement in support of the AFT, predicting a “fight” on Beacon Hill to defeat the bill should legislative leaders seek to advance it.
“We will stand strong with AFTMA in a shared fight to defeat the legislation and its attack on collective bargaining rights for teachers,” read the statement issued by the AFL-CIO, which is led by former state Sen. Steven Tolman. “We urge all legislators not to turn the clock back on the real progress made by our experienced, unionized teachers in Massachusetts public schools whose professionalism and experience gained through seniority deliver the top educational achievements in the country and the western world.”
Essentially, Big Labor and union bosses in Massachusetts prefer to fight legislation that removes low-performing teachers from the classroom than concede any collective bargaining privileges, which are frequently abused. Sadly, if the legislation is not passed through the state legislature, the merit-based pay initiative will be put on the November ballot; meaning AFL-CIO and AFT will likely spend millions of dollars in teachers’ union dues, originating from Massachusetts taxpayers, to fight a ballot initiative that benefits students.