TRANSCRIPTION 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:10.320
Welcome back to the Lars Larson Show.
00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:15.519
Well, theoretically, Seattle kids are supposed to be back in school classrooms tomorrow.
00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:24.160
Are their teachers going to show up, or are those teachers going to go on strike and while they're on strike, collect unemployment payments as well?
00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:25.519
I thought we'd talk about that.
00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:29.359
And I'll get to your phone calls and emails in a moment at 866-HLars.
00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:32.880
That's 866-439-5277.
00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:42.000
Send your emails to talk at LarsLarson.com and join me in welcoming Elizabeth New, who's director and policy analyst at the Washington Policy Center.
00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:44.000
Elizabeth, welcome back to the program.
00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:52.479
And are we going to see striking teachers cheat the kids out of a day of education tomorrow and collect unemployment checks at the same time?
00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:56.000
I don't think so.
00:00:56.159 --> 00:00:58.079
And I'll tell you why in a minute.
00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:01.439
But they are negotiating down to the wire on this strike.
00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:09.280
And the school union said there was promising progress overnight, which is encouraging, but there's still no agreement.
00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:17.439
So about 50,000 students and their families are waiting to learn whether school will actually open tomorrow and if parents can go to work.
00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:19.200
It's ridiculous.
00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:25.439
Public employees should not be holding families hostage or threatening to deny a taxpayer-funded service.
00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:29.760
And there are other ways to negotiate pay and working conditions, clearly.
00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:42.879
As for the UI pay, Washington's new law does allow striking workers to receive up to six weeks of unemployment benefits, but I don't think teachers will be doing so.
00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:53.920
Benefits cannot begin until the second Sunday after a strike begins, and then a claimant must satisfy the ordinary one-week unpaid waiting period.
00:01:54.239 --> 00:02:04.480
So Seattle educators, if they only strike for a few days, as happened in 2022, there could be no strike uh payout at all.
00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:09.840
Okay, and and in the case of the teachers, I don't understand why they're going on strike at all.
00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:17.199
Because, correct me if I'm wrong, their contract ran out yesterday, but under the terms of the contract, they can continue to bargain.
00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:21.840
They can continue to get paid their regular paychecks while bargaining goes on.
00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:28.240
And if and when they negotiate a raise, the raise will be retroactive and will cover this period in time.
00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:40.879
They could do that and not cause all this damage to families and leave families hanging, you know, on the day before, you know, the second of September, wanting uh wondering are kids going to be in school tomorrow or not.
00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:44.159
They they don't have to do this, and yet they're doing it anyway.
00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:45.840
So what does that tell us?
00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:48.479
Well, it's not about the kids.
00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:49.919
And you're exactly right.
00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:56.879
They could keep working under their current contract and receive any retroactive pay that uh was negotiated.
00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:02.960
Uh, but you know, this gives them, they think, a better platform to work from.
00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:11.120
They're using they're using schools and families and special ed kids, for God's sake, as bargaining chips in this process.
00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:16.400
And by the way, they're saying that they're trying to advocate for special ed kids.
00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:23.759
Isn't the head of their labor union actually uh under there's their questions about her treatment of special ed kids?
00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:25.919
True.
00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:33.280
There uh she was under district investigation for physically harming one of her students when elected to the position.
00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:39.199
She denies the allegations, however, and I say due process is warranted, but it's weird.
00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:40.240
Super weird.
00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:41.439
It's very weird.
00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:46.479
And and what they're demanding, I mean, they voted 91% to authorize a strike.
00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:55.039
They're currently making for a part-time job, they're making almost$120,000 a year plus benefits on top of that.
00:03:55.120 --> 00:04:04.719
And they say the district has offered them a cumulative almost 9% raise over the next three years, and the teachers have apparently said not good enough.
00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:28.959
Yeah, the Seattle Public School Superintendent actually released really revealing numbers uh I think two days ago, and it showed how much not only contract pay, but then the additional pay days that they get added up for most teachers who are trying to get this uh pay negotiated,$142,000 a year.
00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:42.399
You know, and it it's just here's the thing that frustrates me most is you know, there are other ways to bargain, whether you agree that compensation should be higher or you don't, there's other ways to do this.
00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:53.519
You know, the WFSE, the state employees group, they just held a walkout yesterday on workers' own time, as I understand it at lunch breaks or other breaks.
00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:59.040
There's no reason teachers have to be denying school to kids and their families.
00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:02.000
No, and in fact, it is a part-time job.
00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:11.040
And I guess the part that I always get back to is this, Elizabeth, if they were actually producing a good result, then I'd say, well, then
Load full transcript
maybe they're deserving of a raise.
00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:13.279
That's the way most of the rest of the world works.
00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:19.839
It's if you're doing a really good job and you can go to the boss and say, hey, boss, look at the kind of job I've done the last year.
00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:21.759
Don't I deserve a raise?
00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:27.839
In this case, the teachers could only come to the public and say, hey, by the way, you see the kind of job we're doing?
00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:31.680
More than half the kids don't know how to read, write, or do math.
00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:33.759
Uh, so you should give us a raise.
00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:36.720
And if you do, we'll promise to do a better job.
00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:39.920
But right now, the job we're doing sucks, isn't it?
00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:41.120
It doesn't it?
00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:48.160
Yeah, you know, outcomes are poor, and we shouldn't keep pouring money into a failed uh outcome.
00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:59.120
However, I do in in uh educators' defense, you know, there's a lot of kids coming to school that are not ready to be there, who are not cared for properly by families.
00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:07.279
But at the same time, schools are not expecting anything from families either, and they keep taking over more and more things that families should be handling.
00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:12.959
We're offering far more than a basic education, despite what unions will say.
00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:22.879
Well, aren't the Seattle school kids coming to class and and you can say they're you know the parents have never been better educated than parents.
00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:29.439
If you went back 50 years, would you say the average family was better educated uh than than they are today?
00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:30.800
Because I don't know that that's true.
00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:31.759
I don't think it is.
00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:33.519
I don't think facts back that up.
00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:38.720
And I know the teachers always want to say, it's not really our fault that we can't actually educate your kids.
00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:39.600
It's your fault.
00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:40.879
It's the parents' fault.
00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:52.319
Except that the schools, as you said, they keep pushing the parents farther and farther out of the process and telling them you have not you have no right to say anything about how we educate the kids.
00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:54.560
Just shut up and pay your taxes.
00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:55.600
Right.
00:06:55.759 --> 00:07:07.040
I I think there's plenty of life to go around, and I do think people are more educated today than 50 years ago, like you, but I'm not sure the behavior is better than it was 50 years ago.
00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:20.399
You know, I've substituted in classrooms a little bit at my kids' school, and I can tell you uh there are a lot of behavior problems that distract from the school day, from the teaching, from students trying to learn.
00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:25.839
You know what, Elizabeth, every time I hear that from a teacher, I say you have the most powerful union in America.
00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:31.759
Can you go in and demand that you have better discipline in classrooms and say, Because you demand everything else.
00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:45.680
You demand paychecks, you demand curriculum, you demand hours and everything else, demand better discipline in the classroom and say if our parent, if our members cannot get a well-disciplined classroom backed up by management, then we can't do our jobs.
00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:48.160
Except you never hear the teachers ask for that.
00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:58.240
They want to warehouse the kids and then be paid as though they're educating them and say, no, it's really not our fault the kids aren't learning because we don't have good discipline in the classroom.
00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:00.000
We can't control the classroom.
00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:07.439
Well, then demand that at the next bargaining session instead of just saying, pay us more money and we'll fail for another three years.
00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:08.800
Elizabeth, thanks so much.
00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:11.839
That's Elizabeth New from the Washington Policy Center.
00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:12.720
Back in a moment.
00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:19.279
I'm going to tell you about a sob story that the Seattle Times is saying about a poor illegal alien.