Three Hundred Greece Teachers Storm Mtg. To Protest 4.2% Raises
The Greece Post had an interesting article (thank you Loretta) about 300 teachers showing up at a school board meeting. They were upset that they had been working without a contract for a couple of years. According to the Post:
About 200 crammed into Apollo Middle School’s third-floor during the meeting. More than 100 waited outside the school after being turned away by district security because of fire code, security guards said. The doors to the third floor were reportedly locked as the number of people waiting to get in increased. The meeting room and overflow room filled so quickly that some teachers who said they arrived around 6 p.m. for the 6:30 p.m. meeting couldn’t even get up to the third floor.
300 teachers turning out — they really must be getting the short end of the stick. What else could possibly explain the huge number?
But wait a minute. We live in New York. The place were the teachers union spend more money lobbying than anyone in Albany. What in the world is going on? The article states they have been working without a contract — that must mean they haven’t been getting raises, right?
Well no, not really.
Greece Central’s teachers haven’t had a new contract since 2004. But they’re still getting raises under the Taylor Law, which says that if a district doesn’t renew a contract, the most current one continues. Greece’s teachers’ contract ran from 2004-2006. How much each teacher gets depends on years of service, but the average annual increase is 4.2 percent.
According to the 2004-06 contract, the annual salary for a teacher with one year of experience is $35,000. Greece teachers get at least 85 percent of their health insurance paid for by the district, which pays 90 percent of the premium for new hires.
4.2 % increases for the last two years? 90 percent of your health insurance paid by the district (that’s for new hires — one would assume those who been there awhile get 100% paid)? Oh, don’t forget the very generous, taxpayer funded, defined benefit pension system. And they are protesting? 300 people?
One simple question. I know you aren’t doing your job “for the children”, but how much of a raise did you get the last two years? How much of your health insurance does your employer cover? I’d bet it’s not 90 or 100% And how about you pension plan — you probably don’t have one.
This is unbelievable. These teachers need to get in touch with reality. The taxpayers are at their limit — I don’t think they are going to feel sorry for these public employees looking for big raises. We all are paying more for everything.
Suck it up and try to get by on 4.2% a year. Most of us would gladly trade jobs with you.