It's not my fight but...
Okay, this doesn't effect me directly, but...
It's really pissing me off that teaching is the only profession that is demonized for exercising their right to unionize and strike. When grocers or hotel staff or hospital orderlies strike it's all, "Yeah! You go! Stand up to 'the man'!"
But when teachers do the same thing, it's "How DARE they! Do they know how inconvenient that is for me?"
Pro-tip to people getting pissed: We're teachers. Not a babysitting service. If you want babysitting, you can pay $7/hour to some other kid and not be inconvenienced. But don't be shocked if all your kid learns that day is the lyrics to the Spongebob song and how much said teen misses her boyfriend who is SOoooooo awesome, because that's all he was exposed to all day.
We are professionals with college degrees who are asked to work with 30 'customers' at a time. Find me *one* other industry where someone must deal with those circumstances. 30 customers ALL AT ONCE? I've never been able to think of one.
So, I don't get people who are *pissed* that teachers are standing up and saying, "You know what, it's NOT okay for you to demand that we work the day we've had PLUS 1/3 of that time EVERYDAY without you paying us more. In fact it's really not on when you do it AFTER cancelling out already contracted yearly raises." Who the hell would even think you could even *ask* any other industry to work more time for LESS money and that they'd just go, "Oh sure, no problem"???
I *know* it's fucking inconvenient for a lot of people. I get being annoyed by inconvenience. But I don't think you have the right to be PISSED. Let's add 33% to your work day and decrease your salary by 2% - and probably more if the union hadn't put their foot down like they did - and see how quick you are to say, "How DARE they?" then.
A lot of people don't like Wal-mart because their employees are not/are not allowed to unionize. They don't like the way the employees aren't paid a living wage for what most would call 'non-specialized work' - work that doesn't require a specific college degree. Yet it's "How dare they?" when teachers insist that if X amount of money was appropriate pay for 6.5 hours/day last year that it should be roughly X+33% for an 8 to 9 hour day (depending on if you're elementary or high school). You'd never expect a Wal-mart employee to accept that! Why should teachers?
By the way, those Wal-mart employees aren't out there buying their own shelf labels and price guns and plastic bags for purchases. They get everything they need to do their jobs to their best ability from their employer.
So yeah, everyone on the news having fits... fuck off. Yes, it's inconvenient, but remember this. You get what you pay for. If you're willing to accept the kind of teacher who can't do the math and/or doesn't have the self esteem to say "You may not, essentially, cut my pay by 1/3" then you're going to get the kind of teacher who does your babysitting for you, but not a whole fucking lot else.
It's really pissing me off that teaching is the only profession that is demonized for exercising their right to unionize and strike. When grocers or hotel staff or hospital orderlies strike it's all, "Yeah! You go! Stand up to 'the man'!"
But when teachers do the same thing, it's "How DARE they! Do they know how inconvenient that is for me?"
Pro-tip to people getting pissed: We're teachers. Not a babysitting service. If you want babysitting, you can pay $7/hour to some other kid and not be inconvenienced. But don't be shocked if all your kid learns that day is the lyrics to the Spongebob song and how much said teen misses her boyfriend who is SOoooooo awesome, because that's all he was exposed to all day.
We are professionals with college degrees who are asked to work with 30 'customers' at a time. Find me *one* other industry where someone must deal with those circumstances. 30 customers ALL AT ONCE? I've never been able to think of one.
So, I don't get people who are *pissed* that teachers are standing up and saying, "You know what, it's NOT okay for you to demand that we work the day we've had PLUS 1/3 of that time EVERYDAY without you paying us more. In fact it's really not on when you do it AFTER cancelling out already contracted yearly raises." Who the hell would even think you could even *ask* any other industry to work more time for LESS money and that they'd just go, "Oh sure, no problem"???
I *know* it's fucking inconvenient for a lot of people. I get being annoyed by inconvenience. But I don't think you have the right to be PISSED. Let's add 33% to your work day and decrease your salary by 2% - and probably more if the union hadn't put their foot down like they did - and see how quick you are to say, "How DARE they?" then.
A lot of people don't like Wal-mart because their employees are not/are not allowed to unionize. They don't like the way the employees aren't paid a living wage for what most would call 'non-specialized work' - work that doesn't require a specific college degree. Yet it's "How dare they?" when teachers insist that if X amount of money was appropriate pay for 6.5 hours/day last year that it should be roughly X+33% for an 8 to 9 hour day (depending on if you're elementary or high school). You'd never expect a Wal-mart employee to accept that! Why should teachers?
By the way, those Wal-mart employees aren't out there buying their own shelf labels and price guns and plastic bags for purchases. They get everything they need to do their jobs to their best ability from their employer.
So yeah, everyone on the news having fits... fuck off. Yes, it's inconvenient, but remember this. You get what you pay for. If you're willing to accept the kind of teacher who can't do the math and/or doesn't have the self esteem to say "You may not, essentially, cut my pay by 1/3" then you're going to get the kind of teacher who does your babysitting for you, but not a whole fucking lot else.