Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 23:20     Subject: Public sector unions and their political influence
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I personally think the teachers’ interests are almost perfectly aligned with my kids‘ interest. If all the teachers quit because they are afraid of getting sick, my kid is going to be up a creek. We did have a ton who retired or left. I don’t always agree 100% but the views of teachers are extremely important to me.


I guess same could be said for the police union. Just trust them.


My man or lady you have quite an agenda and I respect the hustle. Good luck trying to win this nonsense debate


It is pretty impressive. I think the paid shills probably stop working in the evenings - this person is going the extra mile. Maybe some day they'll align with a good cause.


No agenda, and I'm not trying to persuade anyone. I just feel like my view isn't represented and wondering if anyone else agrees. It seems like whenever someone takes this position they're attacked personally ("paid shill," "quite an agenda").
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 23:07     Subject: Public sector unions and their political influence
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I personally think the teachers’ interests are almost perfectly aligned with my kids‘ interest. If all the teachers quit because they are afraid of getting sick, my kid is going to be up a creek. We did have a ton who retired or left. I don’t always agree 100% but the views of teachers are extremely important to me.


I guess same could be said for the police union. Just trust them.


My man or lady you have quite an agenda and I respect the hustle. Good luck trying to win this nonsense debate


It is pretty impressive. I think the paid shills probably stop working in the evenings - this person is going the extra mile. Maybe some day they'll align with a good cause.
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 23:05     Subject: Public sector unions and their political influence
Anonymous wrote:I personally think the teachers’ interests are almost perfectly aligned with my kids‘ interest. If all the teachers quit because they are afraid of getting sick, my kid is going to be up a creek. We did have a ton who retired or left. I don’t always agree 100% but the views of teachers are extremely important to me.

I feel the same way. I'm not 100% aligned with the WTU, but close enough to have a healthy tension. I would work collaboratively with them any day. The Mayor on the other hand... she's gotta go.
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 22:41     Subject: Public sector unions and their political influence
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I personally think the teachers’ interests are almost perfectly aligned with my kids‘ interest. If all the teachers quit because they are afraid of getting sick, my kid is going to be up a creek. We did have a ton who retired or left. I don’t always agree 100% but the views of teachers are extremely important to me.


I guess same could be said for the police union. Just trust them.


My man or lady you have quite an agenda and I respect the hustle. Good luck trying to win this nonsense debate
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 22:38     Subject: Public sector unions and their political influence
Anonymous wrote:I personally think the teachers’ interests are almost perfectly aligned with my kids‘ interest. If all the teachers quit because they are afraid of getting sick, my kid is going to be up a creek. We did have a ton who retired or left. I don’t always agree 100% but the views of teachers are extremely important to me.


I guess same could be said for the police union. Just trust them.
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 22:32     Subject: Public sector unions and their political influence
I personally think the teachers’ interests are almost perfectly aligned with my kids‘ interest. If all the teachers quit because they are afraid of getting sick, my kid is going to be up a creek. We did have a ton who retired or left. I don’t always agree 100% but the views of teachers are extremely important to me.
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 22:32     Subject: Re:Public sector unions and their political influence


I just want to make sure I’m following…you’re comparing teachers to the MAGA party? I’m thinking you are just trying to backdoor your way around the WTU obsessive trashing that Jeff has been responding to, because you aren’t making much sense. I have no idea why you wouldn’t want teachers to have what the WTU is advocating for. Smaller class sizes, safer and cleaner schools, and better pay for quality teachers seems like something you wouldn’t want a check on. Would you mind explaining why these policies trouble you?


OP here, again. I absolutely want all of those things for teachers. But I also wanted teachers to fight to get back into classrooms, which they didn't. And to be honest, all the things you listed are things that groups like DFER advocate too, which is an inconvenient truth for the WTU. So my point is that when the WTU says they're focused on students and their rival groups aren't, it's just not true, and it leaves parents looking for ways to have more political influence. Hence the original post.
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 22:31     Subject: Re:Public sector unions and their political influence
Anonymous wrote:In general, this is like hoping the right wing doesn’t gain too much power, or at least has a strong check to it. I’m also of the camp that believes the union is there to serve its members, and if the choice is between its members and the education of children, they.l pick their members. That’s problematic for me.

What can be done? Just don’t vote for anyone endorsed by the union.


So their employer is pretty invisible in this framing. It's the job of the school district to provide for the education of children; part of how they do that is by providing a labor force of teachers to provide that education.

If the school district is screwing over educators to the degree that they need to flex some muscle, then perhaps the school district needs to do a better job of employee relations.
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 22:20     Subject: Re:Public sector unions and their political influence
Anonymous wrote:In general, this is like hoping the right wing doesn’t gain too much power, or at least has a strong check to it. I’m also of the camp that believes the union is there to serve its members, and if the choice is between its members and the education of children, they.l pick their members. That’s problematic for me.

What can be done? Just don’t vote for anyone endorsed by the union.


I just want to make sure I’m following…you’re comparing teachers to the MAGA party? I’m thinking you are just trying to backdoor your way around the WTU obsessive trashing that Jeff has been responding to, because you aren’t making much sense. I have no idea why you wouldn’t want teachers to have what the WTU is advocating for. Smaller class sizes, safer and cleaner schools, and better pay for quality teachers seems like something you wouldn’t want a check on. Would you mind explaining why these policies trouble you?
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 22:14     Subject: Re:Public sector unions and their political influence
In general, this is like hoping the right wing doesn’t gain too much power, or at least has a strong check to it. I’m also of the camp that believes the union is there to serve its members, and if the choice is between its members and the education of children, they.l pick their members. That’s problematic for me.

What can be done? Just don’t vote for anyone endorsed by the union.
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 22:08     Subject: Public sector unions and their political influence
Anonymous wrote:OP here. I have no issue with the union having influence. My problem is that their influence in politics is treated as an unalloyed good for students while every other group is assumed to have some malign interest. Is this ot bizarre? The union's interest may sometimes work well for students, not not always (like when they refused to open schools and instead dropped faux body bags in front of DCPS headquarters in protest).


So was your point to just bring up past grievances? Or is there something they’re advocating for in this cycle that has you concerned?
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 22:06     Subject: Public sector unions and their political influence
OP here. I have no issue with the union having influence. My problem is that their influence in politics is treated as an unalloyed good for students while every other group is assumed to have some malign interest. Is this ot bizarre? The union's interest may sometimes work well for students, not not always (like when they refused to open schools and instead dropped faux body bags in front of DCPS headquarters in protest).
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 21:56     Subject: Public sector unions and their political influence
Well they don't have big $$ to swing around. And if teachers are backing someone with people power then that's only by the action of volunteers who put their time in, right? I'm generally happy with the individual teachers that my kids have had or that I've otherwise interacted with. So I'm glad they have some influence. What's wrong with that?
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 21:50     Subject: Public sector unions and their political influence
Anonymous wrote:My personal opinion is that the police union exists to fight for the interests of its members (i.e. cops), not the interests of the people served by the sector (i.e. everyday citizens). The same is true of the WTU, which flights for the interests of its members (i.e. teachers) and not the people served by the sector (i.e. students). This was clearest during the absurd and seriously damaging school closures. And the WTU's political muscle is formidable. There's another thread highlighting the money flowing into local races through DFER and others, which raises good points. But what can parents who oppose the WTU's policies do to influence this election?


Which WTU policies, specifically, do you oppose? And closing schools is not a WTU policy, unless you can find something that says otherwise
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2022 21:35     Subject: Public sector unions and their political influence
My personal opinion is that the police union exists to fight for the interests of its members (i.e. cops), not the interests of the people served by the sector (i.e. everyday citizens). The same is true of the WTU, which flights for the interests of its members (i.e. teachers) and not the people served by the sector (i.e. students). This was clearest during the absurd and seriously damaging school closures. And the WTU's political muscle is formidable. There's another thread highlighting the money flowing into local races through DFER and others, which raises good points. But what can parents who oppose the WTU's policies do to influence this election?