SF teachers set for strike vote amid budget woes

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco teachers are set for a strike vote this week over the district's demands to cut $30 million from teachers' salaries and benefits over the next two years.

The union wants a 2 percent raise for teachers instead.

The 6,000 members of United Educators of San Francisco will take the first of two required strike votes Thursday, less than a week after the district declared an impasse in contract talks. If a majority agrees, the union leadership would have the ability to call a strike if negotiations stall completely.

There are only three weeks left in the school year, but that's enough time to call a strike, said union President Dennis Kelly.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/08/MNR81ODJE7.DTL

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There is a poll on the article:

A strike vote for S.F. teachers:

No, terrible idea in time of cuts (237)
34%
Yes, furloughs and increased class sizes must be fought (236)
33%
Parents should strike--by moving (234)
33%
Total Votes: 707

Also, Lowell High in SFUSD proposed cutting Advanced Placement classes to save money, something not received well in the community.

[RandySF]

1. I will be really pissed if they go on strike with only two or three weeks left.

[texshelters]

3. So, you wouldn't be pissed to have

your salary and benefits cut, once again? Can you empathize with teachers at all?

PTxS

[RandySF]

4. What will you do with your kid if they strike?

He needs the time to get where should be with reading. Despite all the work I put in at home, he needs time in class as well. What is your contingency plan?

[LanternWaste]

16. Seems to me that it's six of one and half a dozen of the other

"What will you do with your kid if they strike?"

What will you do with your mortgage and medical bills if your wage and medical benefits are cut?

Seems to me that it's six of one and half a dozen of the other, and if that is indeed the case, don't mess the wages and insurance, and by logical extension, you won't have to worry about your kids...

[texshelters]

17. You said you would be pissed if your children had no school to go to.

Is it impossible to understand the pressure teachers are under and how underpaid and overworked they are? Is is all about you and your kids? I can care about kids and teachers, and it appears you only care about you and yours. That's too bad. I'm sick of people blaming teachers for the economic conditions in the cities. Teachers don't write budgets or put cities into the red. And supporting your follow citizens seems like the Democratic thing to do, despite your challenges.

PTxS

[CreekDog]

5. Yes, it's all about you isn't it

teachers are not your wage slaves.

[RandySF]

6. I'm so sorry if I want to put my child first.

I didn't know I was supposed to sacrifice him on the altar of DU orthodoxy. I support the teachers' claims, but to call a strike with two weeks left in the school year is also unconscionable. And it's not just about MY kid. A strike will negatively impact the poor and working class children that make up most of the student body and cannot afford a private school.

[CreekDog]

8. well are you pro-union or do you make an exception for teachers?

[lonestarnot]

11. Can't fit homeschooling for a period in your schedule?

[RandySF]

12. I already do four hours every weekend.

But I suppose I can add more time during the week.

[lonestarnot]

13. I think teachers are worth that don't you?

[texshelters]

18. You can put your children first

and still care about teachers. Well, most people can.

PTxS

[obamanut2012]

24. I'm glad they are striking with only a few weeks left

That is what sends a message of how valuable they are.

[texshelters]

2. Sad poll results

The poll results saying "parents should move" is pathetic; I guess the conservative North Bay and South Bay are tipping it that way. It's sad that teachers face the longest hours and deepest cuts.

Some of the Marin County corporate hack should try teaching English to 35 tenth graders for a year and see how they would do.

PTxS

[CreekDog]

7. North and South Bay Area are liberal areas, among the most in the nation

where did you get the idea that the most liberal region of the country has conservative regions?

Obama vote by county:

North Bay:
Marin 78%
Sonoma 74%
Napa 65%
Solano 64%

South Bay:
Santa Clara 70%
San Mateo 74%
Alameda 79% (this county is partly in the South Bay)

Other Counties:
Contra Costa 68%
San Francisco 84%

[texshelters]

19. Yes, compared to national data

but not compared to San Francisco. That was my point. How they voted doesn't by party doesn't mean they are progressive on union issues. Still, I wonder why so many people blame the teachers, again.

PTxS

[CreekDog]

21. who is blaming the teachers? are you saying those votes on SF Gate are Bay Area people?

jeez. that's what i'm trying to explain --they aren't representative and often aren't even from here.

[knitter4democracy]

9. Of course the poll numbers are that. Teachers aren't allowed to be human.

We're to work for free, you know. We shouldn't need salaries that actually pay our bills and buy food for our children and pay our taxes. No, not the teachers.

Our administrators, on the other hand, well, we need more of them, right? More people who make double what we make, more coaches who get paid double per day what we pay the substitutes we need so we can be sick or go to required meetings during the day, more support staff because they're cheaper overall. We sure as heck don't need more teachers or to pay those teachers a living wage commeserate with their educational levels, skills, and worth to the community.

We're supposed to be slaves, people. Get it right. Extra unpaid hours, extra work we take on for the children, less in pay and benefits until we're working for free.

[CreekDog]

10. SF Gate commenters are known to be trolls and out of town right wingers

they don't represent this liberal area.

[RandySF]

14. There are quite a few right wingers in the East Bay and Valley.

[CreekDog]

15. so? there are a few right wingers in San Francisco --the other poster is wrong about those areas

the most conservative counties in the in the Bay Area are still in arguably among Obama's strongest counties nationwide. (see my other post)

and there are only a few cities or towns with more Republicans than Democrats in the entire Bay Area and the total population of all those cities/towns is negligible in the Bay Area as a whole.

The Bay Area suburbs are more liberal than Boston's, more liberal than New York City's, more liberal than LA's.

[texshelters]

20. Again, voting for Obama

doesn't make one a progressive. Those are two different things. I know Republicans that voted for Obama, but that doesn't make them liberal. You are confusing voting with actually being a progressive. I lived in the Bay Area, and the North Bay is full of NYT liberals that wouldn't piss on a burning homeless man if he was on fire. Compassion ends at home for many people in the North and South Bay, much less so in other areas of the Bay. If the issue is unions, many people in those areas don't give a damn. Still, they are liberal if you compare them nationally. So, you have a bit of a point.

PTxS

[CreekDog]

22. Marin/Sonoma counties are in the top 20 liberal counties in the USA, cut the nonsense

they aren't just liberal because they voted for Obama, they are liberal because they voted for him nearly at a rate of 70-80%, only a few points short of San Francisco's rate.

Marin and Sonoma counties in particular vote very progressively, voting for Lynn Woolsey for years and her predecessor Barbara Boxer in congress.

you called the areas conservative and that proves you don't know what you're talking about and you still won't give up on the argument.

enough.

[CreekDog]

23. The whole Bay Area outside San Francisco voted overall heavily against Proposition 8

San Francisco voted 75 to 25 against it.

The whole Bay Area including SF voted 62 to 38 against it.

The whole Bay Area excluding SF voted 60 to 40 against it.

Not as liberal, but very liberal by any standard and not conservative in any way, shape or form as you stated above.