PrintModest raise is good news for Louisiana PSRPs
PSRPs in Louisiana, who continue to suffer and struggle in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, got some good news for a change when the state legislature voted to give Louisiana school support workers a permanent $500 raise. “Few people believed that a raise would even be on the radar screen this year,” says Louisiana Federation of Teachers president Steve Monaghan.
Monaghan credited Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco for including raises early in the legislative session, despite uncertainty about the state’s economy. In most years, legislators have considered educator pay raises toward the end of the session, and those raises often lost out to other priorities.
“Ultimately, the state will have to come to grips with the real cost of educating our children,” Monaghan says. “We need to ask not just what we expect from our schools, but how much money will it take to get that result? For PSRPs, it’s simply wrong to pay wages below poverty level to people with such important responsibilities.” The pay raises go into effect at the beginning of the school year.
New Jersey Nurses Settle Strike, Ratify New Contract After more than a month on the picket line, the 660 nurses who were on strike at Englewood (N.J.) Hospital and Medical Center agreed to a new three-year contract on July 29. A contract deal between the nurses, represented by the AFT-affiliated Health Professionals and Allied Employees, and the hospital was approved by 96 percent of nurses.
The key issues that led to the strike included preserving the traditional pension plan and enforcing negotiated nurse-to-patient ratios. The new contract allows nurses to keep their traditional pension plan; however, nurses hired after Jan.1, 2007, will have a 401(k)-type retirement plan. The contract also establishes a staffing review system for most hospital units to ensure safe staffing on all shifts.
During the AFT convention in Boston, delegates unanimously passed a special order of business supporting the nurses and commending them for their strength, determination and courage. While the employer was spending more than $2 million to bring in replacement nurses, it was also trying to cut nurse pensions by 30 percent, said AFT vice president and HPAE president Ann Twomey in her introduction of the resolution.
The nurses, who went on strike on June 29, returned to work on August 3. Not a single member of the union crossed the picket line.
AFT Denounces latest GOP Voucher Legislation in congress
The newest U.S. Department of Education report finding that private schools are no magic bullet for student achievement “is reason enough to deep-six the latest voucher legislation” introduced by congressional Republicans, says AFT president Edward J. McElroy.
In July, the GOP unveiled House and Senate bills authorizing $100 million to provide up to $4,000 to students in underperforming schools (identified under the No Child Left Behind Act) to attend a private school or up to $3,000 for after-school or summer tutoring programs. Although the plan will unlikely come up for a vote this year, GOP leaders hope to incorporate the voucher plan into the 2007 reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, reports the Associated Press. The Bush administration had pressed for the school choice plan, and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings hailed the legislation on Capitol Hill.
But the Education Department’s own study—released the same week as the voucher proposal—comparing test scores of students from public and private schools found, after allowing for socioeconomic differences, that there were little differences in academic performance.
“Federal education dollars should be spent helping public schools meet the No Child Left Behind mandates,” McElroy says. “Public schools are making steady progress in raising academic achievement but they need real help from the federal government, not disingenuous proposals from the Republican congressional leadership intended to please political allies.”
