At Kettering’s Town Hall Meeting concerning Ohio’s SB-5 — the law constricting collective bargaining of public employees — I thought panelist Dave Parker, a union leader for Kettering firefighters, expressed the most compelling reason for repeal. As I report here,
“Parker indicated that with the expected reduction in pay and benefits from SB-5, many excellent Kettering firefighters will feel they have no choice but to leave the city’s force. He spoke of the positive effect collective bargaining has brought to firefighting, by giving firefighters a voice in their own work situation, and stressed that it is because of collective bargaining that the public enjoys a high standard of fire protection.”
Dave Parker, Kettering union leader
A reasonable public, I predict, overall will agree with Parker’s point of view and will see the benefit of collective bargaining for firemen and police. But, I’m betting this same public will question whether collective bargaining for teachers has been nearly so beneficial.
The public is painfully aware that the cost of education over the last 20 years has skyrocketed. The graph of the increase in per pupil cost shows a line with a much steeper escalation than the graph showing general inflation. And most of this increase has gone to increased pay and benefits for teachers and administrators. The problem is, this increase in expenditure has not paid off. We are far, far from enjoying an adequate system of public education, and it is reasonable to wonder if collective bargaining for teachers has helped. Have teachers’ unions obstructed needed educational reform?
Dave Parker sounds very convincing when he says that because of collective bargaining, the public enjoys a high standard of fire protection — because the public, in fact, does enjoy a high standard of fire protection.
A teachers’ union president would like to make the same case — that, thanks to the teachers’ union, the public enjoys a high standard of public education — but, unfortunately, reality is a slap in the face. The best a union president can say is something lame like, “Without collective bargaining, public education would be even worse than it is now.”
I can see how the SB-5 debate might call the entire system of school evaluation into question as the issue of “excellence” is raised, as some local groups will inevitably boast that because of the teachers’ union, their district is “excellent,” or “excellent with distinction” as deemed by state standards. But, what does it mean to be “excellent?” Ohio’s standards for judging school merit, in the big picture, are pretty trivial. Have teachers’ unions ever protested the fact that standards are too low? Teachers’ unions are mired in the status quo. One benefit of the effort to repeal SB-5 is that teachers’ unions may be forced to rethink their obligation to the long term well being of their members to make tough choices and to provide the leadership for the transformation of the system of public education that is so badly needed.
“Parker indicated that with the expected reduction in pay and benefits from SB-5, many excellent Kettering firefighters will feel they have no choice but to leave the city’s force”
Forget that SB5 doesn’t directly cut wages. Let’s just say that net take home pay income is reduced by 5% due to employees having to be responsible for more of their healthcare and retirement contributions.
Exactly where are these people going to go if they ‘have no choice but to leave the city’s force?’ The answer is nowhere. Individuals with those particular skill sets aren’t going to find a job anywhere else that is going to come close to the pay and benefits they currently enjoy.
On a side note, do we enjoy a high level of fire protection because fire fighters are so quick to respond to fires, or because of improvements in electrical designs (both construction and in consumer products) that prevent fires from starting in the first place?
Back to the main topic, you hit the head, Mike. Teachers’ unions are mired in the status quo. Enough said on that issue!
Bryan, if local communities want to squeeze a 5% reduction in pay from their firefighters, they don’t need to be empowered by big brother to do so. They simply need to give their democracy some backbone. Why, before SB-5, hasn’t there been a popular outcry about the exorbitant pay earned by firefighters? The pay of firefighters was arrived at through a democratic process that produced few complaints; SB-5, in effect, constricts the authority of local democracy. And now a corporate owned central state government, is demanding that the tax give-away to the wealthy, accomplished by Ohio’s 2005 Tax Reduction Act, be financed out of the hide of public servants.
In order to gain public support for repealing SB-5, teachers’ unions should admit their mistakes, beg for forgiveness and promise to do better to empower teachers with the rights and responsibilities of authentic professionals — rather than defining teachers as blue collar laborers.
Here is what I’m hoping for, as I noted in the post,One benefit of the effort to repeal SB-5 is that teachers’ unions may be forced to rethink their obligation to the long term well being of their members to make tough choices and to provide the leadership for the transformation of the system of public education that is so badly needed.
Mike, it is the union’s job to look after the interests of their members, period.
Once again you demonstrate that you believe all wealth belongs to the government and that it decides how much we can keep. (“Ohio’s 2005 Tax Reduction Act” was a “give-away to the wealthy.”)
By the way, who do you define as wealthy? Someone earning $250,000 in NYC, San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles?