Animation: Teacher Unions Explained

Teachers' unions must have developed in a parallel universe where illogic substitutes for reason!

Teachers' Union Endorses Child Labor -- To Benefit The Union!

Good news:  Teachers Unions shaking down kids to pay their exorbitant salaries
By Mark Hemingway
Washington Examiner
June 8, 2010

A mother in New Jersey got a rude surprise from her child recently:

I  am looking for your opinions and insights based upon a very distressing situation my youngest daughter brought to my attention last week involving a school fundraiser.
As both she and the letter she handed me stated, my daughter was to accomplish chores around the house with the goal of being paid by me for those chores the sum of $20.  She would then have to hand the full $20 over to the school to make up for the shortfall in their overall budget which, ultimately, disallowed the kids to go on yet another class trip.  Participation was mandatory according to what my daughter told me and the letter seemingly conveyed (however, on a later phone call, my daughter’s teacher altered the word “mandatory” to be “suggested” despite all evidence to the contrary).
The extent in which the teacher tried to convince me that this fundraiser and the lesson held within was in the best interest of the children was rather sickening especially as paying my children to undertake family chores goes against all that I have ever taught them.

If this seems shocking, it shouldn’t. Michael Graham points out this isn’t exactly a new phenomenon:

Read more at the Washington Examiner . . .
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Ed.  Add this to the $24 billion bailout the Dems are going to give teacher's union.  For a group of leftists, they sure want to accumulate a lot of money. 

Journalists Questioning the Negative Impact of Teachers' Unions

Are Journalists Finally Getting Over Their Pro-Teacher-Union Fetish?
By Terry Cowgill, BigJournalism.com
June 4, 2010

Let’s face it. From the 2004 New York Yankees to that statue of Saddam Hussein, most of us get a kick out of seeing the mighty fall. And that’s essentially what’s happening to teachers’ unions all over this nation. For all the good they did when they were first formed 50 to 75 years ago, teachers’ unions have devolved into opponents of meaningful educational reform.
[snip]
So why are teachers’ unions losing clout? One big reason is that after decades of reflexive support, the news media are finally starting to turn against them. That’s right. Journalists and editors, many of whom belong to labor unions themselves, are finally waking up to the plain fact that taking courses and simply showing up to work every day — the standard measures that the unions demand in determining wages — are poor incentives to improve performance.
Read more . . .

Video: NJ Gov. Christie Punches Back at Teacher's Union

Speaking of education, NJ Gov. Chris Christie speaks plainly in this video about the problems caused by the teacher's union.  Christie is a political leader who is not afraid to take tell it like it is, and unlike his predecessors, he is not afraid to punch back.  Imagine what could happen if we had leaders like this in every state of the Union.