We are They

The absolute worst aspect of the ongoing union vs. non-union conflicts taking place around the country is the way people are being pitted against one another.

The vitriole is flying fast and furious from folks on both sides of the collective bargaining debate, enough so that you have to just wish some of the louder voices would take a time out somewhere (preferably in state of course).

I've taught for fifteen years. It can be an incredibly rewarding job, and you would like to think it's an important and valued job. Unfortunately all you need to do is scan through a few comments to one of the Wisconsin or Indiana stories to find out that there are many people out there who have little to nothing good to say or think about educators.

I would like to think that every workplace is populated mostly by people who care about their work and put forth a genuine effort each day to do their job the best they can. It's also true of course that most workplaces have a handful of people who are not like this. They "punch the clock" only to receive their paycheck, and care little about how well they do what they do.

Teaching is no different.

There are good teachers and there are bad teachers. My experience, in four different school systems across two different states, is that most teachers are incredibly dedicated and professional in their work. It's too bad that the bad ones cast dark shadows over those who labor so diligently on behalf of their students.

Most teachers I know are not so pompous or entitled to believe that they should not suffer economically when the rest of the country is suffering. The last five years I spent in Indiana, I think we might have seen, at best, a total overall raise of 1.5%, most of which was eaten up with increased insurance premiums. After 15 years in this profession, I still do not make over $40k, and I pay hundreds of dollars each month for health insurance. I contribute to my own retirement account and pay for life insurance as well.

I'm simply not getting the part of this story that makes me a contributor to the economic woes of my region, state, or country.

Despite these facts, leaders in states like Indiana and Wisconsin have managed to pit me against those in the public sector. I now represent what is wrong and bad with this country. I am now the reason that fellow Americans have lost their public sector jobs, had their pay reduced, or caused their homes to go into foreclosure.

People, are we even listening to the things that we are saying to each other?

For every example of excess out there in the public sector, how many examples are there of honest, hardworking men and women doing their best to serve in the capacity they have been trained for? Do the men and women on the non-union side really believe that cafeteria workers, custodians, maintenance staff, teachers aides, and secretaries are spending their days raking in big bucks while they sip on cappucino's in the staff lounge? Really?

I saw someone post in defense of collective bargaining for teachers by listing graduation rates by state compared to whether or not the state allowed collective bargaining. Seriously?! Are we expected to be so incapable of rational thought that we would immediately believe that there is some kind of causal link between collective bargaining and graduation rates? Such nonsense does nothing to ease the tensions or bring resolution to the issues.

At the same time, it is equally ludicrous to suggest that teachers, fat on their excessive paychecks, are sloughing on the job, leading to uneducated students.

These issues are complex, and seeking out simple causalities that do not really exist is taking the easy way out. And that is my major beef with people like Governor's Daniels and Walker.

First off, collective bargaining is not the root cause of the economic trials we currently face.

Secondly, most unionized workers are more than willing to contribute to solutions by sharing the financial burden during difficult times. They do not require the threat of losing their right to negotiate to do so.

Thirdly, any approach to leadership that comes by dividing the population and sending them off to attack one another is the worst kind of leadership. And Tea Party members, I am talking directly to you on this one. Confrontational politics, adversarial politics, both get the blood pumping and leave in their wake a devastated population eventually.

We are in this together. Those who have worked under the support of a labor union are not evil and do not seek to destroy the public for their own self-interest. They do not consider themselves better than their public world counterparts.

The fact is, we thought we were on the same team all along.