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Last updated at May 22, 2013

Teacher strikes becoming an ugly way of life for struggling Oregon school districts

Unions striking for the children, or more power?

June 12, 2012

by Editorial Staff

[Note: cross posted from EAGnews.org]

By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

TROUTDALE, Ore. – Reynolds, Oregon school board member Bruce McCain said a recent five-day teachers strike had little impact on his district’s budget.

The money saved from suspending employee payroll during the labor standoff essentially canceled out raises and other increases included in the new union contract, he said.

But McCain and other Oregon school reformers believe that the Reynolds strike is only the latest example of how teachers union leaders are willing to hold students hostage and unravel the fabric of communities to get what they want: salary increases and expensive benefits most districts can no longer afford.

The Reynolds work stoppage was the third time this spring local chapters of the Oregon Education Association went on strike to sway negotiations, with similar incidents occurring in the Gresham-Barlow and Eagle Point school districts. Teachers in the Parkrose district voted to strike, then used the threat of a work stoppage to gain a quick contract settlement.

Oregon is one of only 12 states where teacher strikes are still legal, and the union is more than willing to take advantage of that liberty. That means the education of Oregon students can be interrupted at any time, caught in the crossfire of adult labor disagreements.

Unfortunately, McCain and State Rep. Dennis Richardson agree that there is little that lawmakers or other officials can do to put an end to the OEA’s ability to strike because the union is a strong supporter of the Democratic Party, which currently controls state government.

“The unions have too much power in the state capitol to bring about any change,” Richardson said.

While many lawmakers acknowledge that “it’s totally inappropriate for teachers to use the education of students as a pawn in their chess game for more benefits,” Richardson said the chances of changing the situation “are zero … until the Republicans can take over and bring into focus what’s going on.

“There will be no change until there is a shift in power,” he said.

Raiding the piggy bank

According to an OregonLive.com editorial, “The labor strike is only the latest chapter in the Reynolds saga. The district will soon welcome a new superintendent, its fourth in five years. A temporary manager is running the high school while the former principal is under investigation for alleged misuse of public and student funds. The district had a full financial meltdown in 2008 following years of overspending and poor oversight.”

McCain said a new group of reform-minded school board members managed to turn things around and rebuild the district’s dangerously low fund reserves to about $12 million, despite the fact that state funding hasn’t kept pace with rising union employee costs.

McCain said the healthier fund reserve was like blood in the water to the OEA union sharks as contract negotiations approached.

“The union president was actually on TV saying our reserves belong to their union members and it was up to the board to return the money to their members,” McCain said. “They weren’t going to stop until they raided our piggy bank.”

Union members were relentless in their effort to get what they wanted. They worked overtime to gain the support of the public and demonize the school board. They even used Facebook and online blogs to smear board members and their families, McCain said.

“We got orchestrated calls from people sympathetic with the union and I have to remind them the school board members aren’t the ones on strike,” McCain said. “The children are the hostages … and (union officials) are going to blame the board for not giving them their ransom money.”

The strike gave the union the leverage it needed to secure a contract that the district can’t afford.

District officials’ original offer would have increased labor spending by about $3.8 million, but they ultimately agreed to an increase of between $5.1 and $5.7 million, depending on the amount the district receives from the state next school year.

Savings from teacher salaries that weren’t paid during the strike means district officials won’t have to dip into their fund reserves … yet.

Nevertheless, the Reynolds district’s $12 million account balance is expected to dwindle to $2 million over the next year because of a deficit spending situation created by stagnant state funding and high labor costs tied to the former superintendent “giving away the farm to the union,” McCain said.

Board members fear the worst is yet to come. “We’re already looking at 2013-14 as the year we’re going to get hammered,” McCain said.

‘An ever-increasing problem’

Richardson spoke out earlier this year when the OEA employed threats of strikes and actual walkouts in several school districts. He noted how the union manages to convince communities that support for local teachers should equate to support for the union.

The connection is a fallacy based on misinformation and hype, he said, and it needs to stop.

“One of the most important things is separating collective bargaining and support for teachers,” Richardson told EAGnews.org. “The unions always say … support the teachers but in reality it’s about money.

“Every dollar they spend on additional salary and benefits for teachers … it has to come from somewhere else.”

On the local level, the increased labor spending has combined with stagnant state funding and property tax caps to put districts into a difficult situation, Richardson said.

“It’s going to become an ever increasing problem … because collective bargaining agreements are already costing districts more than they can afford,” he said.

On a state level, the Public Employee Retirement System – the pension program for teachers and other public workers – is another serious financial problem that will make matters worse in coming years, according to Richardson.

“That one item … increased $500 million in our current budget and it’s scheduled to go up another $400 million in the next budget,” Richardson said. “When you have additional requirements on limited funds … that means there will be less to spend on public education, higher education, less on social service programs and less to spend on public safety.”

The financial problems likely will lead to more teacher walkouts in the future, he said.

“Collective bargaining is going to become harder to reach agreements and there will be a higher likelihood of strikes,” Richardson said.

McCain said Oregon’s police, firefighters and other critical public service providers cannot strike, and use binding arbitration to resolve union contract disputes. That alternative likely won’t work for public education because “the teachers union doesn’t like (binding arbitration) and the school boards association doesn’t trust arbitrators.

“So I don’t think there is the political will to put teachers in a non-striking arbitration” situation, he said.

“We have to do something different because this just gets so adversarial … it’s going to be years before the vitriol and venom dissipates,” he said.

Editorial Staff

Categories: Education, Labor / Unions, Opinion
Tags: AFT, Bruce McCain, Dennis Richardson, NEA, OEA, Oregon, public education, Reynolds School District, teacher unions

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