Grayslake Dist. 46 Support Staff Forms Union
- on 02.23.06
- CCSD #46
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The support staff here in District 46 are now forming a union. As you can see from the article below they are claiming this is because of the current dispute teachers’ union is having with the board.
The Grayslake High School District 127 support staff had formed a union last year. It appears to me this current teacher dispute just gave the AFT an excuse to press the issue to start the union here in D 46.
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In the wake of teacher contract disputes at Grayslake Elementary District 46, its support staff has decided to unionize. That means 191 hourly workers such as technology assistants, secretaries and custodial staff will join as a bargaining unit, said Mike McGue, president of the Lake County Federation of Teachers. The group met Wednesday to go over procedures for forming a union. Once the paperwork goes through, they will want to negotiate a contract, McGue said. Superintendent Ellen Correll said Wednesday she heard rumors a union may form but had not received official notice. Correll said the district board already planned to give support staff employees a 4 percent raise in March. |
Gesh! How does Wal-Mart get by without having a Union? How does anyone who works get by without a Union? I know… why don’t we all Unionize and make everyone pay for everything because if they don’t we’ll strike or file grievances! Then we can be called U-Unionized S-States of A-America! I can see it now… we can’t fill our car with gas because the gas Union is on strike because their dental coverage went up. We can’t go to our church because the Church Union is on strike because they didn’t get enough donations last month. We will picket and wear badges because the Doctor Unions are getting their child’s college education paid for. We can all grieve together when we implode on each other!
It is my firm opinion that Unions have outlasted their usefulness!!!
This is exactly why unions formed in the first place. When an employer shows reckless disregard towards good faith, the law, and their own counsel’s advice, the working man needs protection. That’s why the system in the United States of America provides for unions.
The History of Unions http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Eco_Unionization.htm:
“By the 1820s, various unions involved in the effort to reduce the working day from 12 to 10 hours” – District teachers 7.5 hours a day.
“they reflected the need of working people for economic and legal protection from exploiting employers….produced misery and slums for decades” – Not enven close in our District.
“150 employees almost all of them young women-perished when the fire swept through the upper floors of the loft building in which they worked. Many burned to death; others jumped and died. Why so large a casualty list? The safety exits on the burning floors had been securely locked, allegedly to prevent “loss of goods.” – Not in schools or any business today.
“For the past forty years there has been a steady decline in both union membership and influence. There are several reasons for such a decline, the first having to do with employers keeping their businesses union-free. Some were active in their opposition and even hired consultants to devise legal strategies to combat unions. Other employers put workers on the management team by appointing them to the board of directors or establishing profit-sharing plans to reward employees. The second reason for union decline is that new additions to the labor force have traditionally had little loyalty to organized labor. Because more and more women and teenagers are working and their incomes tend to be a family’s second income, they have a proclivity towards accepting lower wages, thus defeating the purpose of organized labor. The third and possibly the most important reason for the decline in unions is that they are victims of their own success. Unions raised their wages substantially above the wages paid to nonunion workers. Therefore, many union-made products have become so expensive that sales were lost to less expensive foreign competitors and nonunion producers. This resulted in companies having to cut back on production, which caused some workers to lose their jobs, and hence, unions some of their members. Also, the recent shift in this country towards technology and service has made our economy less reliant in the types of industrial jobs that tended to be union strongholds. Today’s worker tends to more highly educated and tends to the professional, white coller class. All of these have conspired to decrease union membership.” – This is why Walmart is so successful. They are sued by union and other money hungry people trying to make a quick buck off the largest retailer in the country.
There are still some jobs where unions are still of benefit for safety concerns, but it definitely not in the schools.