November 11, 2024 • 40 mins
Educators in Gloucester, Beverly and now Marblehead continue to strike over a “fair contract.” The educators in these communities have been working under expired contracts since this past Summer. All three teachers’ unions are fighting for a new contract that includes higher wages, more benefits and parental leave among other demands. As many as 10k students could be affected by these strikes. Dan heard listeners' thoughts on the ongoing strikes!
*All three teachers’ unions in Gloucester, Beverly & Marblehead have been invited to join the conversation as well as all three School Committees in each town*
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
*All three teachers’ unions in Gloucester, Beverly & Marblehead have been invited to join the conversation as well as all three School Committees in each town*
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's night Sime with Dan Ray. I'm telling easy.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
We're talking about three illegal teacher strikes that will be
ongoing tomorrow, one in Gloucester, one in Beverly and one
in marble Head. This is a bad situation for the
students and for the people who live in those communities.
Now I know that parents because I was a parent
(00:28):
and still am. But I was a parent of kids
in school and one of the things you always want
to make sure of is that your child is treated
as well as fairly as possible, and so it's very
difficult for parents for those communities to call and complain. However,
I will tell you that this is very difficult. It's
a tremendous imposition on them. And my proposal is very simple,
(00:50):
and that is that all all negotiations between a community
and the teachers' union would be limited to the months
of July and August. They can begin the negotiations a
year before the contract is to expire, and then in
(01:12):
the summer after the contract has expired, they would renew
the conversations, the negotiations with a mediator, arbiter, whatever you want,
and there would be a final decision made by the
mediator the arbiter in late August, so there would be
(01:35):
no interruption in school, and the new contract for whatever
length three years, two years, four years, would go into
effect the day the school starts. There would be no
interruption by an illegal strike if all of the negotiations
were completed by the day that the other contract expires
(01:59):
or when the new contract would have to be in place.
It's as simple as that. What the teachers Union does
is theyay, delayed, delay, and then they have a strike.
And I am interested in your thoughts on it. I've
made mind pretty clear. I'm sure there are some teachers
out there who are upset with my Maybe there's some
teachers out there who agree with me. I think that
(02:21):
the Teachers' Union, the leadership of the teachers Union, is
doing a disservice not only to their members, but also
to the students that their members teach, and to the
parents and the community, the residents of these communities that
pay the teachers salaries. Guys, get back to the calls.
I'd love to do this for another hour. I think
(02:41):
this is a critically important issue, and I think it's
a critically important issue that you should be able to
speak about. Let's go to Steve and Lynn. Steve, agree
or disagree, You're next on Nightsig, go right ahead, Steve.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Welcome, Hey, hey Dan, thank you. First, I'll get this
out of the way. I agree that they should not
be able to strike. But you mentioned that the union
uses the children as leverage, and I would argue with
you that the administrations and the cities and towns do
the same thing as well.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, let me ask you this. Okay, I take your point,
but let me ask you a question. How does the
city in town take advantage of the children by not
fulfilling or coming to an agreement that yet? Yeah, okay,
so if the teacher okay, let me just ask a
(03:30):
question and then I'll shut up and listen to that answer. Okay.
So the teachers Union comes in and says we want
in this particular negotiation that we talked with the chair
of the school committee up in Marblehead earlier, Jennifer Schaffner,
the teachers Union is looking for a thirty three percent
pay raise over four years, essentially, you know, eight, eight,
(03:55):
eight and eight over the next four years. The average
salary right now of the teachers Union is around ninety
six thousand dollars you can do the math. Eight thousand
is going to eight percent, is going to get up
to about one hundred and three. Another eight percent is
(04:15):
going to get it up in the second year to
about one hundred and eleven. The third year they may
have about one hundred and twenty, and the fourth year
they'll be you'd be topping out of one hundred and
thirty thousand dollars. Is that reasonable?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Absolutely not, So I'll tell you that. You know, in
the marble Head situation, I'm not sure what's going on
in Beverly and Gloucester. They're already those teachers are already
at the higher end of the scale in the state.
And to ask for a thirty two percent increase of
a four years, I think is outrageous. Thirty three what
I would so to my point about how the towns
(04:49):
leverage the students, yep, and I'm married to an educator, okay,
elementary school teacher.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
The teachers in the.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Town where my wife works are always the last to
get their contract. They settle with the police, they settle
with the fire, they settle with the public works people first,
and then and then they decide to sit down and
negotiate with the teachers. So the teachers oftentimes work a
year maybe two years without a contract, but they know
they're going to do that because they're not going to strike,
(05:21):
and they leave them till the very end. And then
the police and fire gets three four five percent raises
each year over the course of their contract. The teachers
get two percent two and a half percent maybe over
the course of their contract. So there's a pattern of,
I would say, not good faith negotiation on the parts
(05:41):
of the cities and towns here and the teachers in
several situations. And I'm not saying in this particular situation
the teachers are just kind of trying to stand up
for themselves, which I don't think.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I take your points. So my question is this, do
not identify the town that your wife teachers in, But
how long has she been teaching? Is how long has
she been a teacher?
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Eighteen years, nineteen years?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Okay, so she should be at the higher end of
the pay scale. What's the average not your wife's salary,
but what is the average salary of teachers in that
school system?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
And I honestly I don't know off the top of
my head, but she's nowhere near what the averages and
marble Head. I can tell you that.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Okay, there's a website that is run by the Massachusetts
Department of Education Public Information. You can just google department
at Massachusetts Department of Education or Massachusetts DOE slash teachers Salaries. Yeah,
(06:48):
you are calling from Lynn. I don't know, and I
don't want to know whether you teach her, whether your
wife teaches in Lynn. However, let me if I can
can really quickly google this and and we can talk
about just Linn teachers. Since you if you own a
home in Lynn, you're paying for it's your real estate taxes.
(07:12):
That essentially I believe.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
I believe that so.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
And she does not teach in the Lynn school district.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
But I do know from from looking at around, I
think Lynn is kind of a middle of the road
type of type of district.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Okay, so what do you think they have?
Speaker 4 (07:29):
Carlisle, mass is the highest to tell you the truth?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Yeah, what do you What do you think of? What
do you think teachers and Linn are.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Getting on for the for their average?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Yeah, maybe, I don't know. I don't even want to
put a guest for if you have it there in
front of you, just talking.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I'm trying to get it right now. Just well, I'm
aazitting to fill some time from me here, Okay.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Uh yeah, So when your factor in the newbies who
come in and the people who have been here for
twenty five years, maybe maybe in in the low eighties.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Okay, let's see, let's find let's find out. Let's see,
and let's see what we got it. Okay. So Linn,
the average teacher salary in Linn, Okay, and I want
to make sure that I got the correct number here.
Average salary in Linn as of two thousand and twenty one,
(08:25):
the Colondar year twenty twenty to twenty twenty one, you're
pretty close eighty two thousand, one hundred and sixty two dollars.
So that's four years ago. So if you were to
give it a two percent raise, they're probably now closer
to the mid nineties for an average salary in Lynn
(08:47):
or the loan nineties. In Marblehead, which is the school
district we were talking to earlier, the average salary is
eighty four thousand, so is pretty close. And Gloucester, which
again four years ago. Now I assumed that the salaries
have gone up gloss of eighty six three hundred and
(09:11):
sixty and Beverly was right around that area. Now, I
would assume that in four years those salaries have all
gone up, so they're all kind of grouped very similarly.
You know, there's a lot of people who are paying
the real estate taxes in Lennon elsewhere who are not
making anywhere near that.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
You had a guest earlier, say a college say that.
You know a lot of these teachers don't even live
in that town, so they don't care about the town. Well,
they can't afford to live in those towns, is what would.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Be my argument back.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
They'd love to live in Marblehead, but they can't afford
it based on their salaries.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
So everyone, no matter what they do, whether you're a
plumber or electrician or or or whatever, you you make
you determinations on where you live. You know, in a
lot of different communities. Obviously are great communities, but you know,
everybody decides they want to be a teacher. What do
(10:13):
you think about the idea since your wife is a
teacher or an educator, what do you think about the
idea that all the negotiations can only be done in
the months of July and August, So if let us
say you had a contract that was going to expire
this this June thirtieth, the school committee and the teachers'
(10:36):
unions would have to have some negotiations this past summer,
and then when the contract expires next June, they would
have to have negotiations and then have to sit with
a mediator and arboritrumy you know, binding arbitration, and they
would then be a contract would be agreed upon by
the beginning of the new school year, so there would
(10:58):
be no interruption. Parents would know that what the schedule was.
And would you would you think your wife and her
union or her fellow teachers would support that. I do.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
I'm not gonna speak for them, but I personally have
no problem with that. But I would say you should
put similar guardrails around police, fire municipal workers, state and
county municipal work.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
That's reasonable. I think that's reasonable. Most of those folks
police a fire cont strike.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Right, No, but they I mean I don't remember when recently,
but there have been sick outs and the blue flu
and whatever else you call it.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah, but that's a that's a little different than a
complete strike. When you say to understood, dear, you know,
if all of a sudden, we're going to you know,
six six some people out. Anyway, Look, you make some
nice counterpoints, Steve, and I appreciate you taking the time
to call. Would love to get the head of the
teachers Union some night. We've invited him to come on,
but at the head of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the MTA.
(11:58):
But you know, they they're a very powerful institution and
the politicians willing to take them on. So I think
in in in, you know, in the absence of the politicians,
someone has to and I'll accept that responsibility.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
One quick comment before you go.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yeah, if I were a teacher, and I couldn't be
because I think I'd be in jail for either either
for disciplining or standing up to a parent who's being unreasonable,
I think i'd lose it. But if I was a teacher,
I would be striking on working conditions, not necessarily salary
(12:37):
or benefits.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
And that's a whole other topic.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
It is. Yeah, yeah, and we've gone ten minutes, so
I've got a long time with you. I hope you
feel yet a chance to raise your points fairly.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
And I thank you den have a great night you too.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
One line at six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty.
Two lines at six one, seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty.
I'm going to get to Kathy and Michael, and again,
if you don't think this is an important time topic
because you don't live in Beverly, Gloucester or Marblehead, you're
dead wrong. This problem is going to come to a
community near you unless you have some better statewide leadership
(13:14):
and say that these teachers unions. Look, we're going to
enforce it's illegal to strike. Okay, it's we're going to
enforce that, just like it's illegal to speed in your car,
it's illegal to run through stop signs. It's as simple
as that. We'll be back on night Side right after this.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Back to the phones, we go. Let me go to
Kathy and Stone. Kathy, appreciate your patience. Thank you for
holding through the news.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
Go right ahead, Hi, thank you.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
I just had a call because my daughter is a
member of the school committee in a neighboring town and
she just talks about the unions, how they are strictly
for the teachers should be.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I mean you know they represent the teachers. So but
the question is who puts You got to have some control,
and I think that that the laws in Massachusetts give.
You know, it's illegal to strike, but what what what
consequence is there? That's the problem. You know, they it's
it's illegal for you to rob a bank. But you know, Kathy,
(14:22):
if they said, well, if you give the money back,
you'll be okay. You know, more people be robbing banks.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Don't you think you're right? No, I agree with you,
but she said, it's really one side and their their focus.
But on the other hand, I agree with with your
idea of negotiating during the summer months.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
It should be compulsory. You you have to negotiate, uh.
And not only do you have to, you know, before
the final year of the contract. You can spend some
time in July and August. If you can reach an agreement, great.
If you don't reach an agreement, UH, then you wait
until the next July and August, and you have an
(15:03):
arbitr there, you know some you know, mandatory negotiation, arbitration,
whatever you however you want to call it. And at
the end of the day there will be You'll be
like maybe a former judge or someone like that who
will say, Okay, the union's looking for seven percent, the
town is offering two percent. We'll settle at four percent
(15:24):
or whatever. You know, whatever that individual thinks it's fair.
That's that's it. You have to have some finality that
they're going to drag these teachers' unions into court tomorrow.
They're going to tell them your strike's going on, and
we're going to find you ten thousand dollars a day.
The teachers union is going to laugh at the judges,
you know, right, and they'll be like, you know, and
(15:46):
that's the problem. You know, when public education in Massachusetts
is so important, these kids only have what is it,
twelve ye well, if you add kindergarten, they got thirteen
years of one hundred and eighty days. And at that point,
if they're not going on to college, that's it, you know,
And you take away a couple of weeks of classroom opportunities,
(16:10):
and you know, the kids are the losers here.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
I agree with you. And not only that you have
a large days and a half days. Oh well, the
kids don't get a total amount of days. They really don't.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Oh I was stunned. I was stunded at the numbers
of you know, they call them, you know, professional development
days or whatever, and I don't know what that really means,
but uh yeah, I mean it's a it's a job
that runs September through June, so it's been a ten
month job. Now there's there's a Christmas vacation, there's a
there's the February vacation, there's the April vacation, so that
(16:46):
in effect takes about a month away. So you know,
it's that it's a good job. A lot of people
want to be teachers. Nobody was drafted to be a teacher.
They are the year because they view themselves as educators.
Well educate you know, let let the labor unions negotiate.
The labor union negotiate for you. But you've got to
(17:08):
have some you got to have some some guardrails. You
can't have what's going on in these three communities right now.
Have you is your have you talked to your daughter
about these three strikes and some of the other strikes
we've had.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
Recently, Well, she disagrees, I mean, she disagrees with the
strikes because she thinks that there is a limited amount
of money. Also because it's likely repercussions. She talks about
the strike in Newton and saying that eventually they they're
talking about letting teachers go. So it's like this vicious
(17:44):
circle because you need the teachers, but then the town
can only absorb so much money. I mean, the very
easy for these town people whoever's in charge, to say,
almost just got a little bit more tax and more
and more because if well it's like governments and they
don't know the repercussions.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Well they can't because because we have the Prop two
and a half override. So in order to get an override,
they have to they have to, you know, in order
to have tax increases more than two and a half
percent on the town levy, they they have to have
an override. Thank god for two and a half percent.
Thank god for the people who made sure that that
(18:27):
that was codified in Massachusetts and spend that way for
about forty forty four years now. And look, I wish
they could pay every teacher a million dollars a year,
but that's not realistic. I could say I wish I
pay every teacher two million dollars a year, but it's
not realistic.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
I have a lot of respect for teachers, but they
do get the summers off. They work hard, and they
really do, and there's a lot of paperwork, a lot
of responsibility. They excuse they do, but they get the vacations,
they get the sick days. And I have a friend
who retired from Boston and she got a payout of
(19:08):
about sixty thousand dollars just for sick days.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, there aren't many. There aren't many companies
in the private sector where you can accumulate sick days
that be paid for those sick days when you retire.
That's crazy.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
You must be getting fifty thousand dollars a year at
least every year for pension. You don't get that from
many jobs either.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
No pensions. Pensions in the private sector went away about
thirty years ago for the most part. So yeah, it's
as simple as that. Kathy, thank you very much. Thank
your daughter for what she does. And she's she's invited
to call in any other night we pick up this subject.
Thank you, Kathy, Thank you, Tim, Talk to you soon.
Have a great night. Okay, I got I got wide
(19:54):
open lines here. So it sounds to me like this
is a subject people really aren't interested in and a
I'll tell you what I feel. This is such an
important subject. I'm not going to give up on it.
I am going to go to news. I'm going to
tell you that I have lines at six one, seven, two, five,
four to ten thirty and lines at six one, seven, nine, three, one,
ten thirty. And if you don't think that this is
(20:16):
a critical issue for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I think
you're mistaken. So far, no one from the Teachers' Union
or the teachers has disagreed with me. I think there
has to be as a result of these strikes, there
has to be a brand new look. And I'm giving
you the proposal. I don't think anyone else has suggested this. Basically,
(20:39):
as I said, negotiations would have to start the summer
before the contract expires. You can have ten sessions, you
can have thirty sessions. But if you do not wrap
it up the summer before the contract expires, then you
have compulsory arbitration, mediation, whatever you want to call. Maybe
(21:00):
you have former judges, former superintendents, former educators, maybe you
have You can have a committee of three people, but
they have to come to a decision. If the union
and the town of the city doesn't reach an agreement,
then it has to be settled, has to be settled,
and that's the only way you can avoid teacher strikes.
(21:23):
Teacher strikes in Massachusetts are absolutely illegal. Okay. They they're
on strike tomorrow in Marblehead, they're on strike in Beverly,
and they're on strike in Gloucester. And so they will
be thousands of kids tomorrow who will not be educated
in those communities. Just another reason where Massachusetts is going
(21:45):
down the tubes. If you disagree, bring it on. If
you agree, I want to hear your voice, because guess what,
you have politicians in Massachusetts who have no backbone, they
have no spine. This is not a popular position. I
know the teachers you need to be very upset with this.
We've invited them to come on and discuss it. I
suspect they won't, but I think it's in the interest
(22:07):
of my audience and it's the interest of the Comwealth
of Massachusetts that we bring some balance to this. Six
one seven, two, five four ten thirty six one seven
nine three one ten thirty. This is not intellectually a
challenging issue. Emotionally, it's a challenging issue, and I'm putting
my position out and I want to hear yours agree
(22:30):
or disagree. Coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
You're on the Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 6 (22:40):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
In my audience has responded, and I appreciate it very much.
You guys, never disappointment. We'll get to everyone. I promise.
Let's get it going here. CG in Gabridge, CG, you're
next on night Side. I don't care if you agree
you disagree with me. I just want to make sure
you're thinking, what do you think? CG.
Speaker 7 (22:57):
I agree with you partially. Uh, you're always up pretty
well in tuned. What's going on. The one thing that
my union did well, we couldn't get raises. It took
us four years to get raises in the city. Was
saying that we have to wait till the money comes
in from the state and federal government. Well, we gave
(23:19):
up that argument and we ended up hiring accountant and
we did an audit of the school and of the city,
and we found where they hid the money. All the
money that was coming in from different fees and funds
that came through the city went into what we ended
(23:40):
up calling us slush funds. And there was millions of
dollars there, and they said, oh, we have to save
that for emergencies. Well, this is an emergency. We haven't
had a raisin four years.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Well, CG, that go to the table. Then yeah, let
me just say this, CJ. That was what a good
union does. A good union did the work. They felt
that something was being kept from them, and I assumed
that hopefully you got your your rais and then some.
But again, I don't know what you did for the city.
(24:13):
But you weren't a police officer, you weren't a firefighter,
and you weren't a teacher. Because police officer, firefighters, and
teachers can't strike.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
It's a legal but they can.
Speaker 7 (24:24):
They can before workouts and after workouts. They can go
out on to the streets and let the people know
what's happening.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
They could, well, sure they can, surely can. They can
write letters to the editor, they can pick it. They
can demonstrate. But if you're at home and and something's
wrong in your house and you smell smoke, and you
call the fight department and they say, gee, the guys
are on strike tonight. Sorry, well we might be able
to send someone home. They can't. You can't live like that.
(24:52):
That's or you know, if all of a sudden someone's
breaking through your front door, you call nine to one one.
I don't know if you heard, but there's a police strike.
Got to kind of handle the situation yourself.
Speaker 7 (25:02):
Can't do it, No, you can handle it another way
by showing demonstrations before and have to work out well.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Sure, and I'm just suggesting my my proposal is that
the year before the contract expires, So the summer before
the contract is going to expire June thirtieth, right that
first summer, Uh, you still got a year left in
the contract. You have a sit down, you have meetings,
and you see if you can work it out. Then
if you don't work it out and the contract expires
(25:31):
the following June, then you have meetings and you have
binding arbitration, and you basically have a list of our
you know, mediators whatever you want to call them, arbiters,
former judges, people who are who will be fair, and
they'll listen to both sides and they'll say, okay, this
is what they say. This they try to bring you
to agreement. If they can't, they're gonna say, if you're
(25:53):
gonna stay it, you want seven percent and you're only
going to offer one percent. I'm gonna make a decision,
and they make it decision and they say it's a
final decision. You're going to get four and a half
percent or whatever. And if the union acts more reasonably,
let the arportrator the mediator be more you know, considered
of the city of town. Or conversely, I mean if
(26:14):
in a situation where the teachers haven't had strikes, haven't
had raised in some time, they should be compensated more.
I want to make it fair. It's not fair as
it is now. Kids are held hostage and they're used
as pawns.
Speaker 7 (26:26):
In my opinion, no, I go along with that fact.
But I still think you have to force the administration
to the table.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
That's how you force them. I just gave you the
way they're forced to sit with the agree with you
the year before, and then they're forced to get into
good faith negotiation in July and August because we're going
to have a contract. I'm judged so and so or whatever.
We will have a contract and it's and and the
courts would uphold the contract. And then the union would say,
(26:55):
you know, we have some leverage, but we can't overplay
our hand. We can't going and look for twenty percent,
you know, bring some rationality to it. But you have
no politicians in leadership in this state that are willing
to adopt that position. So what's happened is going to
be town after town after town is going to have
teacher strikes. We've already had some. We got three going
(27:19):
on right now. CJ has always I appreciate your time.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Thank you, very good, Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
May talk to you soon. Let me go next to
Mike and nowell Mike, you were next on nightside, Go
right ahead. Okay, let's put Mike on hold because he
wasn't ready, but that's okay. When he comes back on Rob,
please let him know that he has to be ready.
In the meantime, we'll go to Stephen Bridgewater. Steve, you
are next one. Nice, I go right ahead.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
How you knowing? Dan out there? Nice? Talking you again,
right back at you. I agree with you because you
make a very good point. It's going to become contagious
kind of where one town's going to say, oh look,
other town's doing it, do it too?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Why not?
Speaker 4 (28:01):
And it's going to one town after the other is
going to do it and kind of think they can
get away with it. I agree, using the students's pawns,
and they're missing out on school days of weeks of
school because of labor disputes, So I agree, you can.
Speaker 8 (28:18):
If you know that you can't.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Yeah, if you know the geography of Massachusetts, you got Beverly, Marblehead,
and Glosster. Those are three communities pretty close to each other.
Go right ahead, I interrupted you. I apologize, Go ahead, No,
that's okay.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
Other thing is you can tell them you're not going
to have a job, But I wouldn't put them put
someone threatened jail that I wouldn't threaten jail then, but
I would say, look, if you don't go back to work,
you're not going to have a job.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah, I think that I would. I would if it.
The only time that you threaten jail would be if
the union would then say the union leadership would say, well,
well we don't agree. We entered into binding arbitration, it
didn't work out to our advantage, and now we're going
to strike the proposal that I have. You have to
negotiate the summer prior to when the contract expires. You
(29:05):
got to engage in positions. And then after the contract
expires on June thirtieth, which they all do on June thirtieth,
then you got two much you got July in August,
your union leader is gonna sit with the school committee,
and at some point when you're reaching in pass incomes
the arbitrator, incomes the mediator. He or she listens to
both sides, They make a decision, contract is signed, sealed,
(29:28):
and delivered by you know, no later than September. First
school resumes. There's no strike. It's as simple as that.
Find me one politician who's going to advocate for that.
You've got a bunch of politicians who do not have
the courage to take on the teachers union.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
Right, Yeah, Well, I agree with you, Dan, someone's going
to have to going to have to do it or else,
like you said, it's going to get out of control.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
You got it, Steve, great, great call, quickly to the point.
Thank you, my friend, appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Damn about Let me go back to Mike here and
see if Mike's ready. Mike, I hope you're ready this time.
Go right ahead, Mike, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
I'm here.
Speaker 9 (30:08):
No, I agree with well. I was afraid this is
gonna happen because then Andover and Newton stroke strike then
set a precedent. And now like when I saw that
Marblehead got on board along with Beverly, and what are
their power numbers? Now that like, isn't it a coinstance
(30:28):
that they all got together and strike?
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Oh, I don't think it's a coincidence. If you look
at a map and you see where Beverly, Gloucester and
Marblehead are located.
Speaker 9 (30:39):
Yeah, what do you mean you don't think it's a coincidence.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
I don't think it's They're in the same neck of
the woods, are up in the north northeast corner of Massachusetts.
And I'm sure that the energy is feeding off one
or the other. That's all, you know.
Speaker 9 (30:54):
That's all the saying, yes, I agree, Now do Andover
Newton set a president and this is why they think
they can strike.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I think I believe that, Yes I do.
Speaker 9 (31:06):
I know, I agree, and I agree with you A
year and to look at the try to get them
to the table a year prior to the contract inspiring. However,
why didn't that work in something around those lives work
in Newton when they said they were bargaining for sixteen months.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Well, it's one thing to say you're going to bargain
for sixteen months. It's something else if you say, look
the year before the summer, before the contract expires, you
have to have some good faith negotiations. You have to
have negotiations. If you don't reach an agreement, the negotiations
stop during the school year. You can't strike during the
(31:44):
school year. And then when the contract expires that next
year thirtieth, you got to meet and you're going to
meet in the presence of a negotiator, of a mediator,
of an arbiter, whatever you want to call it, and
that person will have an agreement like a referee or
an umpire to say, Okay, they weren't able to come
(32:05):
to an agreement, these are the issues outstanding. I'm gonna
rule this way on this and this way on this,
and that's that's end. That's final, that's the contract.
Speaker 9 (32:17):
Yeah, and one last place, pres Kristy And you know
he ran for uh was it president?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Like, yeah, I used the former governor of New Jersey,
Chris Christy.
Speaker 9 (32:25):
Yep, go ahead, Yeah, he's teaches unions about eight years
ago the exact you know, because the power of these
unions and he took them on and know like he's
just saying no, no, Massachusetts has a political role to
take them on.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
You got it, You got it, Mike. Thank you very much,
appreciate your call. Keep calling the show. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Yep, have a great night.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
We'll be right back with Michael and Daniel uh and
we're gonna wrap this up by eleven. But if you
want to jump on, I can maybe Fitch in six.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Now be live from the Window World night Sight Studios.
I'BZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
By the way, at the beginning of next hour, right
after the eleven o'clock news, we're going to announce the
winner of our electoral vote contest. You might remember that
on Friday, excuse me, not Friday night, Monday night, November fourth,
would have been a week ago. Tonight, in the eleven
(33:27):
o'clock hour, we asked people to tell us who was
going to win the election tomorrow, meaning last Tuesday, and
we asked them to tell us the winner and also
the electoral count. And we have a winner. I will
explain who that winner is right after eleven o'clock news.
In the meantime, back to our phone call, it's going
to go to Daniel in the great state of West Virginia. Hey, Daniel, welcome,
(33:49):
how are you tonight?
Speaker 10 (33:51):
Good evening, Dan, I just wanted to comment on tonight's topic. Sure,
you know you're talking about Okay, these teachers in Massachusetts
are making ninety one hundred thousand dollars or more in
some cases.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yes, absolutely, that is pretty close to the average salary
here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 10 (34:12):
Yes, do you know what the average teacher pay is
in West Virginia?
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Thirty five forty sixty fifty thousand.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
Dollars, mid thirties.
Speaker 10 (34:21):
Mid thirties is the mid thirties is the average starting
salary With some of the teachers that have, you know,
a few years of seniority, they might get into the
fifties if you're lucky.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Yeah. No, I understand, of course, the standard of living
in West Virginia at the cost of living is a
little less than Massachusetts. But where a state that has
smiled upon teachers' unions, and teachers' unions have pushed as
hard as they can, which is their job, but the
state has not pushed back against and said, hey, look,
you know, the union comes in with a lot of
(34:54):
money behind them. They're going into some of these small
towns here in Massachusetts and they're rolling, you know. And
finally there are now some school committees that are sitting
that's standing up against them, and we need the politicians
to back up. Can can teachers strike? Are they allowed
to strike in in West Virginia or no?
Speaker 10 (35:12):
They have struck in the in the past, there have
been teacher strikes.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
And are they allowed to do that or are they
held in contempt of court for doing that?
Speaker 10 (35:20):
They are not held in contempt.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Even with the ability to strike, they haven't gotten they
haven't They're not doing as well as their brothers and
sisters at Massachusetts.
Speaker 10 (35:29):
Wow, right, you know West Virginia X fifty. I think,
well they you know, you don't.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Want to rank fifty if that's for sure, And I
think they deserve more than that in West Virginia. And
if I was a talk show host in West Virginia,
I'd be advocating. I think they balance the scales are
too far in favor of the union's here. Look, I'm
a union member, Okay, I believe in unions, but you
got to understand when I'm when my union we're going
up against the ownership of iHeartMedia or when I was
(35:59):
in a union at WBZ TV, we were going up
against CBS. Uh. Those are big corporate companies. They're going
up against the parents of the kids they're teaching here
in Massachusetts, and the it's it's it's unfair. So Daniel,
it's nice to find out by perspective what's going on.
(36:20):
Have you called before and no, it's.
Speaker 10 (36:22):
Been a it's been a while since I've listened to
your show off and on in the past, but it
has been a while, but I have called.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Come on back more often.
Speaker 4 (36:30):
Okay, all right, Well, thank you sir.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
I appreciate it very much. Thanks Daniel.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
All right, all right, great night.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Okay, A last college just dropped off here. So if
if someone wants to express an opinion, pretty quickly dialing
right now six one seven, two five four ten thirty.
If that person lost contact, you were up next six
one seven, two five four ten thirty. We'll try to
get you in here real quickly. We have talked now
for two hours about these teacher strikes in Massachusetts. There
(36:58):
are three going on in Massachusetts and again in the
communities of Beverly, Gloucester and Marblehead. They are three communities
that are fairly close. They're up in the northeast corner
of the state. Uh, and we would Uh, let's let's
get me one real quickly here, Robin. I'll try to
(37:18):
get to both of these folks, and let me go
to Mike and Beverly. Okay, and Mike and Beverly welcome
you and next on nightside, first call from Beverly tonight.
Go ahead, Mike, get you right in. Go ahead.
Speaker 8 (37:28):
I'm Mike, and Beverly can hear me, but I can
hear you.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Great, what's going on?
Speaker 8 (37:32):
No mind, I wanted to get in before the break
over the game and get me.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
On, and I got you on. You're on the air,
go right ahead.
Speaker 8 (37:39):
Oh Dan, oh that was first.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
Sorry about that.
Speaker 8 (37:41):
Yeah, go ahead, No, I'll listening quickly. I support the teachers.
I live in Beverly and m ckanhille had not run
the city correctly, and that's why the money had not
funded for them. They had a chance to re elect
a new administration with Toah November and then the city
not do that. You know, Yeah, the city belly is
(38:04):
just not one correctly.
Speaker 7 (38:06):
He spent money, believe so.
Speaker 11 (38:08):
You're supporting the teacher, Okay, all right, I got you,
Thank you much, Karen, and Hopkins and Karen are going
to give you about thirty seconds.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
I got you in here, go right ahead.
Speaker 6 (38:22):
Yes, I do not support the teacher I feel that
the teachers strike is not correct.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
It's not right.
Speaker 6 (38:28):
And uh, if they don't like the job, just quit
and find another job. And I think that I will.
Why wouldn't they ask to get the parents in wolf
and and just show everybody what the pays are, what
the benefits are, and then get the parents and the
two vols.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Well, that's the that's not the way. What happens is
that they negotiate with the school committee. And I think
that the teachers' unions it's illegal for teachers union to strike.
And if if you're not going to enforce the law
against teachers unions, why have a wall like that? You
know what I'm saying?
Speaker 6 (39:05):
I mean they Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
I'm with you, Karen, Karen. I wish you had called earlier,
but I'm right up against the eleven o'clock news. You
call anytime. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (39:16):
I tried. I drive and I find and then I
listened to it's very interesting. But I will call again.
Am out of time. Thank you?
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Is this your first time calling.
Speaker 9 (39:26):
Yes, yes, we'll give.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
You a quick round of applause here from our digital
studio audience. Well, we'll look forward to your next call. Thanks, Karen,
appreciate it very much.
Speaker 6 (39:35):
Okay, all right, okay, when we get back.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
We are going to announce the winner of our electoral college,
who will contest from a week ago. We will we
will will disclose that person to you if you actually
took a guest, you want to be listening carefully. And
then we're going to talk about the democrats dilemma. What
did they do now? How does the party pick itself
(39:58):
up off the mat? Because the Democrats are going to
find themselves. They've lost the White House, they've lost the Senate,
and they're probably going to lose the House. I'm going
to check on those numbers during this news break
It's night Sime with Dan Ray. I'm telling easy.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
We're talking about three illegal teacher strikes that will be
ongoing tomorrow, one in Gloucester, one in Beverly and one
in marble Head. This is a bad situation for the
students and for the people who live in those communities.
Now I know that parents because I was a parent
(00:28):
and still am. But I was a parent of kids
in school and one of the things you always want
to make sure of is that your child is treated
as well as fairly as possible, and so it's very
difficult for parents for those communities to call and complain. However,
I will tell you that this is very difficult. It's
a tremendous imposition on them. And my proposal is very simple,
(00:50):
and that is that all all negotiations between a community
and the teachers' union would be limited to the months
of July and August. They can begin the negotiations a
year before the contract is to expire, and then in
(01:12):
the summer after the contract has expired, they would renew
the conversations, the negotiations with a mediator, arbiter, whatever you want,
and there would be a final decision made by the
mediator the arbiter in late August, so there would be
(01:35):
no interruption in school, and the new contract for whatever
length three years, two years, four years, would go into
effect the day the school starts. There would be no
interruption by an illegal strike if all of the negotiations
were completed by the day that the other contract expires
(01:59):
or when the new contract would have to be in place.
It's as simple as that. What the teachers Union does
is theyay, delayed, delay, and then they have a strike.
And I am interested in your thoughts on it. I've
made mind pretty clear. I'm sure there are some teachers
out there who are upset with my Maybe there's some
teachers out there who agree with me. I think that
(02:21):
the Teachers' Union, the leadership of the teachers Union, is
doing a disservice not only to their members, but also
to the students that their members teach, and to the
parents and the community, the residents of these communities that
pay the teachers salaries. Guys, get back to the calls.
I'd love to do this for another hour. I think
(02:41):
this is a critically important issue, and I think it's
a critically important issue that you should be able to
speak about. Let's go to Steve and Lynn. Steve, agree
or disagree, You're next on Nightsig, go right ahead, Steve.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Welcome, Hey, hey Dan, thank you. First, I'll get this
out of the way. I agree that they should not
be able to strike. But you mentioned that the union
uses the children as leverage, and I would argue with
you that the administrations and the cities and towns do
the same thing as well.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, let me ask you this. Okay, I take your point,
but let me ask you a question. How does the
city in town take advantage of the children by not
fulfilling or coming to an agreement that yet? Yeah, okay,
so if the teacher okay, let me just ask a
(03:30):
question and then I'll shut up and listen to that answer. Okay.
So the teachers Union comes in and says we want
in this particular negotiation that we talked with the chair
of the school committee up in Marblehead earlier, Jennifer Schaffner,
the teachers Union is looking for a thirty three percent
pay raise over four years, essentially, you know, eight, eight,
(03:55):
eight and eight over the next four years. The average
salary right now of the teachers Union is around ninety
six thousand dollars you can do the math. Eight thousand
is going to eight percent, is going to get up
to about one hundred and three. Another eight percent is
(04:15):
going to get it up in the second year to
about one hundred and eleven. The third year they may
have about one hundred and twenty, and the fourth year
they'll be you'd be topping out of one hundred and
thirty thousand dollars. Is that reasonable?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Absolutely not, So I'll tell you that. You know, in
the marble Head situation, I'm not sure what's going on
in Beverly and Gloucester. They're already those teachers are already
at the higher end of the scale in the state.
And to ask for a thirty two percent increase of
a four years, I think is outrageous. Thirty three what
I would so to my point about how the towns
(04:49):
leverage the students, yep, and I'm married to an educator, okay,
elementary school teacher.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
The teachers in the.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Town where my wife works are always the last to
get their contract. They settle with the police, they settle
with the fire, they settle with the public works people first,
and then and then they decide to sit down and
negotiate with the teachers. So the teachers oftentimes work a
year maybe two years without a contract, but they know
they're going to do that because they're not going to strike,
(05:21):
and they leave them till the very end. And then
the police and fire gets three four five percent raises
each year over the course of their contract. The teachers
get two percent two and a half percent maybe over
the course of their contract. So there's a pattern of,
I would say, not good faith negotiation on the parts
(05:41):
of the cities and towns here and the teachers in
several situations. And I'm not saying in this particular situation
the teachers are just kind of trying to stand up
for themselves, which I don't think.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I take your points. So my question is this, do
not identify the town that your wife teachers in, But
how long has she been teaching? Is how long has
she been a teacher?
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Eighteen years, nineteen years?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Okay, so she should be at the higher end of
the pay scale. What's the average not your wife's salary,
but what is the average salary of teachers in that
school system?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
And I honestly I don't know off the top of
my head, but she's nowhere near what the averages and
marble Head. I can tell you that.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Okay, there's a website that is run by the Massachusetts
Department of Education Public Information. You can just google department
at Massachusetts Department of Education or Massachusetts DOE slash teachers Salaries. Yeah,
(06:48):
you are calling from Lynn. I don't know, and I
don't want to know whether you teach her, whether your
wife teaches in Lynn. However, let me if I can
can really quickly google this and and we can talk
about just Linn teachers. Since you if you own a
home in Lynn, you're paying for it's your real estate taxes.
(07:12):
That essentially I believe.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
I believe that so.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
And she does not teach in the Lynn school district.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
But I do know from from looking at around, I
think Lynn is kind of a middle of the road
type of type of district.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Okay, so what do you think they have?
Speaker 4 (07:29):
Carlisle, mass is the highest to tell you the truth?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Yeah, what do you What do you think of? What
do you think teachers and Linn are.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Getting on for the for their average?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Yeah, maybe, I don't know. I don't even want to
put a guest for if you have it there in
front of you, just talking.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I'm trying to get it right now. Just well, I'm
aazitting to fill some time from me here, Okay.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Uh yeah, So when your factor in the newbies who
come in and the people who have been here for
twenty five years, maybe maybe in in the low eighties.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Okay, let's see, let's find let's find out. Let's see,
and let's see what we got it. Okay. So Linn,
the average teacher salary in Linn, Okay, and I want
to make sure that I got the correct number here.
Average salary in Linn as of two thousand and twenty one,
(08:25):
the Colondar year twenty twenty to twenty twenty one, you're
pretty close eighty two thousand, one hundred and sixty two dollars.
So that's four years ago. So if you were to
give it a two percent raise, they're probably now closer
to the mid nineties for an average salary in Lynn
(08:47):
or the loan nineties. In Marblehead, which is the school
district we were talking to earlier, the average salary is
eighty four thousand, so is pretty close. And Gloucester, which
again four years ago. Now I assumed that the salaries
have gone up gloss of eighty six three hundred and
(09:11):
sixty and Beverly was right around that area. Now, I
would assume that in four years those salaries have all
gone up, so they're all kind of grouped very similarly.
You know, there's a lot of people who are paying
the real estate taxes in Lennon elsewhere who are not
making anywhere near that.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
You had a guest earlier, say a college say that.
You know a lot of these teachers don't even live
in that town, so they don't care about the town. Well,
they can't afford to live in those towns, is what would.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Be my argument back.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
They'd love to live in Marblehead, but they can't afford
it based on their salaries.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
So everyone, no matter what they do, whether you're a
plumber or electrician or or or whatever, you you make
you determinations on where you live. You know, in a
lot of different communities. Obviously are great communities, but you know,
everybody decides they want to be a teacher. What do
(10:13):
you think about the idea since your wife is a
teacher or an educator, what do you think about the
idea that all the negotiations can only be done in
the months of July and August, So if let us
say you had a contract that was going to expire
this this June thirtieth, the school committee and the teachers'
(10:36):
unions would have to have some negotiations this past summer,
and then when the contract expires next June, they would
have to have negotiations and then have to sit with
a mediator and arboritrumy you know, binding arbitration, and they
would then be a contract would be agreed upon by
the beginning of the new school year, so there would
(10:58):
be no interruption. Parents would know that what the schedule was.
And would you would you think your wife and her
union or her fellow teachers would support that. I do.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
I'm not gonna speak for them, but I personally have
no problem with that. But I would say you should
put similar guardrails around police, fire municipal workers, state and
county municipal work.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
That's reasonable. I think that's reasonable. Most of those folks
police a fire cont strike.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Right, No, but they I mean I don't remember when recently,
but there have been sick outs and the blue flu
and whatever else you call it.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah, but that's a that's a little different than a
complete strike. When you say to understood, dear, you know,
if all of a sudden, we're going to you know,
six six some people out. Anyway, Look, you make some
nice counterpoints, Steve, and I appreciate you taking the time
to call. Would love to get the head of the
teachers Union some night. We've invited him to come on,
but at the head of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the MTA.
(11:58):
But you know, they they're a very powerful institution and
the politicians willing to take them on. So I think
in in in, you know, in the absence of the politicians,
someone has to and I'll accept that responsibility.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
One quick comment before you go.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yeah, if I were a teacher, and I couldn't be
because I think I'd be in jail for either either
for disciplining or standing up to a parent who's being unreasonable,
I think i'd lose it. But if I was a teacher,
I would be striking on working conditions, not necessarily salary
(12:37):
or benefits.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
And that's a whole other topic.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
It is. Yeah, yeah, and we've gone ten minutes, so
I've got a long time with you. I hope you
feel yet a chance to raise your points fairly.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
And I thank you den have a great night you too.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
One line at six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty.
Two lines at six one, seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty.
I'm going to get to Kathy and Michael, and again,
if you don't think this is an important time topic
because you don't live in Beverly, Gloucester or Marblehead, you're
dead wrong. This problem is going to come to a
community near you unless you have some better statewide leadership
(13:14):
and say that these teachers unions. Look, we're going to
enforce it's illegal to strike. Okay, it's we're going to
enforce that, just like it's illegal to speed in your car,
it's illegal to run through stop signs. It's as simple
as that. We'll be back on night Side right after this.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Back to the phones, we go. Let me go to
Kathy and Stone. Kathy, appreciate your patience. Thank you for
holding through the news.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
Go right ahead, Hi, thank you.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
I just had a call because my daughter is a
member of the school committee in a neighboring town and
she just talks about the unions, how they are strictly
for the teachers should be.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I mean you know they represent the teachers. So but
the question is who puts You got to have some control,
and I think that that the laws in Massachusetts give.
You know, it's illegal to strike, but what what what
consequence is there? That's the problem. You know, they it's
it's illegal for you to rob a bank. But you know, Kathy,
(14:22):
if they said, well, if you give the money back,
you'll be okay. You know, more people be robbing banks.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Don't you think you're right? No, I agree with you,
but she said, it's really one side and their their focus.
But on the other hand, I agree with with your
idea of negotiating during the summer months.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
It should be compulsory. You you have to negotiate, uh.
And not only do you have to, you know, before
the final year of the contract. You can spend some
time in July and August. If you can reach an agreement, great.
If you don't reach an agreement, UH, then you wait
until the next July and August, and you have an
(15:03):
arbitr there, you know some you know, mandatory negotiation, arbitration,
whatever you however you want to call it. And at
the end of the day there will be You'll be
like maybe a former judge or someone like that who
will say, Okay, the union's looking for seven percent, the
town is offering two percent. We'll settle at four percent
(15:24):
or whatever. You know, whatever that individual thinks it's fair.
That's that's it. You have to have some finality that
they're going to drag these teachers' unions into court tomorrow.
They're going to tell them your strike's going on, and
we're going to find you ten thousand dollars a day.
The teachers union is going to laugh at the judges,
you know, right, and they'll be like, you know, and
(15:46):
that's the problem. You know, when public education in Massachusetts
is so important, these kids only have what is it,
twelve ye well, if you add kindergarten, they got thirteen
years of one hundred and eighty days. And at that point,
if they're not going on to college, that's it, you know,
And you take away a couple of weeks of classroom opportunities,
(16:10):
and you know, the kids are the losers here.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
I agree with you. And not only that you have
a large days and a half days. Oh well, the
kids don't get a total amount of days. They really don't.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Oh I was stunned. I was stunded at the numbers
of you know, they call them, you know, professional development
days or whatever, and I don't know what that really means,
but uh yeah, I mean it's a it's a job
that runs September through June, so it's been a ten
month job. Now there's there's a Christmas vacation, there's a
there's the February vacation, there's the April vacation, so that
(16:46):
in effect takes about a month away. So you know,
it's that it's a good job. A lot of people
want to be teachers. Nobody was drafted to be a teacher.
They are the year because they view themselves as educators.
Well educate you know, let let the labor unions negotiate.
The labor union negotiate for you. But you've got to
(17:08):
have some you got to have some some guardrails. You
can't have what's going on in these three communities right now.
Have you is your have you talked to your daughter
about these three strikes and some of the other strikes
we've had.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
Recently, Well, she disagrees, I mean, she disagrees with the
strikes because she thinks that there is a limited amount
of money. Also because it's likely repercussions. She talks about
the strike in Newton and saying that eventually they they're
talking about letting teachers go. So it's like this vicious
(17:44):
circle because you need the teachers, but then the town
can only absorb so much money. I mean, the very
easy for these town people whoever's in charge, to say,
almost just got a little bit more tax and more
and more because if well it's like governments and they
don't know the repercussions.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Well they can't because because we have the Prop two
and a half override. So in order to get an override,
they have to they have to, you know, in order
to have tax increases more than two and a half
percent on the town levy, they they have to have
an override. Thank god for two and a half percent.
Thank god for the people who made sure that that
(18:27):
that was codified in Massachusetts and spend that way for
about forty forty four years now. And look, I wish
they could pay every teacher a million dollars a year,
but that's not realistic. I could say I wish I
pay every teacher two million dollars a year, but it's
not realistic.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
I have a lot of respect for teachers, but they
do get the summers off. They work hard, and they
really do, and there's a lot of paperwork, a lot
of responsibility. They excuse they do, but they get the vacations,
they get the sick days. And I have a friend
who retired from Boston and she got a payout of
(19:08):
about sixty thousand dollars just for sick days.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, there aren't many. There aren't many companies
in the private sector where you can accumulate sick days
that be paid for those sick days when you retire.
That's crazy.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
You must be getting fifty thousand dollars a year at
least every year for pension. You don't get that from
many jobs either.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
No pensions. Pensions in the private sector went away about
thirty years ago for the most part. So yeah, it's
as simple as that. Kathy, thank you very much. Thank
your daughter for what she does. And she's she's invited
to call in any other night we pick up this subject.
Thank you, Kathy, Thank you, Tim, Talk to you soon.
Have a great night. Okay, I got I got wide
(19:54):
open lines here. So it sounds to me like this
is a subject people really aren't interested in and a
I'll tell you what I feel. This is such an
important subject. I'm not going to give up on it.
I am going to go to news. I'm going to
tell you that I have lines at six one, seven, two, five,
four to ten thirty and lines at six one, seven, nine, three, one,
ten thirty. And if you don't think that this is
(20:16):
a critical issue for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I think
you're mistaken. So far, no one from the Teachers' Union
or the teachers has disagreed with me. I think there
has to be as a result of these strikes, there
has to be a brand new look. And I'm giving
you the proposal. I don't think anyone else has suggested this. Basically,
(20:39):
as I said, negotiations would have to start the summer
before the contract expires. You can have ten sessions, you
can have thirty sessions. But if you do not wrap
it up the summer before the contract expires, then you
have compulsory arbitration, mediation, whatever you want to call. Maybe
(21:00):
you have former judges, former superintendents, former educators, maybe you
have You can have a committee of three people, but
they have to come to a decision. If the union
and the town of the city doesn't reach an agreement,
then it has to be settled, has to be settled,
and that's the only way you can avoid teacher strikes.
(21:23):
Teacher strikes in Massachusetts are absolutely illegal. Okay. They they're
on strike tomorrow in Marblehead, they're on strike in Beverly,
and they're on strike in Gloucester. And so they will
be thousands of kids tomorrow who will not be educated
in those communities. Just another reason where Massachusetts is going
(21:45):
down the tubes. If you disagree, bring it on. If
you agree, I want to hear your voice, because guess what,
you have politicians in Massachusetts who have no backbone, they
have no spine. This is not a popular position. I
know the teachers you need to be very upset with this.
We've invited them to come on and discuss it. I
suspect they won't, but I think it's in the interest
(22:07):
of my audience and it's the interest of the Comwealth
of Massachusetts that we bring some balance to this. Six
one seven, two, five four ten thirty six one seven
nine three one ten thirty. This is not intellectually a
challenging issue. Emotionally, it's a challenging issue, and I'm putting
my position out and I want to hear yours agree
(22:30):
or disagree. Coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
You're on the Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 6 (22:40):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
In my audience has responded, and I appreciate it very much.
You guys, never disappointment. We'll get to everyone. I promise.
Let's get it going here. CG in Gabridge, CG, you're
next on night Side. I don't care if you agree
you disagree with me. I just want to make sure
you're thinking, what do you think? CG.
Speaker 7 (22:57):
I agree with you partially. Uh, you're always up pretty
well in tuned. What's going on. The one thing that
my union did well, we couldn't get raises. It took
us four years to get raises in the city. Was
saying that we have to wait till the money comes
in from the state and federal government. Well, we gave
(23:19):
up that argument and we ended up hiring accountant and
we did an audit of the school and of the city,
and we found where they hid the money. All the
money that was coming in from different fees and funds
that came through the city went into what we ended
(23:40):
up calling us slush funds. And there was millions of
dollars there, and they said, oh, we have to save
that for emergencies. Well, this is an emergency. We haven't
had a raisin four years.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Well, CG, that go to the table. Then yeah, let
me just say this, CJ. That was what a good
union does. A good union did the work. They felt
that something was being kept from them, and I assumed
that hopefully you got your your rais and then some.
But again, I don't know what you did for the city.
(24:13):
But you weren't a police officer, you weren't a firefighter,
and you weren't a teacher. Because police officer, firefighters, and
teachers can't strike.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
It's a legal but they can.
Speaker 7 (24:24):
They can before workouts and after workouts. They can go
out on to the streets and let the people know
what's happening.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
They could, well, sure they can, surely can. They can
write letters to the editor, they can pick it. They
can demonstrate. But if you're at home and and something's
wrong in your house and you smell smoke, and you
call the fight department and they say, gee, the guys
are on strike tonight. Sorry, well we might be able
to send someone home. They can't. You can't live like that.
(24:52):
That's or you know, if all of a sudden someone's
breaking through your front door, you call nine to one one.
I don't know if you heard, but there's a police strike.
Got to kind of handle the situation yourself.
Speaker 7 (25:02):
Can't do it, No, you can handle it another way
by showing demonstrations before and have to work out well.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Sure, and I'm just suggesting my my proposal is that
the year before the contract expires, So the summer before
the contract is going to expire June thirtieth, right that
first summer, Uh, you still got a year left in
the contract. You have a sit down, you have meetings,
and you see if you can work it out. Then
if you don't work it out and the contract expires
(25:31):
the following June, then you have meetings and you have
binding arbitration, and you basically have a list of our
you know, mediators whatever you want to call them, arbiters,
former judges, people who are who will be fair, and
they'll listen to both sides and they'll say, okay, this
is what they say. This they try to bring you
to agreement. If they can't, they're gonna say, if you're
(25:53):
gonna stay it, you want seven percent and you're only
going to offer one percent. I'm gonna make a decision,
and they make it decision and they say it's a
final decision. You're going to get four and a half
percent or whatever. And if the union acts more reasonably,
let the arportrator the mediator be more you know, considered
of the city of town. Or conversely, I mean if
(26:14):
in a situation where the teachers haven't had strikes, haven't
had raised in some time, they should be compensated more.
I want to make it fair. It's not fair as
it is now. Kids are held hostage and they're used
as pawns.
Speaker 7 (26:26):
In my opinion, no, I go along with that fact.
But I still think you have to force the administration
to the table.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
That's how you force them. I just gave you the
way they're forced to sit with the agree with you
the year before, and then they're forced to get into
good faith negotiation in July and August because we're going
to have a contract. I'm judged so and so or whatever.
We will have a contract and it's and and the
courts would uphold the contract. And then the union would say,
(26:55):
you know, we have some leverage, but we can't overplay
our hand. We can't going and look for twenty percent,
you know, bring some rationality to it. But you have
no politicians in leadership in this state that are willing
to adopt that position. So what's happened is going to
be town after town after town is going to have
teacher strikes. We've already had some. We got three going
(27:19):
on right now. CJ has always I appreciate your time.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Thank you, very good, Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
May talk to you soon. Let me go next to
Mike and nowell Mike, you were next on nightside, Go
right ahead. Okay, let's put Mike on hold because he
wasn't ready, but that's okay. When he comes back on Rob,
please let him know that he has to be ready.
In the meantime, we'll go to Stephen Bridgewater. Steve, you
are next one. Nice, I go right ahead.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
How you knowing? Dan out there? Nice? Talking you again,
right back at you. I agree with you because you
make a very good point. It's going to become contagious
kind of where one town's going to say, oh look,
other town's doing it, do it too?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Why not?
Speaker 4 (28:01):
And it's going to one town after the other is
going to do it and kind of think they can
get away with it. I agree, using the students's pawns,
and they're missing out on school days of weeks of
school because of labor disputes, So I agree, you can.
Speaker 8 (28:18):
If you know that you can't.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Yeah, if you know the geography of Massachusetts, you got Beverly, Marblehead,
and Glosster. Those are three communities pretty close to each other.
Go right ahead, I interrupted you. I apologize, Go ahead, No,
that's okay.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
Other thing is you can tell them you're not going
to have a job, But I wouldn't put them put
someone threatened jail that I wouldn't threaten jail then, but
I would say, look, if you don't go back to work,
you're not going to have a job.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah, I think that I would. I would if it.
The only time that you threaten jail would be if
the union would then say the union leadership would say, well,
well we don't agree. We entered into binding arbitration, it
didn't work out to our advantage, and now we're going
to strike the proposal that I have. You have to
negotiate the summer prior to when the contract expires. You
(29:05):
got to engage in positions. And then after the contract
expires on June thirtieth, which they all do on June thirtieth,
then you got two much you got July in August,
your union leader is gonna sit with the school committee,
and at some point when you're reaching in pass incomes
the arbitrator, incomes the mediator. He or she listens to
both sides, They make a decision, contract is signed, sealed,
(29:28):
and delivered by you know, no later than September. First
school resumes. There's no strike. It's as simple as that.
Find me one politician who's going to advocate for that.
You've got a bunch of politicians who do not have
the courage to take on the teachers union.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
Right, Yeah, Well, I agree with you, Dan, someone's going
to have to going to have to do it or else,
like you said, it's going to get out of control.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
You got it, Steve, great, great call, quickly to the point.
Thank you, my friend, appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Damn about Let me go back to Mike here and
see if Mike's ready. Mike, I hope you're ready this time.
Go right ahead, Mike, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
I'm here.
Speaker 9 (30:08):
No, I agree with well. I was afraid this is
gonna happen because then Andover and Newton stroke strike then
set a precedent. And now like when I saw that
Marblehead got on board along with Beverly, and what are
their power numbers? Now that like, isn't it a coinstance
(30:28):
that they all got together and strike?
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Oh, I don't think it's a coincidence. If you look
at a map and you see where Beverly, Gloucester and
Marblehead are located.
Speaker 9 (30:39):
Yeah, what do you mean you don't think it's a coincidence.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
I don't think it's They're in the same neck of
the woods, are up in the north northeast corner of Massachusetts.
And I'm sure that the energy is feeding off one
or the other. That's all, you know.
Speaker 9 (30:54):
That's all the saying, yes, I agree, Now do Andover
Newton set a president and this is why they think
they can strike.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I think I believe that, Yes I do.
Speaker 9 (31:06):
I know, I agree, and I agree with you A
year and to look at the try to get them
to the table a year prior to the contract inspiring. However,
why didn't that work in something around those lives work
in Newton when they said they were bargaining for sixteen months.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Well, it's one thing to say you're going to bargain
for sixteen months. It's something else if you say, look
the year before the summer, before the contract expires, you
have to have some good faith negotiations. You have to
have negotiations. If you don't reach an agreement, the negotiations
stop during the school year. You can't strike during the
(31:44):
school year. And then when the contract expires that next
year thirtieth, you got to meet and you're going to
meet in the presence of a negotiator, of a mediator,
of an arbiter, whatever you want to call it, and
that person will have an agreement like a referee or
an umpire to say, Okay, they weren't able to come
(32:05):
to an agreement, these are the issues outstanding. I'm gonna
rule this way on this and this way on this,
and that's that's end. That's final, that's the contract.
Speaker 9 (32:17):
Yeah, and one last place, pres Kristy And you know
he ran for uh was it president?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Like, yeah, I used the former governor of New Jersey,
Chris Christy.
Speaker 9 (32:25):
Yep, go ahead, Yeah, he's teaches unions about eight years
ago the exact you know, because the power of these
unions and he took them on and know like he's
just saying no, no, Massachusetts has a political role to
take them on.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
You got it, You got it, Mike. Thank you very much,
appreciate your call. Keep calling the show. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Yep, have a great night.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
We'll be right back with Michael and Daniel uh and
we're gonna wrap this up by eleven. But if you
want to jump on, I can maybe Fitch in six.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Now be live from the Window World night Sight Studios.
I'BZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
By the way, at the beginning of next hour, right
after the eleven o'clock news, we're going to announce the
winner of our electoral vote contest. You might remember that
on Friday, excuse me, not Friday night, Monday night, November fourth,
would have been a week ago. Tonight, in the eleven
(33:27):
o'clock hour, we asked people to tell us who was
going to win the election tomorrow, meaning last Tuesday, and
we asked them to tell us the winner and also
the electoral count. And we have a winner. I will
explain who that winner is right after eleven o'clock news.
In the meantime, back to our phone call, it's going
to go to Daniel in the great state of West Virginia. Hey, Daniel, welcome,
(33:49):
how are you tonight?
Speaker 10 (33:51):
Good evening, Dan, I just wanted to comment on tonight's topic. Sure,
you know you're talking about Okay, these teachers in Massachusetts
are making ninety one hundred thousand dollars or more in
some cases.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yes, absolutely, that is pretty close to the average salary
here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 10 (34:12):
Yes, do you know what the average teacher pay is
in West Virginia?
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Thirty five forty sixty fifty thousand.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
Dollars, mid thirties.
Speaker 10 (34:21):
Mid thirties is the mid thirties is the average starting
salary With some of the teachers that have, you know,
a few years of seniority, they might get into the
fifties if you're lucky.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Yeah. No, I understand, of course, the standard of living
in West Virginia at the cost of living is a
little less than Massachusetts. But where a state that has
smiled upon teachers' unions, and teachers' unions have pushed as
hard as they can, which is their job, but the
state has not pushed back against and said, hey, look,
you know, the union comes in with a lot of
(34:54):
money behind them. They're going into some of these small
towns here in Massachusetts and they're rolling, you know. And
finally there are now some school committees that are sitting
that's standing up against them, and we need the politicians
to back up. Can can teachers strike? Are they allowed
to strike in in West Virginia or no?
Speaker 10 (35:12):
They have struck in the in the past, there have
been teacher strikes.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
And are they allowed to do that or are they
held in contempt of court for doing that?
Speaker 10 (35:20):
They are not held in contempt.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Even with the ability to strike, they haven't gotten they
haven't They're not doing as well as their brothers and
sisters at Massachusetts.
Speaker 10 (35:29):
Wow, right, you know West Virginia X fifty. I think,
well they you know, you don't.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Want to rank fifty if that's for sure, And I
think they deserve more than that in West Virginia. And
if I was a talk show host in West Virginia,
I'd be advocating. I think they balance the scales are
too far in favor of the union's here. Look, I'm
a union member, Okay, I believe in unions, but you
got to understand when I'm when my union we're going
up against the ownership of iHeartMedia or when I was
(35:59):
in a union at WBZ TV, we were going up
against CBS. Uh. Those are big corporate companies. They're going
up against the parents of the kids they're teaching here
in Massachusetts, and the it's it's it's unfair. So Daniel,
it's nice to find out by perspective what's going on.
(36:20):
Have you called before and no, it's.
Speaker 10 (36:22):
Been a it's been a while since I've listened to
your show off and on in the past, but it
has been a while, but I have called.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Come on back more often.
Speaker 4 (36:30):
Okay, all right, Well, thank you sir.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
I appreciate it very much. Thanks Daniel.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
All right, all right, great night.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Okay, A last college just dropped off here. So if
if someone wants to express an opinion, pretty quickly dialing
right now six one seven, two five four ten thirty.
If that person lost contact, you were up next six
one seven, two five four ten thirty. We'll try to
get you in here real quickly. We have talked now
for two hours about these teacher strikes in Massachusetts. There
(36:58):
are three going on in Massachusetts and again in the
communities of Beverly, Gloucester and Marblehead. They are three communities
that are fairly close. They're up in the northeast corner
of the state. Uh, and we would Uh, let's let's
get me one real quickly here, Robin. I'll try to
(37:18):
get to both of these folks, and let me go
to Mike and Beverly. Okay, and Mike and Beverly welcome
you and next on nightside, first call from Beverly tonight.
Go ahead, Mike, get you right in. Go ahead.
Speaker 8 (37:28):
I'm Mike, and Beverly can hear me, but I can
hear you.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Great, what's going on?
Speaker 8 (37:32):
No mind, I wanted to get in before the break
over the game and get me.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
On, and I got you on. You're on the air,
go right ahead.
Speaker 8 (37:39):
Oh Dan, oh that was first.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
Sorry about that.
Speaker 8 (37:41):
Yeah, go ahead, No, I'll listening quickly. I support the teachers.
I live in Beverly and m ckanhille had not run
the city correctly, and that's why the money had not
funded for them. They had a chance to re elect
a new administration with Toah November and then the city
not do that. You know, Yeah, the city belly is
(38:04):
just not one correctly.
Speaker 7 (38:06):
He spent money, believe so.
Speaker 11 (38:08):
You're supporting the teacher, Okay, all right, I got you,
Thank you much, Karen, and Hopkins and Karen are going
to give you about thirty seconds.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
I got you in here, go right ahead.
Speaker 6 (38:22):
Yes, I do not support the teacher I feel that
the teachers strike is not correct.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
It's not right.
Speaker 6 (38:28):
And uh, if they don't like the job, just quit
and find another job. And I think that I will.
Why wouldn't they ask to get the parents in wolf
and and just show everybody what the pays are, what
the benefits are, and then get the parents and the
two vols.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Well, that's the that's not the way. What happens is
that they negotiate with the school committee. And I think
that the teachers' unions it's illegal for teachers union to strike.
And if if you're not going to enforce the law
against teachers unions, why have a wall like that? You
know what I'm saying?
Speaker 6 (39:05):
I mean they Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
I'm with you, Karen, Karen. I wish you had called earlier,
but I'm right up against the eleven o'clock news. You
call anytime. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (39:16):
I tried. I drive and I find and then I
listened to it's very interesting. But I will call again.
Am out of time. Thank you?
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Is this your first time calling.
Speaker 9 (39:26):
Yes, yes, we'll give.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
You a quick round of applause here from our digital
studio audience. Well, we'll look forward to your next call. Thanks, Karen,
appreciate it very much.
Speaker 6 (39:35):
Okay, all right, okay, when we get back.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
We are going to announce the winner of our electoral college,
who will contest from a week ago. We will we
will will disclose that person to you if you actually
took a guest, you want to be listening carefully. And
then we're going to talk about the democrats dilemma. What
did they do now? How does the party pick itself
(39:58):
up off the mat? Because the Democrats are going to
find themselves. They've lost the White House, they've lost the Senate,
and they're probably going to lose the House. I'm going
to check on those numbers during this news break
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