I have been a union person as long as I can remember,with that said I want to make clear that their are certain jobs in our society that a strike should be the last option.Those jobs are Police,Fire and Emergency responders and Teachers.Penn Hills,Pa. is a Township on Pittsburgh's eastern border,it's demographics has changed over the last 30-40 years and it's 80% African-American in population,where it once was a 80% White population.Most Black folk moved to Penn Hills over the past 30 years or so in the hope of escaping the City of Pittsburgh's urban problems.As more Black people moved to Penn Hills the White flight to more easternly suburbs increase,hence the change in demograhics.The catch here folks is that the political leadership has not changed,Penn Hills Mayor and majority Town Council is still White as is it's school board.As I have posted before Black folk in this region of Western PA. are not politically involved in the places that they live,98% have not a clue as to how the political process work. So yesterday when I read on line that the teachers were going out on strike,I wondered how many parents knew that this turmoil existed between the teachers and the school board.So I asked Valerie to call her daughter who has two boys in the school system and to inform her of the looming strike,not to my surprise she didn't have a clue either of the turmoil and pending strike.And Michelle is generally one of the few Black parents who is on top of issues going on within the school system in general.So if Michelle didn't know I knew from my gut that the rest of the Black parents in this township had not a clue.The strike by the school teachers this thursday is a disgrace to the profession of teachers,if your heart is really into teaching then you must find a better way of working with the school board to work out a viable contract.As for the parents this a moment when you should ask yourself what the hell is going on,but hell will freeze over before that happens!
Bigmac
1 comment:
"I have been a union person as long as I can remember,with that said I want to make clear that their are certain jobs in our society that a strike should be the last option.Those jobs are Police,Fire and Emergency responders and Teachers."
1. Who decides when striking is a last option for these "special groups"?
2. Aren't all union workers special and indispensible?
3. Why wouldn't striking be a last option for all unions?
I was a member of the United Transportation Union when I worked as a brakeman for Southern Pacific Railroad during my undergraduate studies many years ago. I have never been involved with a more corrupt system in all my life.
The concept of unionizing had its place during the sweat shops of yesteryear but the pendulum has swung way too far and now the unions are cutting off the proverbial head of the Golden Goose. This is evidenced by the demise of the SP Railroad, GM, Chrysler, etc. and the outsourcing of services and products because it is too often cost prohibitive to do business in unionized America. Many of us promote "Buy American" but shop for Chinese goods in Walmart....the talk and walk don't match when it comes to most of our pocketbooks.
Theoretical niceties and reality don't mix....human nature unfortunately precludes it's success outside of the classroom as evidenced by the teachers strike you don't approve of.
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