Negotiations between the Fort Wayne Education Association and Fort Wayne Community Schools have hit a snag. The main dispute seems to be over whether to immediately start using new state rules disallowing bargaining over working conditions or to do a new contract before June 30 that would do without those rules for the next two years. This is the eye-popping sentence:
He said the district came to the union with a 20-page contract, a drastic difference from the previous 150-page contract, which removed an entire article that stipulated beginning and end times, class sizes, special-education release times and gave teachers rights to remove unruly students.
My good, sweet lord. Only a 20-page contract instead of the previous 150-page contract!
Granted, my experience in these matters is nil. I've never worked for a union company, so my "contract" has always consisted of: "Here's the salary, and this is the job. Want it? Good, you start Monday." Still. Is there not one single union member with the smarts to say to the union negoatiators that a 150-page contract just might be a sign that giving in to public unions has gotten out of hand just a tad and that the average parent might look at all this and run screaming to the voucher line?
Comments
More proof unions are as unnecessary as the fee generating labor lawyers that draw up the contracts.. Does anybody reading here need 20 pages (nevermind 150) to spell out their pay, benefits, and job description?
Seriously?
Really?
The 2007-2009 FWCS contract is available here.
An analysis of FWCS spending that resulted from the provisions of the union contract is here. Here is the summation of the findings by the Education Action Group foundation.
"It quickly becomes obvious that by eliminating or modifying wasteful provisions included in the 2009-10 contract - such as retirement bonuses ($91,297), unnecessary attendance
incentives ($103,841), union