MTEA’s Unreasonable & Irresponsible Refusal to Negotiate to Save the Jobs of MPS Teachers
It might make for great chest thumping and quotes in the paper, but blaming Scott Walker isn't really an effective strategy for preventing teachers, school nurses and counselors from being laid off.
If the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association agreed to the pension contribution, the $19.2 million generated could save 198 teaching positions, including 51 positions in the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education, or SAGE, program, according to district estimates. That program allows an 18-to-1 student-to- teacher ratio in kindergarten through third grade at schools with qualifying low-income children.
The pension contribution savings also could restore 22 nurses and one nursing supervisor position, plus 27 art and music teachers, said Board President Michael Bonds, who proposed that the union be approached for the concession as the board wrestled with its budget for the 2011-'12 fiscal year.
The board's proposal to seek a pension contribution from teachers will be a tough sell. The union will not return to the table, since it already settled a contract that runs through 2013, according to Mike Langyel, MTEA president.
"We have already negotiated deep savings to this district," Langyel said, when reached at home Tuesday night. "We are not willing to negotiate. We have concluded bargaining. We are willing to work with the School Board to get proper funding from Madison." – jsonline.com
Yes, I also believe that Gov. Walker has a lot of culpability regarding the funding mess districts are finding themselves in (a discussion for another day)! But to simply say, "we're not willing to negotiate" period, is irresponsible and frankly not in the best interests of the majority of the members MTEA is supposed to be representing – not to mention MPS students.
This may not sit well with some people, but it needs to be said. I support the right to unionize 110%. I support public school workers who are represented by MTEA 110% as well – my wife is one of them even. What I don't support is the leadership of any organization – unions or otherwise – taking unreasonable, stubborn and irresponsible stances on issues which aren't in the best interest of those they represent.
For MTEA to not even be willing to talk about negotiating so that hundreds of their own members can be in schools next year instead of the unemployment line is ridiculous. There's solidarity and there's selfishness. Sadly, MTEA and Langyel are exhibiting the latter in this case.
..And MTEA wonders why they have a problem with their public image.
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Dan, you are right, and I think this is why public sector unions have a bit of a PR problem. They do not have the power position to simply dictate things. Labor price is a negotiation like every other price, and this comes off as completely arrogant and disconnected from reality.
Not everyone will be able to make a level-headed judgment on this as you have, though. There are far to many people who read the word “union” and check off the “support” column without reading the rest of the sentence. This is as foolish as those who support corporations without any consideration for employees’ position.
I give you credit for taking this reasoned position, Dan. People can (and probably always will) disagree about taxation levels, but we are long overdue for a frank discussion about how collective bargaining plays a dominant role in how available funds are spent.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul won’t work in this economy; not that it’s the right thing to do anyway. Paul needs to realize that a little shared sacrifice would go a long way. Of course, Paul (public sector unions) and those who robbed Peter should have recognized this before they were met with the strong backlash we see today.
We also need to acknowledge that one-sided school boards that rubber stamp union demands are not healthy for our communities. Blaming Governor Walker while many local school boards choose layoffs and larger class sizes over wage and benefit concessions does nothing to create better outcomes for our students.
Roland, I’ll respond here since I can’t figure out how to comment on your site. Jay and I actually agree on a number of things from time to time despite the “kiss of death” comment you made. It’s one of the reasons I consider him to be about the only reasonable conservative talk show host in Milwaukee.
About your speculation that my site being down yesterday was because of a ‘union cyberattack!’, it’s just that; speculation. And wild speculation at that. There were some weather related problems in NY yesterday apparently that caused an outage at the datacenter where I keep that servers that run my site.
Dan, glad to see the site is back up and running, and thanks for sharing your thoughts. While I’m as pro-union as anyone, I’ll admit that unions are far from perfect, and this situation is a perfect example of a union losing sight of the forest for the trees, so to speak. As I told you earlier, the healthcare coverage for Viagra is another perfect example of how tone-deaf and out of touch union leaders can be sometimes.
We are having the same dilema where I teach in Las Vegas. The board essentially wants teachers to take about a 10-15% overall pay cut.
This is wherew I have a problem automaitically agreeing with pay cuts.
Here in Vegas, there is a tremendous amount of waste in the district and I am sure it is true in MPS, unless MPS turned things around since I was there, which I doubt.
My position is why should we, as teachers or other employees take a pay cut so the district can continue to waste money through frivilous spending? I don’t think that is fair.
If the district made a reasonable effort to control costs, then yes, i would support a pay decrease.
So, is MPS making a reasonable effort to cut waste in the district? Somehow, I doubt it.
MTEA refuses to negotiate, thus causing 519 of their “brothers” and “sisters” out on the street. Union love on full display.
I hope you are starting to see that unions are less about protecting their members than having their members pay dues.
If the 5,600 members of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association would agree to pay 5.8% of their pay toward pensions, the superintendent estimated the district could save $20 million and about 200 teaching jobs.
That doesn’t even include asking them to pay a percentage for their own health care. Imagine the savings then.
In related news … Kaukauna is projecting a 1.5 Million dollar surplus and is hiring additional teachers.
To be clear, the negotiating would have only saved about 200 of those jobs. The majority of the cuts are due to state imposed policies and cuts in what MPS will get from the state.
I’m no fan of MTEA, but to say they’re the example of how all unions treat their members isn’t accurate. If you’re going to damn all unions by judging how one of them how one union acts, then you could also say that the unions who have taken concessions are the gold standard and we should base opinions of unions on how those who took those concessions acted. It’s not that simple.
Plus I’d add the issue with MTEA isn’t about it collecting dues – they’ll do that for the next year regardless – but their preference towards the benefits for older/retired teachers at the expense of younger teachers.
MTEA is in the minority on how they’re choosing to act which is my problem with them. A lot of unions have made concessions, my own included. Damning all unions because of the actions of one is more about making a point about ‘evil unions’ it seems.
To be clear, the negotiating would have only saved about 200 of those jobs.
Oh, ONLY 200 jobs. No use negotiating! ;)
To my understanding, 200 jobs would have been save by contributing to their own pensions. This did not include health insurance contributions, which would have save hundreds more.