by Brett Healy 
So much for the unions caring about their members like ‘family.’ I guess in the teachers’ union ‘family’ when times are tight the whole family doesn’t sacrifice, the youngest two kids are just kicked to the curb to fend for themselves.
Can they stop using the term ‘union brothers and sisters,’ now?
[MILWAUKEE] The Milwaukee teachers’ union wants area businesses to donate $94 million to solve the district’s financial problems, hoping that will save some of the 519 jobs to be lost on Friday.
Milwaukee Public Schools announced the layoffs on Wednesday. Dr. Gregory Thornton, MPS superintendent, said at least 200 teachers’ jobs could be saved if the union would have agreed to a 5.8 percent pension contribution from its members.
“We will move into a new school year with a big loss of a lot of talent and a lot of strong educators,” Thornton said.
Of those laid off, 354 are certificated teachers. Thornton said the district was prepared to weather losing $100 million in stimulus funding, but not the loss of tens of millions of dollars in state funding. He said as a result of the layoffs, class sizes will be larger, there will be fewer textbooks and fewer summer opportunities.
“The children are being caught in the middle of this,” he said.
Thornton anticipated some of the district’s financial problems earlier this year and, at that time, asked the union for a 1.5 percent pension contribution. The union said no.
“We must have our union partners at the table,” Thornton said Wednesday…
…Although the union was not willing to give on the issue of pension contributions, it did direct the district to lay off the most recent hires.
“District administrators worked closely with the teachers’ union to identify candidates for layoff by seniority, following the terms of the negotiated contract,” said Roseann St. Aubin, MPS communications director.
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Big Government
