Michigan Teachers Who Strike Could Lose License Under New Legislation

Michigan lawmakers think educators need to be taught a lesson when it comes to missing school.

If new state legislation passes, teachers participating in illegal strikes could have their licenses revoked for two years -- or permanently in some cases.

Even though teacher strikes are illegal under state law, Republican lawmakers say strikes handled at the local level often go unpunished, the Associated Press reports. And they want to change that.

"You have to put teeth into something to allow the system to work," said Rep. Bill Rogers, a Republican from Brighton and one of the legislation's sponsors.

Both Rogers' bill and another by Republican Rep. Paul Scott were discussed Wednesday in a nearly two-hour House Education Committee hearing. The legislation sprouted from concern of a strike after the Michigan Education Association sent a letter, housed on AnnArbor.com, to local union presidents requesting approval to:

"...engage in significant activities -- up to and including a work stoppage -- that will increase the pressure on our legislators. But more importantly, it is a way for us to ramp up our crisis activities and ensure our members understand the severity of the situation."

The letter was a response to the fact Gov. Rick Snyder proposed last month to cut $300 per pupil and signed new rules allowing emergency managers to terminate collective bargaining rights, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Doug Pratt, an MEA spokesman, tells the Associated Press that the legislation's intention is just part of a larger effort to put limitations on union members.

"This is yet another example of lawmakers trying to silence the voices of school employees in this state, who oppose massive education cuts and other attacks on schools and kids that these lawmakers are pushing," Pratt said.

The Detroit Free Press reports that some school officials support the legislation. Greg Baracy, superintendent of a Michigan school where teachers went on strike in 2008, offered a testimony at Wednesday's hearing. He spoke out against circumstances that allow striking:

"There must be stronger language in the law to prevent a travesty like this from ever happening again."

Comments

[AmigaMan]

11:34 PM on 05/04/2011

Wow. I am simply blown away regarding the atmosphere for teachers in America. Every other union has a right to strike. Why not teachers too? :/

[Freedland]

11:10 AM on 05/01/2011

It is my hope that this legislation be challenged as a clear violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution. Teachers, as well as other public officials should have the right to strike, particularly if their right to collective bargaining is also under attack by the state. The same applies to the authority of the Governor of the State of Michigan to appoint "czars" to manage municipalities under financial distress. The Republicans who constantly criticized the President for appointing "czars" who were basically representing the financial interests of the government, have now appointed school czars, financial management czars and allowed the Governor extraordinary powers to appoint these non-elected officials to operate cities and to break contracts if they deem necessary. These must be the good "czars" while the Democratic "czars" who did not have nearly the same amount of power or authority are acceptable to the Republicans. This was evident when the new "financial management czar" of Benton Harbor was caught on video expressing his great joy in having the authority to fire and hire, to break contracts and to operate in an environment without any checks and balances and without accountability to its constituents. Education, as in other fields, has room for improvement. A private or charter school system will result in the beginning of the end for the public schools. Reform is necessary but not the demolition of the system.

[Bryan Boru]

10:29 PM on 04/28/2011

Awesome.

[JohnBryansFontaine]

01:15 PM on 04/25/2011

Blackwatering the classroom: Voucher bills now before state legislatures part of Koch-style far right war on public education
by B. E. Wilson

"...“It’s being marketed as a solution to save public schools, but the big donors are tied to right-wing think tanks that openly advocate, and strategize, the end of public education. How can vouchers improve public schools if the people mobilizing the movement intend to eradicate public education? Regardless of your personal stance on “school choice,” it’s important to know who is behind the voucher movement and the agenda they don’t share with the public or advertise in their media campaigns.” – Rachel Tabachnick..."

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2011/04/25/blackwatering-the-classroom-voucher-bills-now-before-state-legislatures-part-of-koch-style-far-right-war-on-public-education/

[Bryan Boru]

10:33 PM on 04/28/2011

"...the people mobilizing the movement intend to eradicate public education..."

Whoo. That's a doozy! I don't know what kind of Kool Aid you're drinking, but for god's sake don't follow it up with that crack pipe.

[bobbuttwellnews]

05:19 PM on 04/24/2011

bobbuttwellnews.com : Just in: The logical capitalist outcome for teacher unions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOzfuvTTB08

[Puzzlr]

03:23 PM on 04/24/2011

From shoshannadailey: The link to the petition to save this school. www.michae­lmoore.com

Please help me keep this link on the first page.

[hershobr]

10:01 AM on 04/23/2011

I always loved the "it's for the kids" argument while teachers were forcing kids to miss school by striking.

[hculliton]

09:51 AM on 04/24/2011

Yes, labour unrest is disruptive for the students, but it’s really jerks like Scott Walker holding the kids hostage. He started this crap - not the teachers. In the long run, good moral among school staffs helps to create a positive learning environment for students. GOP Governors need to stop dumping on teachers while at the same time cutting funding and forcing schools to jump through standardized testing hoops (which according to most research actually makes things worse). I guarantee that if current conditions continue, teachers will not be as effective in the classroom. Sure, I suppose the GOPers could ‘fix’ that by following the "beatings will continue until moral improves" school of labour relations, but it will force most of the good teachers to leave. I don't think I'd want my kids learning in such an environment, would you?

[corwin]

03:34 PM on 04/24/2011

Right.!But,what surprises me is so many of these GOP governor's are masquerading as "parents".And, I'd always believed there was a limit of one governor/state..Still, I do agree with some of your points.COrrected for inflation public school spending has increased 400 % inn the last 20 years.With just a little more -and everyone agrees that spending more on education will spend more on education- medocre people will become excelllent .

[Bryan Boru]

10:36 PM on 04/28/2011

Their actions are "for the kids" in one sense: they want to make them into their political pawns and automatons. The kids education (math, writing, logic, reading, science) is a secondary matter.

[medic628]

10:37 PM on 04/22/2011

They have emergency overseers in Black schools and towns. Do they have walking bosses too? There are elements of the White power structure going after Black people, more importantly VOTERS in the great state of Michigan under the banner of fiscal responsibility. This is the application of marshal law that this country has in it's future. The United States of America had better wake up and quickly. The shrinking middle class and the increasing numbers of the poor are the targets.

[hershobr]

10:02 AM on 04/23/2011

Maybe it's just that they will not accept any longer graduation rates under 50% and dropout rates above 50%.

[medic628]

10:37 AM on 04/23/2011

The problem is not the teachers it is at the top. CORRUPTION an mismanagement from the state level down. Then those same politicians go after the easy target. Before the manufacturing job were sent out of the country this was not happening. For example the jobs get sent out. Of what is left, it is not enough to go around. Then the great white father wants to cut social programs that will help the people he put out of work. Call them lazy and worse. The neighborhood goes to hell along with the schools. The tax base dwindles. The land is taken away by first nullifying the elected officials. This is when the gentrification starts.

[corwin]

10:57 AM on 04/23/2011

A couple of things.First it's martial (military) law.You appear siily if you don't use the correct term.secondly,it's not military law. (There are no curfews,check points,military courts soldiers,etc.) These are small details you may have noticed.
Third,these towns/cities are bankrupt..They can't pay their employees,vendors,pay off their debt.In short,the only way to stay open iss for the state to run things.Gov (chuckle) Granholm didn't want to do this because so much of her base was black voters.(They didn't like her either,but she was a Dem.)
Now,the3 state has said,"Well keep things going ,but, we're in charge of things.". There are a couple of common threads in the collapsed cities.Public employees are employed in greater numbers as the population shrinks.and,they're Democratic towns.
Sorry to be the one to tell you.
Remember.Marshall Dillon vs Martial Law. You can do it

[medic628]

11:09 AM on 04/23/2011

You missed my point completely because you did not want to see it. Instead of trying to educate, read what was written if you are adult enough to do so??

[Puzzlr]

11:48 AM on 04/23/2011

Again, gibberish!

[medic628]

10:22 PM on 04/22/2011

Detroit what is happening at Catherine Ferguson Academy?

[Puzzlr]

11:51 AM on 04/23/2011

Something awful. One minute the worse place for an unborn child is in a black woman's uterus, and now they are closing down a school where the black women (children really) have chosen to give birth. They can't keep their hate straight.

[medic628]

12:40 PM on 04/23/2011

Call the media out in Detroit for not covering this issue, making it a national issue as an assault on young Black women, Black people, Black voters. Let everyone see how complicit they are being with the power structure of Michigan. Point out the language of the plantation that is being used in their control, while they ATTACK and easy target. Point out the same conservative repub power structure created this situation by sending the jobs out of the country and then not providing for the people that they took the jobs from. Point out their LACK of fiscal responsibility. While their wallets get fat.

[shoshannadailey]

09:08 PM on 04/23/2011

If you want to sign a petition to keep the Catherine Ferguson School open, please go to www.michaelmoore.com or to change.org. The petition is entitled: Save Catherine Ferguson Academy for Young Women--thanks.

[Puzzlr]

03:19 PM on 04/24/2011

Thank you. Just signed it today. They only need a little more than 300 more signatures. Guys please sign it.

[Puzzlr]

03:50 PM on 04/22/2011

When did teachers become the villains and CEO's become the heroes?

[salviati]

06:22 PM on 04/22/2011

It was during the previous Republicratic Presidency, under Clinton. That was the era that ushered in the C.E.O as God theme.

[Puzzlr]

07:49 PM on 04/22/2011

No. It was this notion by Bush that because he was a former CEO (as well as Cheney), they would run the government like a business. That didn't work out so well.

[Jenn May]

10:59 AM on 04/24/2011

Actually I would argue that it started with Reagan.

[hershobr]

10:03 AM on 04/23/2011

Teacher's unions, not teachers. Do some research on them and any sane person will come to the conclusion that the power that teachers unions have is destroying any chance for real education reform. It's all about their power and their jobs, not educating our children to the best of our ability.

[Puzzlr]

11:43 AM on 04/23/2011

LOL. Now you guys are trying to separate teachers from their unions. The unions can't advance an issue unless the rank and file agrees with it. The reason for a union is to get the things one wouldn't or couldn't get alone. With numbers there's power. No one would begrudge you for asking for a raise or other benefits. The difference being, they are more likely to get it (by operating collectively), than you. BTW, there are so many reasons Johnny can't read. A teachers right to collectively bargain for wages and benefits ain't one of them.

[medic628]

04:42 PM on 04/23/2011

The whole issue about unions and the repubs is to take democratic funding away.

[nfatt1]

12:03 PM on 04/22/2011

If they only showed their teeth to the Corporate criminals.

[MuchMadness]

11:54 PM on 04/21/2011

Being a teacher in Detroit is not such a great gig.
The state might not find it so easy to find replacements.

[baybeebluz]

11:49 AM on 04/22/2011

Yes they will. There are hundreds of unemployeed teachers in this state.

[Puzzlr]

03:52 PM on 04/22/2011

Not unless they move to greener pastures. Every year, there is a call for more and more teachers here in the SW.

[Oldnlvinit]

11:29 PM on 04/21/2011

I agree with George Meany in that we should not have public sector unions. Collective bargaining works when both parties have a real stake in the bargaining. Management has a responsibility to keep the company solvent. The unions have a responsibility to speak for the workers. If a bad bargain is struck the company goes out of business (unless they are GM) and both parties loose.

Public sector bargaining is bargaining over someone else's money (the tax payers) who are not sitting at the table. It is easy to raise someone else's taxes. The part that is most onerous is "management" are elected officials that can and do receive campaign contributions from the union sitting across the table.

[maninal2]

05:41 AM on 04/25/2011

1) Government is not a company nor can it run as such.
2) Public union negotiations involve the union elected representatives and the people's elected representatives
3) If a bad deal is struck the people's representatives are not re-elected
4) More money is given away through tax giveaways to corporations than union wage or benefit gains

Educate yourself. At least get the right copy/paste talking points

[Bryan Boru]

10:40 PM on 04/28/2011

Well said.

[Pamela Ricci]

07:17 PM on 04/21/2011

I would hope that parents are investing more in their children's education than the teachers are. Teachers have their own lives and family. This is only their job. They negotiated less paycheck for better benefits. To be fair, if they are going to pay more for their benefits now, there should be a back pay situation so they can recoup the wages that they gave up. Parents: think of your children! Do you want them in larger classes? Do you want their teachers working 2 jobs to meet their bills? Or would you like them to be available to help your child with difficult math problems? Or available for extra teacher/parent conferences? It's all in your hands, parents. Figure out what your priorities are, and know what priority is higher that your kids/grandkids education.

It's Ronnie Reagan time all over again. Y'all remember that trickle down didn't work, don't you? Hint: the increase in poverty and homelessness. He started that whole off shore production plants for cheaper labor and tax credits. Are we liking where THAT got us?

[Martha T]

09:31 AM on 04/22/2011

Pamela, what is happening to teachers is a well thought out, slow but sure plan that the Republicans have had planned for over 30 years and there are many reasons why they are doing it. They want to abolish public schools. So, you demonize, cut funding, disparage the educators who are the instructors. By cutting funds, you create flawed infrastructure for the inner city, making it virtually impossible for learning to take place. By disparaging educators and their unions, you plant a seed in the public arena that the teachers are overpaid union thugs who could care less about their children. By basing EVERYTHING on flawed state test scores, you show them CONCRETE evidence of the failure of schools. Look at Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey. They are at the forefront of the effort, and I am not sure that they calculated into their destructive equation the anger that these actions are causing. Teachers are professionals, we did not take a monastic vow. We do not earn excessive pay, we have normal reasonable health benefits negotiated legally, we go into our rooms everyday with another dictate waiting for us to change our instruction for that day, dictates that most of the time will do NOTHING to improve our delivery of the subject matter. I could go on but the bottom line is, THEY WANT AND THIS INCLUDES DEMS & OUR POTUS, SCHOOLS FOR PROFIT... it is the last frontier of the corporations and they are coming to get it

[nfatt1]

12:07 PM on 04/22/2011

Why give it for free, when there are very lucrative profits to be made !

[Evan Allison]

06:17 PM on 04/21/2011

Those of you who are anti strike should consider the alternative. I went to a district where teachers were not allowed to strike. The response was something called "work to rule" where teachers agree to do nothing beyond the exact letter of their contract. This resulted in what was known as a slew of "no teaching days" where the teachers would simply put up overheads of notes on projectors and refuse to speak at all even if asked a direct question.

Yes, striking is disruptive to the status quo. This is not an unfortunate side effect of striking, it is the main intentional effect of striking. If my teachers would have been able to strike, they would have taken one, maybe two days to reach some sort of agreement. Because they had no official options for making their voices heard, they had to cobble something much more disruptive and distructive out of what was available to them.

Please remember that just because one option has legitimate complications attached to it does not necessarily mean that the absence of that option will not be far far more problematic.

[Jenn May]

10:33 PM on 04/21/2011

Well said!

[hershobr]

10:04 AM on 04/23/2011

Well those teachers are once again showing that their own self-interest is more important than doing the job well for which they were hired and education the children. It's things like that that make people angry at teachers.

[maninal2]

05:47 AM on 04/25/2011

You're angry at teachers because they want what's good for themselves and their families? Really? Are you then saying you don't want anything for yourself and your family? You'd work for free with no benefits because to do otherwise is unacceptable self interest? Do you realize how stunningly ignorant that is?