Reply to Parents: Would you support a teacher strike if it means there is no DL?

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Reply to "Parents: Would you support a teacher strike if it means there is no DL?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]PP, former union leader here:

So, this is obviously bad. First, there's a clear solidarity problem within the union, where you do have union members saying they don't support what their union is doing, posting internal emails here, etc. That doesn't bode well for collective action, especially a strike which will leave each member legally vulnerable. The WTU membership would have to be VERY serious and VERY committed in order to pull off a strike, but it seems like they're not. This suggests to me that if we're aware of it, management is aware of it. This is why management is pre-emptively invoking the courts--to remind members of their potential legal peril.

Now, we have all seen clear communication from the WTU about a vague threat of a strike. This was a bad move for a couple of reasons. They've tipped their hand and allowed management to prepare ahead of time AND by saying they're calling for a vote, they're indicating that they don't know if the whole membership is on board.

You do not ever want management to realize that you don't have enough people on board to strike meaningfully. This is basically your main union power, and once its gone, your union is toothless.

They went into this completely frivolously. It's appalling strategy. There are basically two outcomes: they demonstrate that they can't/aren't willing to strike, reducing the power of the WTU immensely or they do strike and put themselves in extreme legal peril, which could cause enough damage to destroy the union.

The best thing they could do right now is to stop talking about it and act like they never said anything.
[/quote]

Your outside analysis is pretty good. I've been watching this from the inside shocked at how it played out - one major flaw in this case (no secret here, dots are easily connected) is how much she relied on external forces, city council for one, to act on behalf of the union.All talk amounting to no action. Lots of wasted time with the council. Also creating the [b]narrative of "safe" [/b]and making assumptions on behalf of parents/guardians, etc really early on and never considering pivoting and/or changing the messaging based on listening to the community rather than telling them what to think.

Notifying the union membership at large what the implications of a strike are, at this point, is a dereliction of duty when it could have been messaged months ago. This was never going to end well.[/quote]

Yes, whoever created the "only when safe" talking point should be flogged. It means everything and nothing at once. Some on here seem to define "only when safe" to mean "no risk" which is absurd. I can no longer hear people use this phrase without rolling my eyes. [/quote]

Like they could have fired almost 5,000 people  :roll: [/quote]

Do those 5,000 people want to lose their salaries, health insurance and years built toward (but not yet achieved) retirement? Do they really want to play chicken with their careers, particularly those who are eyeing administration as their next step? There would have been many teachers who would not have participated in the strike because, guess what, they don't agree with it. The union did a piss poor job. My child's teacher has done an amazing job. [/quote]

Teachers have no retirement plan in DC. Just another slap in the face.

Guess what out of those 5k at least half would have participated and that’s enough. No one wants to risk their life. I just started IPL and already there’s 2 positive cases!! It doesn’t make me feel safe to now have to quarantine and wait for my test. It doesn’t make my wonderful kids and families feel safe either. I had quite a few parents message me because their child was riddled with anxiety asking their parents if they could FaceTime me to make sure I’m ok.

So yea teachers are amazing and no one treats us like it. It’s not just about money or benefits it’s about being respected and seen as humans, not just an expendable teaching machine. I came back because I don’t view your children as just a student, I try to give them as much love, care, and nurturing as possible.

But now I’m a bad person because DCPS hasn’t shown me it’s safe. They’ve shown me they don’t care about anything except green and that’s a stark reality check. [/quote]

So the takeaways are :

- as a teacher you don’t understand something as simple as the basics of the spread of Covid
- you were very concerned for your safety - but didn’t take a few minutes to educate yourself about Covid basics
- it is safe - science and medicine both say this - but you as a teacher think both are wrong and dismiss them
- the two positive tests after one day in the classroom were not the result of an in school transmission 
- parents have encouraged hysterics and done a bad job helping children - they should not be worried about you to the point they are 
- I hope you made this story up for drama - otherwise it makes my already dim view of teachers even worse
[/quote]

Ok Karen. Of course you hate teachers who here are majority Black. Takeaway whatever you like, we no longer care what you rich whites think[/quote]

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