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© 2011 The Union Label Blog & Grassfire Nation
-By Larry Sand
Venerable Scholastic has joined progressive educators and teachers unions in an effort to indoctrinate and radicalize American school children.
Scholastic, a student magazine that has been in business for over 90 years, has caught the progressive fever. (H/T Mary Grabar.) This malady affects common sense and good judgment and leads the afflicted to report news from a biased, progressive viewpoint.
In its December issue, Scholastic, which purports to “believe that all sides of the issues of our times should be fairly discussed — with deep respect for facts and logical thinking,” gets all gooey-eyed about the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon, mentioning that OWS concerns itself with “protesters,” “voicing concerns,” “Americans wanting more opportunity to share in company’s prosperity,” and “workers that they feel that they can never get ahead.” To be sure, some of these types are present at OWS events.
But, Scholastic omits a few inconvenient details, like the fact that the OWS camps have been a magnet for Communists, anarchists, street hustlers, and common criminals and have been breeding grounds for murder, rape, vandalism, robbery and anti-Jewish sentiment. The filth left by many of these criminals — I mean protesters — has taxed municipal sanitation systems at great cost to taxpayers. As of December 9th, there were 417 incidents in all. You would think that Scholastic could have managed to mention that all is not sweetness and light in OWSland. Continue reading »
-By Larry Sand
Every year untold thousands of school kids are harmed by teachers who shouldn’t be allowed in a classroom. Parents must be given an opportunity to send their children elsewhere.
A teacher arrives at work high on drugs…daily.
A teacher regularly flies into rages, terrifying kids and coworkers.
A teacher talks in explicit terms about sex to the students.
A teacher makes constant sexual advances to other teachers.
A teacher doesn’t teach her students anything.
These are a few of the teachers that new Perth Amboy schools superintendent Janine Caffrey has to deal with on a daily basis. She is quick to point out that most teachers are committed and talented, but there are a few….
The evil here is tenure or permanence, which in New Jersey bestows a position for life on teachers after just three years on the job. (It’s even worse in other states – in California, for example, a teacher can get into the untouchables club after only two years.) Tenure for teachers would be nothing more than a bad joke if it didn’t destroy the education experience for tens of thousands of children who are subjected to incompetent/cruel/perverted people on a daily basis. Continue reading »
-By Warner Todd Huston
Once again a thuggish union official has used his ability to reach into our schools to push his partisan, anti-reform message on those public employees we call teachers and your tax dollars helped pay for it through his use of public facilities.
Last week the President of the Lake County Federation of Teachers used his ability to access the mailboxes of teachers at Zion-Benton Township High School to propagandize against efforts of local tax-reformers to fix the wild overspending of area school districts.
LCFT Prez Michael T. McGrue filled teachers mailboxes with a letter using a vile sexual reference to attack Tea Party opponents of big government spending and fearmongered at teachers telling them that tax reformers want to take away all their benefits and pensions. (Download .pdf of letter HERE)
Purportedly addressing his letter to “anti-tax zealots,” McGrue accused them of wanting to “take jobs away from the public sector” so that they could “keep more” for themselves. Naturally these are simply the hatemongering lies of an over paid union thug desperate to make sure that he can keep the riches of which he’s become accustomed.
One has but to remember the recent blockbuster stories about union thug and Director of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, Steven Preckwinkle, who along with his fellow unionista David Piccioli, it was discovered had not only ripped off the state of Illinois for millions in unearned state pension payments, but also arranged for all his kids and some of his relatives to get a free education at state universities. All off the backs of the taxpayers.
This is the sort of corruption you get when your government allows its employees to unionize, for sure.
One candidate in the area, though, is not ignoring this outrageous ignorance exhibited by a tax-paid union chieftain. Lennie Jarratt, a State Senate candidate for the 31st district, has made some comments about this incident.
Jarratt, it should be noted, has been an active school reform activist in north western Illinois for sometime.
Jarratt has sent out the following press release:
(Round Lake Beach, IL – December 11, 2011) Lennie Jarratt responds to the attack on the parents, taxpayers, teachers, school board members, and businesses of Zion-Benton High School District 126 by Lake County Federation of Teachers President Mike McGue.
“Someone needed to respond to Mr. McGue. His attack on the citizens of the Zion-Benton area was excessive and uncalled for. He has chosen his personal agenda and political influence over the needs of the families and businesses of Zion, Winthrop Harbor, Beach Park and Wadsworth.”, Jarratt said.
Dear Anti-Taxpayer Democratic Activist Mike McGue,
Teachers deserve a fair wage and the Zion-Benton District 126 offer of 10% over the next three years is a generous offer given the current financial difficulties of Lake County, the State of Illinois and our entire country. This offer is extremely generous with the fact that the district pays the entire 10.3753% into the Teacher Retirement System on top of the salary.
A few facts that may help you understand the true financial problems facing the families and businesses of District 126:
- Property taxes in Lake County are the highest in the Midwest
- Property taxes in Lake County are the 16th highest in the country
- Illinois unemployment rate has risen from 9.0% to 10% since the Legislature passed the 66% tax increase on individuals and 45% on corporations
- 1 in 158 homes in Zion received foreclosure notices in October
- 1 in 271 homes in Lake County received foreclosure notices in October
Businesses and families are leaving Lake County and the State of Illinois. Yet we have people like you, Mr. McGue, calling people names and making personal attacks. You are even using your position as LCFT President and your relationship with the Benton Teacher Union President, your wife Corrine, to bully and intimidate the District 126 community.
I am running for State Senate to promote the change of public policy to help families and businesses instead of the politics
of personal destruction that people like you use. Families and businesses are losing their jobs and homes. They cannot afford to keep cutting back because school boards are bullied into a contact that rewards the teachers at the top end of the pay scale while harming those at the bottom.I would like to suggest a solution to help the teachers at the bottom of the pay scale. Have the teachers at the top end of the pay scale like your wife whose compensation was over $92,0004 last year get smaller raises over the next 3 years. Use the additional monies to share with those younger, struggling teachers making under $40,000 so they can get more than 10% over the next 3 years. This will help those teachers pay their college loans.
-By Warner Todd Huston
Unions are at the head of the critics on the left that claim that voter ID laws are raaaacist and suppress the minority vote. Yet, as Christian Adams’ Election Law Center blog notes even unions require their voters to show their ID before voting.
A picture is worth a thousand words. According to OpenSecrets.org unions belonging to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) have donated over $26 million to Democratic candidates and causes since 1990. During that same period, the union gave a paltry $272,311 to the Republican Party.
As you’ll note in the photo below the union requires its own members to produce a photo ID in order to vote. The photo shows a union worker voting earlier today on whether to sanction a new four-year contract with Boeing, clearly the union understands the need for a picture ID in order to help guarantee a clean election:
In America, one needs an ID to vote in a union election, buy liquor, drive a car, board an airplane, use a credit card and a slew of other things in our society. Yet, the Democratic party refuses to back the idea of requiring an ID to vote in state and federal elections under any circumstances. A sensible voter ID law that respects the rights of the poor, elderly, and minorities is a great idea. What are Democrats afraid of? You connect the dots.
Yet another example of how leftist and Democrats want to make rules for us to follow… but they don’t feel they need to obey them themselves.
-By Larry Sand
In addition to online learning, Democrat’s abandonment of their traditional union allies could put an end to the educational status quo and decimate the teachers unions
In my October 18th post, I wrote about Terry Moe’s book Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America’s Public Schools. I specifically addressed that part of the book in which he builds a scenario for the eventual undoing of the teachers unions. One of the two ways he claims this will happen is via technology, in the form of online learning. The other route to marginalization is the realization by Democrats that education is really a civil rights issue and that they are morally bound to get on board with reform and choice. By adopting this position, they will be abandoning their longtime political allies – the teachers unions.
As with the rapid ascent of online learning, Moe’s second nail in the unions’ coffin is picking up speed. In a recent Huffington Post entry, Joy Resmovits addresses the “new education lobby.” Continue reading »
Originally posted at Labor Union Report…
Last week’s NLRB vote to give unions the ability to ambush union-free workers and the companies that employ them, as well as to deny due process on bargaining unit issues, is only the latest in a long line of attacks on America’s union-free workforce by the union extremists controlling Barack Obama’s National Labor Relations Board.
Notwithstanding the recent agreement between Boeing and the Machinists’ union to end the prosecution* of Boeing opening its second 787 in South Carolina, listing out of all of the attacks on job creators and America’s union-free workforce would necessitate more than an entire post. However, here are just a few:
- Micro-unions: In a recent ruling, the NLRB has given unions the green light to begin unionizing portions companies by what are called “micro-unions.” Now, union can unionize small segments of a company by classification (or department).
- Reducing employees’ rights to rid themselves of unwanted unions: In a reversal of a previous NLRB decision, the Obama-NLRB has made it much more difficult for employees to decertify unions where highly flawed card-check method of unionization had been utilized. The NLRB’s reversal was only outdone by the NLRB’s destroying of ballots from elections that were already held, but were awaiting the outcome of the NRLB’s decision.
- Requiring union-free employees to post union posters. Though delayed, the NLRB is requiring all union-free, private-sector employers to post NLRB posters explaining workers’ rights to unionize.
- Legitimizing union ‘sweetheart deals.’ Last year, the NLRB approved unions’ ability to negotiation pre-recognition agreements in exchange for ‘card check,’ thus undermining employees’ rights through “sweetheart deals.”
It’s time to put pressure on Washington to halt the NLRB’s assault and here’s how you can help.
Our friends at the Free Enterprise Alliance‘s Halt the Assault campaign have put together an online petition to send a message to Washington to Rein in the Rogue NLRB.
You can even embed a Rein in the Rogue NLRB widget on your blog or website.
Help America’s union-free workforce by sending a message to Washington: Halt the Assault on America’s Union-Free Employees and Job Creators:Rein in the Rogue NLRB.
Pass it on.
Related:
- Union used labor board to win jobs
- Labor board broke federal law on Boeing suit
- How NLRB helped unions shake down Boeing
- Court of Appeals Smacks NLRB Over Postal Employees’ Privacy
- HOW OBAMA’S NLRB KILLED JOB GROWTH IN AMERICA [Video]
- Obama’s Job-Killing NLRB Strikes Again! Orders ALL Employers To Post Union Notices
- Union-Controlled NLRB Approves Union Thuggery in Union Elections
- New NLRB Decision Legitimizes Unions’ Race to the Bottom
About the Free Enterprise Alliance:
- The Free Enterprise Alliance is the action arm for small businesses, entrepreneurs and other advocates of limited government, open and fair (and intense) competition, and the economically sound principles upon which America was built.
Eric Odom (Media Director)
Vanguard of Freedom
Warner Todd Huston