Teachers say unions are bullying them into strike action

[jack404]

TEACHERS say they are being bullied into taking part in strikes by union reps and fear going public with their support for the government's education reforms.

Staff who refuse to join strike action claim they have been the victims of constant harassment and bullying by "militant" NSW Teachers' Federation representatives and pressured into taking part.

NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli has vowed to take back control of public education from the union and said there would be no compromise on the government's school autonomy policy.

He said the rollout of the Local Schools, Local Decisions reforms giving schools greater control over their own budgets and staffing would continue in terms three and four this year, despite 70,000 teachers voting for an urgent review of the reforms at the May 18 stopwork meeting.

Mr Piccoli said the government would not hold a review or hit the pause button on its plans. "The answer to that is no," Mr Piccoli said.

He said the union was an "important stakeholder" in public education but it had no authority to make decisions.

A western Sydney public school deputy principal told The Sunday Telegraph teachers who did not support strike action were "hunted down one-by-one" and pressured into changing their minds.

Teachers at another Sydney school have penned an anonymous complaint to Mr Piccoli about their union representative, accusing him of bullying staff and scaring parents with "dubious information."

"It is not possible to voice a differing opinion for fear of bullying behaviour that has been experienced by several staff members both past and present," a letter signed by Concerned Teachers said.

"The fact is many teachers ... do in fact agree that the new government policies will provide for an improved system of education in NSW."

But other teachers at the school denounced the claims. In a letter penned to The Sunday Telegraph, they said the complaint represented the view of a "noisy minority".

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...-1226390087044

[mb1]

Originally Posted by jack404

"The fact is many teachers ... do in fact agree that the new government policies will provide for an improved system of education in NSW."

But other teachers at the school denounced the claims. In a letter penned to The Sunday Telegraph, they said the complaint represented the view of a "noisy minority".

Thats funny. We generally consider the unions to be a noisy minority.

[carver]

When you start looking at Union history, you began to find a lot of coercion, and just plain violence against those that don't want the Union. I have been involved in two such cases, and I served as a steward for the APWU while employed by the USPS. That was to protect myself from persecusion by the USPS supervisors where I worked. Coercion is just a small part of Union tactics. Do Unions have a good side? The answer is yes! Unions have served the workers they represent well in a lot of cases, but with the Government setting the rules for pay scales, and providing health care, what does that leave for the Unions to do?

[gvw3]

Unions have a place in private industry. They have no place in the school system. They have bankrupt the state of Illinois. Now the Chicago school teachers want a 30% raise.

[beebz]

here in wisconsin the unions took a big shot to the face with walker winning his recall election.they have been pretty quiet here since last tuesday.

[raven818]

It's an interesting fact that 38% of public union members voted to keep Walker. Thirty-eight percent is huge. There's a lot of scum bag teachers who know they don't have a clue about teaching, but the tenure and benefits rule out. Good teachers want to teach, and do not want to be forced into a unionized/political organization who tells them they have to strike, and tells them who they should vote for, and use their dues for political ads that may be used to campaign for someone they don't want.

Good for them.