"Traitor Teachers"By Kathleen Yarr
September 11, 2019
"Traitor Teachers" have been forwarding Ketchikan Education Association President email to me. (Emailed on school email. Huh. Wonder if that’s okay?) Regardless, this is evidence the KEA is not quite the rock-solid, union monolith KEA would like to think they are. With a whiff of ..... displeasure, President Lundamo mentions I was a para (Implication: Who will run for school board next? A janitor? I hope so.) Lundamo then goes on to gently correct the record on the National Teachers Association-Alaska’s position on pregnancy, which they support providing the mother supports her pregnancy. However, that still makes the KEA irrelevant since it is against federal law (29 CFR Sec. 38.8) to discriminate against an employee based upon her pregnancy status. To her credit, Lundamo instructs KEA members that if they don’t have the ovaries to totally ditch the KEA, they may opt out of the $15 Political Action Fee (that’s the part that supports abortion rights) and just affirmatively pay the $100 a month to the KEA. Lundamo does not inform educators, however; there are other ways to organize such as the Association of American Educators, whose mission it is to support education, not promote partisan politics. The SEIU and AFSCME are bleeding membership since the Janus decision. Something is shifting. Are we headed for merit pay and the loss of tenure? Who knows? We have a teacher shortage in Alaska, though we still pay the highest in the nation. Something needs to be done to retain good teachers, but the Something is not in the NEA platforms. It may, however; be in a pension plan. Sincerely Kathleen Yarr Educator
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Received September 10, 2019 - Published September 11, 2019 Related Viewpoint: Viewpoints - Opinion Letters:
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