Labor
Via Jay Nordlinger comes what we can only hope is not a vision of Rhode Island’s future: French teachers hurled shoes and other objects at police Monday to protest President Nicolas Sarkozy’s high school reforms, prompting police to respond with tear gas. France’s leading teachers’ unions demonstrated in the western city of Saint-Lo at a…
The following are some audio clips from the East Providence School Committee meeting. Keep in mind, while listening, that the sound isn’t entirely representative. For one thing, I was sitting near the taxpayer group, so they might be overrepresented in the general sound level (although still greatly outnumbered). School Committee Chairman Anthony Carcieri makes his…
So parking has already spilled over to the supermarket parking lot across the street, and it was clear from conversation that the women standing at the crosswalk with me were teachers from another district. As we crossed, the policeman directing traffic told them to “be loud — my wife is a teacher.” (There’s a six-figure…
Many Rhode Islanders surely share the sentiments that Sharon West expresses from East Providence: Recently, a consultant hired by the committee reported that the average teacher makes $69,000 a year and receives benefits costing $26,000 annually. Yes, $95,000, and many make even more. The consultant stated that this amounts to an hourly wage of $93.…
These are some of the state labor law changes being proposed by Governor Carcieri as part of his budget reform package… Article 25:…makes explicit a school committee’s authority to lay off teachers in the event of budget deficiencies without a particular hearing for the teacher being laid off.Article 26:…requires towns, cities and school committees to…
I just heard on WPRO that the judge won’t decide whether to stop the East Providence School Committee’s unilateral employment change until the 23rd. It looks like union members will start to feel the pinch of not giving concessions. That’s a huge change for the better from an environment in which they expect to get…
The school committee in West Warwick appears mainly to be doing the bare minimum to support a Caruolo suit for more money from the town, but it may be headed down the road behind East Providence soon: The performance audit, commissioned by the town as a part of the Caruolo lawsuit proceedings from the last…
I missed part of the conversation, but according to Dan’s subsequent paraphrase, Williamson also mentioned draft legislation that would enable local school committees to modify contracts on the grounds that there is simply no money and that would centralize contract negotiation within the state government (the Department of Education, I believe). Does that strike anybody…
The editorial board of the Providence Journal notes a familiar problem in the old country: Last month, Britain’s biggest business group, CBI, released a report contending that the total liability for public pensions in the country had reached at least a staggering 900 million pounds — about $1.4 trillion. Some 5 million unionized public employees…
Union members and supporters in Rhode Island should contemplate hard where their self-imposed imperatives are placing them in the battle of messages. On their side is a dogged assertion that official processes don’t weaken their hand even during financial emergencies: [Union lawyer John] Leidecker also said state law says districts should adhere to the old…
