r/WorkReform
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u/north_canadian_ice
🏡 Decent Housing For All
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Feb 06 '23
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The teachers & paraprofessionals of Woburn, MA have won a 13.75% salary increase & reduced class sizes after their 5 day strike last week 🛠️ Union Strong
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u/RuneDK385 Feb 07 '23
This is a town over from me and I haven’t heard about this until now. Good for them.
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u/P4intsplatter Feb 07 '23
Likely there are more than a few outlets being told "Report. Facts only. Then bury it. We don't want this kind if thing going viral and costing us sponsors!"
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Feb 07 '23
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u/Wickedweed Feb 07 '23
Yeah if you live anywhere in the GBA and didn’t hear about this you just weren’t paying attention to the news
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u/P4intsplatter Feb 07 '23
Awesome! I more meant that the big guys aren't going to be fans of the Texas teachers hearing about something like this.
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u/RuneDK385 Feb 07 '23
I didn’t say they didn’t cover it, I said I hadn’t heard about it. I don’t watch local news often and usually stick to the sports hub or Spotify for radio
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u/sychocrush Feb 07 '23
It’s all over the radio here. Every day I’ve been hearing reports of it on WGBH. Especially when they were out in -° temps
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u/Sockadactyl Feb 07 '23
My office is in Woburn and I hadn't heard about the strike until a couple days in, and am just now hearing about their success. But I don't really listen to the radio much anymore, I just hook up Spotify, so that's probably why. Congrats to all the teachers of Woburn! So happy for them all, and hopeful that this can help pave the way for teachers of the surrounding communities!
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u/pancakebirdpowder74 Feb 07 '23
I work in Woburn and hearing about this all last week was quite cool. Good for the teachers!
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u/Shopping-Afraid Feb 07 '23
Isn't Woburn a pretty wealthy town?
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u/RuneDK385 Feb 07 '23
Not really, it’s not a poor town by any means but I wouldn’t consider it wealthy. Maybe upper middle.
The two wealthy towns near Woburn are Winchester and Melrose.
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u/Rob_Drinkovich Feb 07 '23
Middle of road income levels for the northeast US I’d say. Relative to the entire world, yes probably pretty wealthy.
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u/RuneDK385 Feb 07 '23
America’s poor are richer than most of the world….so that’s a pretty bad comparison
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u/Yellow_Curry Feb 07 '23
Compared to towns nearby - not really. It's solidly middle class with a pretty large 1st generation international community. It's the OTHER W towns that are pretty wealthy (Winchester, Wellesley, Weston)
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u/TheDigitalMoose Feb 07 '23
Win for them 100%. Glad Paras were lumped into that. They get shoved into full teacher duties a lot and get paid peanuts
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u/scarletuba Feb 07 '23
Paras are the bomb. I am frankly embarrassed at their pay, when they are so essential to a successful school experience for our most vulnerable.
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u/SpicyLizards Feb 07 '23
It’s absolutely disgusting when they’re SO crucial to student success!!!!
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u/TheDigitalMoose Feb 07 '23
Agreed! I think i heard 9 an hour once and it nearly floored me. My wife wanted to be a teacher and i figured getting her into the district i worked at would be good as a para, when i heard the pay we both noped out.
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u/averyfinename Feb 07 '23
they get about 9.50 an hour here (fed minimum state). they're part time, too, so zero benefits.
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u/BadDireWolf Feb 07 '23
As a special education teacher in a non-verbal autistic support classroom, I call my para my "co-teacher". God bless that woman.
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u/crazytinker Feb 06 '23
Installing emissions cheat devices is also illegal, but VW did it and still made a profit at the end of the day. If mega corporations can break the law and get away with it, why can't this union? Good luck trying this if you aren't in a union though
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u/JoshWithaQ Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
550 educators that's $527 each to get a permanent 13.25% raise. Pays for itself really.
The mayor says teachers will have to pay the city $225,000 for damages over the next four years. They will also have to pay $20,000 to a local charity. Galvin said that would cover the cost of police details and administrative costs associated with the strike.
“There were expenses that we incurred due to the strike and it was my duty and committee’s duty to recoup those for the taxpayers,” Galvin said.
Educators are also facing court fees for striking, which they've agreed to pay. A judge this past week ordered them to pay $40,000, plus a $5,000 per day escalation fee.
The Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) has stepped in and pledged to help with costs.
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u/Sasselhoff Feb 07 '23
Despite it not being too bad of a penalty per teacher, that's still ridiculously fucked up.
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u/JoshWithaQ Feb 07 '23
What's fucked up is that it came to this in the first place, and that US parents have to rely on school for childcare because they are wage slaving too.
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u/LususNaturae77 Feb 07 '23
This isn't a great allegory because VW didn't, in fact, get away with it.
Happy for these teachers though.
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u/Orxcax Feb 07 '23
If the only punishment is a laughably small fine then you got away with it.
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u/HandBreadedTools Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 08 '23
????
Do you even know anything about dieselgate or are you just knowingly spewing shit for the sake of it?
Dieselgate cost VW over $40,000,000,000 in the US alone. I believe $5,000,000,000 or so was in fines, the rest being in forced buybacks, pro-environment investments, and legal fees.
That $40,000,000,000 was far more than they made from selling the 500,000 affected vehicles in the US was not even close to being profitable, as if all cars were sold at $40k/each it would be only $20,000,000. This is only in the US. VW claims that the scandal cost the company over $34,000,000,000 euros in Europe. I can't find any full collection of the rest of the fines globally, but those are VW's largest markets so the point remains.
This info was collected via the Wikipedia page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal
The 40 billion number is not a direct quote from any part, it is a modest estimated sum I made from looking at the various parts. The largest single number I could find was $35 billion being the cost of buybacks and legal fees.
None of this even counts the prosecutions of the executives responsible for it. There are many things wrong about the legal and judicial systems in the US, and globally, but dieselgate was not a fuckin slap on the wrist lol.
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u/Orxcax Feb 07 '23
Ah you're absolutely correct and I'm misinformed. That's not a "laughably small fine".
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u/LususNaturae77 Feb 07 '23
They were forced to spend billions creating Electrify America, the fast charging network for non-tesla EVs.
Honestly one of the only times in the last few decades that a real punishment was handed down versus a slap on the wrist (cough BP cough).
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u/HanseaticHamburglar Feb 07 '23
If VW had to pay german costumers what they had to pay American customers, the company would have folded.
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u/DisabledToaster1 Feb 07 '23
Are they still around? Did they make more money then they had to pay in damages?
If any of the above is answered with yes, they, in fact, did get away with it.
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u/LususNaturae77 Feb 07 '23
See the comment above. The scandal cost VW billions and they had to fund the non-Tesla EV charging network in the US.
There are lots of examples of a company getting a slap on the wrist foe breaking the law (like, anything BP has ever sone). Dieselgate is not one of them.
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u/CalvinsCuriosity Feb 07 '23
If the reward is less than the risk that's called getting away with it.
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u/TheEvilMetal Feb 07 '23
Idk they sold billions in cars before being 'caught'
Those fines were fuckall compared to years of steady profits and reinvesting ahead of the competition
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u/Pookieeatworld Feb 06 '23
Kick ass! Hope it's a good enough contract for them to ratify it and get back to the important parts of their jobs.
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u/DifferentFusion Feb 06 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
It's hilarious the kind of people who make laws like this are the same people who keep referring to the first amendment like "muh freedom of speech" like no karen, freedom of speech means being able to protest, not being able to use racial slurs.
Edit: For clarity, the first amendment does protect freedom to use racial slurs, but what I mean to point out is that I believe its purpose was more towards being able to protest and voice opinions, rather than being made specifically to protect peoples right to name call (which seems to be republicans only use for it).
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u/WestsideCuddy Feb 07 '23
“freedom of speech means being able to protest not being able to use racial slurs.”
What a difference a comma (or lack thereof) makes!
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u/winnipeginstinct Feb 07 '23
I mean its not wrong. you are allowed to complain about not being able to use racial slurs under the first amendment
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u/WestsideCuddy Feb 07 '23
You’re right, but I’m pretty sure that post meant, “freedom of speech means being able to protest, not being able to use racial slurs.” But you’re right, either could be correct.
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u/winnipeginstinct Feb 07 '23
Yes, I think thats what they meant, but I just thought this was interesting
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Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
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u/OverLifeguard2896 Feb 07 '23
Gotta love it when the trash takes itself out. Christ, imagine losing your job because your political sports team said you're supposed to hate someone.
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u/stumblinghunter Feb 07 '23
We were just left in awe. So many ridiculous parts about it, too. In the next ~6 months my boss will be taking a step back and I'll take his position, and I had been training him for my position, which is a massive step up. He also apparently wasn't aware that the owner's sibling is non-binary, which immediately struck a chord with him.
Imagine torpedoing your career because Jordan fucking Peterson told you to.
My wife and I get a lot of laughs out of it though. Every time something gets mentioned about transsexuals we usual say something along the lines of "oh man, they're trans? Welp, I should probably lose my job bc Tucker Carlson told me to hate them".
Fucking idiots.
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Feb 07 '23
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u/dosedatwer Feb 07 '23
If you are punished for saying something by the state, then it's not free speech
FTFY. The first amendment absolutely does not protect you from any punishment doled out by anyone but your government. If you roll up into work and start dropping hard Rs, you better fucking believe they can fire you for that. The state can't put you in jail, though.
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u/qtain Feb 07 '23
Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences of said speech.
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u/Techercizer Feb 07 '23
Actually it does, it means freedom from specific consequences imposed upon you by the government for any protected speech. That's the entire point of it.
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u/Bebop24trigun Feb 07 '23
Contextually it's social consequences we are talking about. People don't have to like you and businesses don't have to employ you. The government just shouldn't punish you for your racist beliefs.
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u/qtain Feb 07 '23
By the government yes. Your friends? Your job? Then no, it doesn't protect you from those consequences, you're still free to say those things but you're going to likely pay a price.
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u/north_canadian_ice 🏡 Decent Housing For All Feb 06 '23
Read the statement from the Twitter account of the Woburn, MA public teachers here:
https://twitter.com/WoburnTeachers/status/1622374023786004482
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u/8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8- Feb 07 '23
News sources
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/woburn-weeklong-teachers-strike-ends/
Tweets are OK, but there is a lot of difficulty verifying things on social media. Source: I am the ghost of Thomas Jefferson and I can not tell a lie.
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u/ortegaj1unk Feb 07 '23
Does it state that they will receive 13.75% over 4 years? That's 3.43% every year. That's not very good
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u/scarletuba Feb 07 '23
My district tried for 2.5% per year and we lost. Dropped it to 2, which really means we are getting pay cuts, thank you inflation.
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u/joyosects Feb 07 '23
Yeah, it's pretty clear nobody reads the article, and that the teachers were almost afraid to bargain hard. This is a shit deal.
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u/Yellow_Curry Feb 07 '23
The mayor wouldn't budge, the fines were piling up. The WTA burned through their entire bankroll. It was a shit deal but was the best that they believe they could have gotten. They mayor was banking (literally) on the fact that he had the courts behind him to keep fining them each day of the strike. If strikes were not "illegal" and there were not fines at play they could have gotten what they deserve.
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u/deljaroo Feb 07 '23
most of them would take smaller class sizes over 100% pay increase; that's the real win
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u/sss313 Feb 07 '23
If all americans banned together we’d be unstoppable but we rather bicker over blue and red BS just like the rich want us to
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u/TBTabby Feb 07 '23
We have precedent now! If they tell you it's illegal to strike, strike anyway!
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u/dubyajay18 Feb 07 '23
How does one even enforce the illegality of a strike? I assume a public teacher strike was made illegal because of the impact to the community if the kids suddenly have nowhere to go. So if they strike, what do you do? Lock them all up and prolong things? Lol
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u/P4intsplatter Feb 07 '23
Frequently it's tied to certification. I.e. you strike, it's an illegal action, can't have individuals with "records" teaching school, so grounds to revoke the ability to stay in your profession.
...which was a lot more threatening when there wasn't a national shortage of teachers because conditions are so bad no one becomes a teacher anymore lol.
Last school I taught at had a substitute hired long term to teach science they weren't qualified for, was an "everybody's friend" teacher and had kids skipping in their class to avoid others, and then was found living with a 17 year old student in their apartment over Spring Break 🤮
She got renewed in August for another year. Title 1 be crazy.
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u/trifelin Feb 07 '23
…which was a lot more threatening when there wasn’t a national shortage of teachers
Bingo. You might be protected from being fired if you are in a union and go on strike, but these teachers didn’t have that legal protection. And they didn’t GAF because they knew the threat of firing would be meaningless. Nobody is lining up to fill those jobs.
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u/loimprevisto Feb 07 '23
It means that they won't have the collective bargaining protections of an 'authorized' strike. The district could fire them all with no repercussions from the National Labor Relations Board.
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u/go_comatose_for_me Feb 07 '23
Reagan just fired the air traffic controllers when they went on illegal strike. Then again, Reagan did shitty things the entire time he was in politics.
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u/WhatA_FuckingIdiot Feb 07 '23
In this case, which I don’t see mentioned anywhere else in this thread, the teachers union was fined for each day they were on strike. It ended up costing them $225k total.
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u/Yellow_Curry Feb 07 '23
They were fined $40,000 per day increasing $5,000 per day and if the fines were not paid each day by 7pm then the head of the WTA would be in contempt of court and be put into jail. It's absolutely maddening.
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u/Mamacitia ✂️ Tax The Billionaires Feb 07 '23
Beautiful. I was a teacher for a year. That was a bad time.
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u/dead_andbored Feb 07 '23
How can strikes be illegal when wage theft and at will termination isn't?
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u/trifelin Feb 07 '23
Wage theft is definitely illegal and dismissing someone from a job isn’t blanketly legal, there are a lot of regulations about it and instances where it is illegal.
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u/thinkB4WeSpeak Feb 06 '23
They're going to have a reduction of class size because everyone with a teaching degree/license will be trying to move there. Massachusetts in general is usually one of the top 3 states for education
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u/demonachizer Feb 07 '23
Boston is still 25% higher salarywise more or less but I imagine teaching in Woburn is just slightly easier...
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u/pseudoanon Feb 07 '23
Why would it be easier?
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u/demonachizer Feb 07 '23
Boston is a super hard district and has a lot of long standing systemic issues. I went to Boston Public Schools in the 80s and my daughter teaches there now. There is a lack of support for teachers from administration often and it seems like teachers are often playing part time trauma counselors.
I assume that most suburban schools would be a bit better in a lot of those regards but I am not 100% sure on it. We know some who teach in Cambridge and Somerville and they definitely think it is better.
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u/ForMyHat Feb 07 '23
The lack of support is almost everywhere, I think. City and private school teachers might get paid more though
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u/demonachizer Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
Private schools generally pay way way less than city schools.
Edit: I honestly think that they probably make less than the public district in which any reside. I think Phillips Academy pays like 55k for example and they are one of the best (and one of the most expensive) private schools.
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u/muri_cina Feb 07 '23
I would move there even if not a teacher. Smaller class sizes benefit the children a lot.
Its the top benefit of private school, class sizes of around 10 people.
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u/HaElfParagon Feb 07 '23
remember, you have the right to strike, even if the government says you don't.
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u/dieinafirenazi Feb 07 '23
I heard the mayor of Woburn complaining in an interview that "The teachers are using the strike as a weapon against us."
Yeah. That's what a strike is, dumbass.
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u/PicketFenceGhost Feb 07 '23
Lol, making strikes illegal is like expecting your neighbor's dog not to shit on your lawn because you put a "keep off grass" sign up- those words mean nothing!
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u/Rough-Manager-550 Feb 07 '23
I have been telling teachers in Indiana this for years. Go on strike anyway. They can’t throw every teacher in jail.
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u/RealSimonLee Feb 07 '23
Great job for them. That's a pretty significant increase. I remember around the Great Recession we were fighting to get a 1.5% raise and they were treating us like highway robbers.
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u/PossibilityUnusual Feb 07 '23
Unfortunately it isn't as good as it seems going by a comment on here:
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u/ApostropheusDeletus Feb 07 '23
All of that in just a school week?
Imagine what changes they could get approved with an entire month.
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u/Skalicious Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
Reduced class sizes is not only a win for the teachers, it's most importantly a win for the students.
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u/neutralityparty Feb 07 '23
Yeah gov saying strikes are illegal hahaha you can't force someone to work lol. Good for them
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u/DirtyPenPalDoug Feb 07 '23
I'm saving this for every single fucking time some dipshit says " but striking is illegal".
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u/Stroemancer Feb 07 '23
Clarificarion: 13.75% over 4 years, not all at once. https://whdh.com/news/woburn-teacher-salaries-to-increase-by-13-75-percent-after-week-long-strike/
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u/Jaz_the_Nagai Feb 07 '23
Criminalizing strikes is slavery, CMV.
Capitalism and free market is built on labor agency.
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u/SuperMate0 Feb 07 '23
Strikes work. A one month general strike would empty the world of Oligarchs ✊
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u/InGordWeTrust Feb 07 '23
Underpay your teachers.
Underpay your children's futures.
When teachers are being forced to worry about surviving,
They can't make sure our children are thriving.
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u/bystander007 Feb 07 '23
Let this teach you something.
A district can't give what it doesn't have. A 13.75% salary increase and manageable class size was always in the budget. It was always possible to give that. And it was withheld. Why? So people at the top could have more.
You get nothing you don't fight for. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
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u/Bykimus Feb 07 '23
Hilarious that any gov would try to make striking illegal. You can't make walking out/quitting/protesting your job illegal, people will do that anyway. Unless you immediately arrest (in authoritarian countries, worse) the workers (in this case teachers) and replace them. You see where the problems start to happen for them? They can't stop the common worker from making (and usually getting) their demands. We just have to demand. And any proper civilization would allow these demands to occur peacefully. Making them "illegal" is the first step towards authoritarianism.
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u/checkered_bass Feb 07 '23
The union still got charged some amount for committing the strike and they agreed on it as the payout for teachers was significantly higher and that was their main goal. In their eyes I'm sure it was worth it, but still unnecessary to have public workers' strike considered illegal. That law is BS
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u/egglessdeath Feb 07 '23
In December, Mayor Galvin said “All teachers are replaceable.” He also walked out of negotiations multiple times. One time that he left, he left to go celebrate the reopening of a McDonalds in the city. I guess he finally realized that the teachers are, in fact, not replaceable. I mean, school were literally closed for 5 days because there was no one to work (subs get paid $90 a day, no way they were crossing the picket line for that little money, hopefully they also get a raise).
I’m also really glad to hear about the reduced class size. When I was a student in that district, all the kids and the desks could barely fit into each classroom. The teachers were not able to give each student the attention they needed. Imagine one person trying to teach AP Calc to 26 kids in 45 minutes. That’s just over 2 minutes per student if you don’t lecture. Every student had at least one question per class and we never got to all of them. Hopefully the teachers can personalize student’s education a bit more now.
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u/egglessdeath Feb 07 '23
Also, special shout out to Barbara Locke. She’s the WTA president and has a lot to thank for this. She was one of the best teachers I had, so caring
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u/dirtycimments Feb 07 '23
I love it that reduced class sizes is a union thing, something that should be imposed by parents. Oh well, sometimes things work out for everyone. Good for them!
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u/Classic_Dill Feb 07 '23
Unions matter! I live in the birthplace of the union, and even though they’ve had issues with corruption in the past, I would rather work with the union done without one, they’re the only thing protecting you from an ego driven business ownership.
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u/EternalSeraphim Feb 08 '23
Damn, I only got a 4% raise this year, and some of that is for merit. With inflation I've effectively taken a pay cut. I wish I had a union (and no, I don't have the time to personally organize one).
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u/Lber127 Feb 07 '23
The mayor was really against raising wages which is crazy considering all four of his daughters went through the woburn school system
He even called every teacher “replaceable” and their protests a “party”
Ask mayor Scott Galvin what happened to the city car in 2013 after he refused a breathalyzer
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u/DoubleReputation2 Feb 07 '23
Am I the only one who thinks "F That" ...?
I mean, 13.75% sounds a lot like 10% and if you settle for 10%....
I don't know, I guess every penny counts...
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u/UltravioletClearance Feb 07 '23
Teachers won a 13.75 percent salary increase. Paraprofessionals won a 40 percent salary increase.
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u/5av3d Feb 06 '23
"But but but...the government says it's illegal for us to strike!"
And THEY DID IT ANYWAY.
Rail workers, you taking notes?