RH Jones re: Sen. Carey's anti-teacher strike bill

From RH Jones, December 6, 2007
Subject: Sen. Carey's anti-teacher strike bill

http://www.ohio.com/news/12195361.html

To all:

Please oppose the Ohio Sen. John Carey’s (GOP), 17th District, plan, in a bill that will be coming out in a few days, to ban teacher strikes. Evidently he does not understand that good teachers are attracted to states that allow their teachers the security of knowing that they can strike if there employer becomes totally unreasonable. Ohio’s children deserve our best teachers -

The right to strike, among other advantages, insures that.

Retired educators need to stand in solidarity behind our teachers in this assault on active teacher’s right to strike. Could it be that this bill is designed to insure that there cannot be any teacher strikes over the loss of HB 315 (The retired teacher health care bill)?

The active/retired teachers who reside in Sen. John Carey’s Wellston District should let him know immediately that we are strongly opposed to his bill. And, any other state politician that would sign on to such a bill, negative to the rights of teachers to strike, needs to realize that their ability to be reelected, or elected to a new position in Ohio, will be put in grave jeopardy. There are thousands and thousands of us.

My information comes from what I have read in the Akron Beacon Journal this morning, 12.06.07, pg. B4, “Ohio legislator wants to ban public-school teacher strikes Bill calls for binding arbitration. Walkouts legal in 12 other states.” The article goes on to say that: “StopTeacherStrikes, Inc., a nonprofit group formed in 2006, is championing a similar push to ban teacher strikes in Pennsylvania.”

My fellow educators: Can you believe that the anti-education folks are now forming corporations to fight against teacher rights? Why are they so hard hearted to those who taught both them and their children with such great affection and dedication? It makes one wonder.

A note to retired teachers: Watch your mailboxes! The new STRS Express Systems Prescription ID cards just came out. We don’t want them to fall in the hands of thieves.

RHJones, SummitCRTA Leg. CMTE member & a proud CORE member