Andrew McCuaig: Why the Madison teachers union vote will be a landslide 'Yes'

[Omaha Steve]

X post in GD & Socialist-Progressive

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/andrew-mccuaig-why-the-madison-teachers-union-vote-will-be/article_8c0c99da-a41c-5c76-bd41-a5ab7038eeca.html

ANDREW McCUAIG | Madison teacher

The day after the November election, Madison teachers will begin a first-ever union recertification vote. As most Wisconsinites know, Walker’s Act 10 requires that a majority of the workforce in a union vote “Yes” for recertification to occur. Unlike any other democratic election imaginable, non-votes will be counted as “No” votes. Teachers like to point out that if we had applied this system to Walker’s recall election, only 30 percent would have said “Yes” and he would not have been “recertified.”

Despite the cards stacked against us, the voting process itself turns out to be a surprisingly reasonable set of rules. No photo ID will be required, and weekend voting is allowed. In fact, teachers may vote at any time between noon on Nov. 5 and noon on Nov. 25 by calling a phone number or logging into a website with their personal information. It is understood that teachers will not vote during the school day, and it has been recommended by our union leadership that we not use a school phone or computer even after the work day is done in order to avoid possible problems. I find it interesting that district officials regularly warned us that we could not discuss Walker or union rights at school during the 2011 protests but have issued no such warnings regarding our recertification vote. Perhaps this is because Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham and a majority of the School Board, including Mary Burke, believe in the importance of collective bargaining.

Wisconsin teachers unions that successfully recertify — and almost all have, by nearly unanimous votes — will have almost no bargaining rights in this new era. We will be able to discuss an increase in pay within the cost-of-living index only. We will not have a legal say in any other area of our work, including classroom size, length of school day or year, length of planning time — or if we even get it. Issues of curriculum and testing, the things we know best, will be discussed only if administration chooses to include us. Same goes for staff and student safety. Even long-standing policies regarding sick leave and maternity leave could be “revisited” by district officials. These are the “tools” Walker alluded to so euphemistically in 2011.

FULL story at link.

Andrew McCuaig teaches English at Madison's La Follette High School.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Well well.

The stay homeski's found out what really hurts when they did not show up at the recall poles. The plain truth hurts in the form of pay cuts and seniority and pension rights. Wisconsin is on it's way back from the Kock Bros. and the Johnson families. Talk about working in a train wreck.