mv@cdc.gov (Major Variola ret) writes:
Complete with soccer-mom revolutionaries and "obligatory contracts"...
I suppose this is what you get for working for the state, eh?
http://latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000097073dec06.story?coll=la%2...
MIDDLETOWN, N.J. -- On Saturday, the Middletown High School South Tigers won the state football championship. On Monday, their head coach went to jail.
Coach Steve Antonucci was among 135 striking schoolteachers and secretaries behind bars by day's end Wednesday, and the number is expected to swell as nearly 900 continue to defy a judge's order to get off the picket line and into the classroom.
The five-day strike and jailings have torn this otherwise average American suburban community in two.
Favorite kindergarten teachers, drama coaches and others who have always seen themselves as normal, law-abiding folks are being led to jail sobbing or defiantly denouncing the local school board and residents. "This town ought to be ashamed of itself," said Lauren Spatz, a second-grade teacher. "The parents don't care about education. . . . It's not going to be the same ever again. The teachers' morale is going to be shot."
But parents and administrators say the teachers' timing couldn't be worse, with layoffs at nearby computer firms and families still shaken by the death of more than 30 local residents in the World Trade Center attacks.
And there is no end in sight.
"It's become a war," said plain-spoken, chain-smoking school Supt. Jack DeTalvo, shortly before getting on the phone to give instructions to the board's attorney about how to garner the best coverage on local evening news shows.
One thing all sides agree on: If and when the contentious job action ends, the bitterness could leach into the classroom.
The strike has left 10,500 students out of school in this sprawling suburb of 70,000 an hour and a half south of New York City. With record-breaking warm weather, the days off are a treat for the children but a hardship for working parents, who range from truck drivers to Wall Street investment brokers.
In addition, state law dictates that all missed school days are made up at the end of the year.
Teachers counter that a few days of inconvenience is minor compared to being hauled off in handcuffs.
"I'm a soccer mom, I drive a van and I have a dog," science teacher Katie Connelly said with a rueful laugh as she sat waiting to go to jail. "But this is our revolution. . . . The only way you get respect is if you stand up for yourself."
Dispute Over Who Pays Health Benefits
At the heart of the dispute is a demand by the school board that the union members pay a percentage of rising health benefits instead of a flat annual fee of $250. The strikers angrily respond that they will end up having to pay up to $600 extra for benefits, which would effectively cancel out wage increases. The teachers have been offered pay raises of 3.8%, 4% and 4.2% over three years.
The teachers went on strike for a short time three years ago. They said the board at that time had ignored the recommendations of a fact-finder and instead imposed a contract on them that, by law, they said they had to accept. This time, the union is calling for binding arbitration, which the school board has refused, insisting that the teachers return to class first. <snip>