PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
by Susan Staub,
President, PA Right to Work
"…law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual." (Thomas Jefferson on Politics and Government)
The introduction of the "Strike-Free Education Act" (H.B.1369) by Prime Sponsor State Representative Todd Rock (R-90) -- with 27 co-sponsors on board – is not only a courageous act in itself, but one that continues to ignite the excitement and support of parents, taxpayers, school board members, and even some of the nation's press. In addition, it should send a signal to all our elected representatives that standing up for principle is not only strongly admired, but also expected!
The introduced legislation's "timeline" would include written proposals, mediation, fact-finding public reports, and non-binding arbitration with both proposals made public and the recommendations of both sides having a mandatory vote. It would also include public meetings every six weeks, and a mandatory four negotiations per month.
Todd Rock is a former non-union teacher, devoted to the principles of individual freedom. He cares about the protection of the individual rights of all citizens from the tyranny of those who would use children for their own ends. Representative Rock is truly a champion of all the people. His message is clear: the major responsibility of elected officials in this state is to protect the freedom of every taxpayer and business.
HB 1369 protects children and families from school disruptions, shelters businesses and individual taxpayers from proposals requiring huge tax increases, and guarantees continued work for educators opposed to strikes, protecting them from union officials' threats to strike over "secret deals" such as demands for mandatory union dues from nonunion teachers.
While teacher strikes are legal in only 13 states in the nation (with 37 states having laws that ban strikes), the history of Pennsylvania's teacher strikes is well-known and well-documented by many sources within this state and across the nation. Among them, an August, 2007 report from the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy ("Pennsylvania Teachers: Number One in Strikes") listed 137 strikes that occurred in Pennsylvania from 2000 to 2007. Pennsylvania's number 1 ranking is shameful!
In the March 20, 2008 Pennsylvania School Boards Association Report, ongoing negotiations that have not yet been settled total 131 since 2006 with 105 of them from this year alone. Currently, the strike count for the 2007-2008 school year includes Reynolds, Lake-Lehman, Seneca Valley, and Downingtown Area, with the threat of others from reports in more than 100 still unsettled districts, including Northwest teachers reported in the March 30 Times Leader.
Citizens and businesses are opposing public sector strikes across the nation and elected representatives at all levels are seeing newspaper articles like these this year:
The March 18 Reading Eagle reports that Antietam School Board members, facing a strike threat by teacher union officials, intend "to investigate the pros and cons of the proposed ban on teacher strikes."
The March 23 Altoona Mirror reports it took Indiana Regional Medical Center 18 months to work out its first contract with newly unionized registered nurses, "all of whom pay union dues…known as 'union shop'". In current negotiations, union officials are demanding "that nonmembers pay a representation fee equal to 87 percent of dues," and the hospital is now confronting "a strike threat by RNs triggered by management's insistence on an 'open shop'…to preserve 'freedom to choose' for a significant number of nurses who oppose the union…288 were against unionization." Recently, 119 nurses put their names on the line, urging management to protect them from having to pay forced dues to a union they did not want and did not vote for.
Visitors to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and those of us returning from traveling out of state, are greeted with the slogan: "PENNSYLVANIA: STATE OF INDEPENDENCE".
Sadly, that is not our current reality.
Representative Todd Rock is only in his first term in office. He is trying to make a difference for all citizens. Can all of our legislators say the same? If they cannot, we should bring them home and send someone else to Harrisburg. Our jobs – and our citizens' future – depend on it.
Contact Mrs. Staub at SStaub@PARightToWork.org for more information or to arrange a speaking engagement for your group or organization. Or visit their website at www.PARightToWork.org.
Pennsylvanians for Right to Work is not affiliated with any other Right to Work organization.
