Do you think it is blackmail when teachers go on strike during the school year?

Question

Why do teachers always seem to go on strike during final exams and then say they are going on strike because they care about the kids not for more money?

Answer 1

to get more money. and they are lying if they say they are not.

Answer 2

As a teacher who is probably going to be walking a picket line in less than a month I would say: of course it's blackmail! When would you suggest we go on strike? During the summer when it won't cause anyone any problems? I don't think that would be very effective.

This will be my third strike in 27 years. Our contract was over in June. Last year's contract called for teachers to pay 15% of their insurance with no "cap" of how high it could go. We are now paying 17%. The board says since we are paying 17% they want to keep it there- again no "cap". In addition, they are refusing any raise to compensate. Basically, we have been offered to continue a pay cut. There are other issues, of course.
There has already been a federal mediator involved. The board has not changed their "offer". Will I strike? Of course. Will I feel guilty? No. I do care for the kids but the bottom line is: This is a job. I have to also look out for the welfare of myself and my family.

Answer 3

Well, not I don't personally think it is blackmail. When the contract is up and the union can't work something out then they strike. If they didn't care about the kids or their education they would be doing something else. They don't make that much as it is so for them it is important, it doesn't mean that it is more important but to me it would be because that is their liveyhood. Is is blackmail for a doctor not to do a surgery because an insurance company says they will only pay say 1/4 of the bill and the patient is responsible for the rest, especially when the insurance policy says it pays 80 of everything?

Answer 4

Here is a teacher's point of view:

We are going into our second year with no contract. That means we are on "status quo" and have had no raises for two years. Our insurance keeps going up, our taxes go up, so we are actually takng home less than we did two years ago.

The supt. has convinced the school board that the 1% raise we requested was too high. How much of a raise have you had in the last two years? How much do you pay for insurance? We pay 60 % of our insurance while other schools nearby have their teachers paying $1.00 a month for theirs. I pay $400.00 a month for just a single coverage in insurance.

In our county we have the highest paid supt. while the teachers are the lowest paid. We also have to pay more for the insurance than any other school around. We have the highest percentage of administrators of any school in the surrounding 5 counties. Administrators get free insurance, so they don't worry about paying that $400.00 each month.

Our state does not allow teachers to strike - it is illegal. We can picket at school board meetings, but that must be after school hours. We have very little in the way of resources to negotiate a contract. All we can do is to have a work slow-down. That means we keep shorter hours at school. In other words we only work the hours we are contracted to work.

I usually arrive at school at 7:00 am (we must be there by 8:00 am) and work until 5:00 pm (we can leave at 3:30 pm). That means I voluntarily put in two and a half hours each day just to get all the things done that must be done. You have no idea how much paperwork is required to track all the students and keep up with the laws all the politicians keep throwing at us.

I normally spend at least two hours each night either grading or preparing lessons. That makes a total of four and a half hours each day that I am not contracted for, but still put in to make sure all the things get completed.

A work slow-down means that I am putting in my time from 8:00 to 3:30 and no more. I do only the minimum assignments and grading to keep track of my students.

Is this best for them? No, it is not. However, I cannot keep working those long hours when I am not getting ahead in life. I am actually losing ground due to the two years of ''status quo."

People can complain and say teachers are not doing all they can for the benefit of the students, but they have no idea how many hours teachers put in that are not in our contract. We don't get overtime or even comp time. We do it because we care about our students and want to get the best out of them.

Everyone who reads this answer needs to go to the nearest school and sign up to volunteer in a classroom one day a week. That is the only way you will understand what it is really like inside the school walls.

Answer 5

Teachers go on strike because their unions tell them to. If it's the teacher saying she is not going on strike just for more money, then she's probably telling the truth; she'll be discriminated against for going against the union. If it's the union itself saying that they care about kids more than money, then they're not being truthful since there are more civilized ways to go about things.

Answer 6

the whole 'going on strike' thing is a brand of blackmail, but i think that if a sufficient number of people do it then there's probably some justification for it, but it might not always guarantee results & it is not the most considerate form of democracy i can think of having said that, many times it does actually work