Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray w BZY, Boston's Me Radio.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back and talking to Nicole Davis. She's
Speaker 2: helping me with my Apple update. You know, it's great
Speaker 2: when you have people on your team like Nicole, because
Speaker 2: whenever I have a question about anything that's technical on computers,
Speaker 2: Nicole is always there for me. And she told me
Speaker 2: how to do that in about thirty seconds. Nicole, thank
Speaker 2: you immensely. Just thank you immensely, and I mean that honestly.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I've been a great friend and
Speaker 2: a great colleague. Okay, it's the nine o'clock hour, and
Speaker 2: in the news you just heard that there will be
Speaker 2: no school tomorrow for the ninth day of this school
Speaker 2: year in Gloucester. There will be no school tomorrow in
Speaker 2: the Beverly School system for the ninth day, and no
Speaker 2: school tomorrow in Marblehead for the eighth day. So doing
Speaker 2: just a little bit of math on that, that basically
Speaker 2: is in about twenty six school days in those three systems,
Speaker 2: you know, eight, nine to nine and eight. We have
Speaker 2: talked before about the problems with teacher strikes, and if
Speaker 2: you've read today's editorial in the Boston Globe. It's not
Speaker 2: often that the Globe and I editorially are in sync,
Speaker 2: but we certainly are today. And the Globe essentially is
Speaker 2: saying that teacher strikes in Massachusetts our first illegal. I mean,
Speaker 2: what is it about illegal that someone doesn't understand? Now,
Speaker 2: we've kind of gone through this in recent times with
Speaker 2: the use of the word illegal in other ways, and
Speaker 2: people have told us that, well, just because something says
Speaker 2: it's illegal, it isn't necessarily illegal or whatever. You know
Speaker 2: that that sort that sort of wordplay, euphemisms or whatever. Look,
Speaker 2: these three unions up north of Boston, Gloucester, Beverly, in
Speaker 2: marble Head, those teachers have been out of the classrooms
Speaker 2: for well it'll be two weeks in, not tomorrow, but
Speaker 2: the day after tomorrow. That's the substantial part of the
Speaker 2: school year. Now. I know that you've seen the the
Speaker 2: teachers displays of their protests, and they're they're not in
Speaker 2: it for themselves. They're in it for the students, and
Speaker 2: they're in it for the for the parallel the para professionals.
Speaker 2: And I get all of that, but I had suggested
Speaker 2: last week and an idea, and the Globe, to their credit,
Speaker 2: the editorial page of Globe today was suggesting an idea
Speaker 2: as well, and the idea that the Globe has been
Speaker 2: suggesting that the fines that judges have been imposing have
Speaker 2: been inadequate. Frankly, because if the purpose of the fine
Speaker 2: is to force the teachers' union to get back into
Speaker 2: the classroom, by definition not working, so they need to
Speaker 2: and I guess the opinion of the Globe and also
Speaker 2: the opinion of yours, truly they need to look at
Speaker 2: those fines and make them a tougher. If again, if
Speaker 2: the idea of a fine is to say, look, you're
Speaker 2: doing something illegally and we want you to stop. If
Speaker 2: you find them four dollars a day, whatever, it's inadequate,
Speaker 2: it just is absolutely inadequate. And as a consequence, the
Speaker 2: strike has gone on now a long time. Looking at
Speaker 2: it from the student's perspective, these are school days that
Speaker 2: maybe they'll have to make up in April or February,
Speaker 2: I guess I think it's Beverly that's saying they can
Speaker 2: make this these days up in April or February. Well,
Speaker 2: nine days, that's two weeks. So if you're going to
Speaker 2: really make it up in April and February, there goes
Speaker 2: the April vacation, there goes the February vacation. Gloucester, they're
Speaker 2: saying that they'll keep kids in school until June thirtieth.
Speaker 2: I think all of us know that once you get
Speaker 2: past June first, and summer has really arrived in New England,
Speaker 2: you're not going to get a lot of great school
Speaker 2: work done in the month of June. Here's my proposal,
Speaker 2: and it's a fairly simple proposal, and that is that.
Speaker 2: And I didn't probably explain it as well as I
Speaker 2: should have last week, so I want to hear from you. Okay.
Speaker 2: Since strikes by public employees are illegal in Massachusetts, and
Speaker 2: that includes police officers and firefighters, one of the things
Speaker 2: that should be done, particularly for school features. Their school
Speaker 2: year generally is September to June, starts right after Labor Day,
Speaker 2: sometimes before Labor Day. And here's what I would argue
Speaker 2: needs to be done. Most school systems operate on three
Speaker 2: year contracts, so let's take a three year contract. So
Speaker 2: let us assume at the end of this school year
Speaker 2: in June of twenty twenty five, the time own the
Speaker 2: city and the union has now about fourteen months left
Speaker 2: or fifteen months. Well, actually it'll be twelve months left
Speaker 2: because it probably would end on June thirty the following year.
Speaker 2: So the parties, the union and the school department would
Speaker 2: be required to have some meetings and some discussions, some
Speaker 2: number of meetings and some discussions whatever one might think
Speaker 2: would be reasonable, ten twelve to fifteen meetings spaced over
Speaker 2: the summer of the year, of the summer before the
Speaker 2: contract expired. Now, if those meetings produced a result, that's great.
Speaker 2: You'll have a contract in place going forward months before
Speaker 2: the current contract expires, so that's a good thing. But
Speaker 2: if during that summer before the agreement was not reached
Speaker 2: or it wasn't finalized, then you get to the next
Speaker 2: June thirtieth, which in our hypothetical would be June of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six, the contract expires. We're not going to
Speaker 2: start a school year without a contract in place. How
Speaker 2: do we do that? We have a binding arbitration or
Speaker 2: some form of negotiations back and forth, which again take
Speaker 2: place during the summer June or the July and August. Now,
Speaker 2: I'll tell you the teachers' union won't like it because
Speaker 2: they want their summers off, but it is an incentive
Speaker 2: to get the contract done. And if by a certain date,
Speaker 2: let's say August fifteenth, just like they do in negotiations
Speaker 2: with professional athletes, highly paid professional athletes, the athletes representatives
Speaker 2: put in a proposal whatever they you know, want up
Speaker 2: three years, twenty million dollars a year, total sixty million
Speaker 2: dollars whatever, And the team has put in a proposal
Speaker 2: and said, nope, just we will be willing to pay
Speaker 2: them two years and we'll pay fifteen million dollars a year,
Speaker 2: so that's thirty million dollars. Well, they make their case,
Speaker 2: however they want to make their case, and at some
Speaker 2: point I date, let's say August first, oh, say August fifteenth,
Speaker 2: the conversations, the negotiations end, and by September first, the
Speaker 2: arbiter or the mediator, however you want to characterize it,
Speaker 2: makes a decision and says we couldn't reach an agreement. Therefore,
Speaker 2: I'm going to impose a three year contract, which you know,
Speaker 2: the legislature would have to pass some sort of legislation
Speaker 2: making this you know, permissible and mandatory. And if there
Speaker 2: is a strike, it would become then what would be
Speaker 2: characterized as a wildcat strike and at that point, the
Speaker 2: teachers would be put unnoticed and the union we put unnoticed.
Speaker 2: That any strike is going to result in people losing
Speaker 2: their jobs, because these strikes that are going on now
Speaker 2: will force other cuts in all of these communities. So
Speaker 2: there will be collateral damage here. Maybe there'll be some
Speaker 2: of the younger teachers will who will lose their jobs,
Speaker 2: maybe people in public works, maybe people in public service.
Speaker 2: I don't know. But there's only so much money each
Speaker 2: one of these communities can spend on a teachers contract.
Speaker 2: So I would love to hear from parents who are
Speaker 2: inconvenienced immensely by these school strikes, immensely because they now
Speaker 2: have to come up with some way in which their
Speaker 2: children will be looked after different ages. Obviously, if you
Speaker 2: have a kid in the first grade, well you're not
Speaker 2: going to say to the kid in the first gide,
Speaker 2: mommy and daddy have to go to work, enjoy yourself,
Speaker 2: don't watch too much televis. No, they're gonna they're gonna
Speaker 2: have to find a babysitter. They're gonna have to find
Speaker 2: a relative, they're gonna have to find a neighbor, which
Speaker 2: who I assume, They're gonna have to pay to to
Speaker 2: take care of little Johnny or a little Debbie big
Speaker 2: inconvenience there the child's learning process. How you know there's
Speaker 2: an impact here. There's a real impact on all of
Speaker 2: the school kids in all of these students in these schools. Now,
Speaker 2: maybe if you're I don't know, a senior, well it
Speaker 2: could impact you. Maybe you're taking college boards for the
Speaker 2: last time. Maybe you need letters of recommendation written for
Speaker 2: your for your applications as to where where you want
Speaker 2: to go to college. All of this, I think is
Speaker 2: put aside during the teacher strike and these obviously a
Speaker 2: coordinated strikes by three three communities in three communities all
Speaker 2: north of Boston, Beverly, Gloucester and Marblehead. So that's my proposal. Basically,
Speaker 2: say to the union and to the school departments, the
Speaker 2: school committee, you ran for this job, you applied for
Speaker 2: this job. You need to do the job for the
Speaker 2: benefit of the kids and the families in our community.
Speaker 2: And here is the rules the legislature will put down
Speaker 2: and you're going to have to comply with them, simple
Speaker 2: as that. If you've read the Globe editorial and you
Speaker 2: agree with that, feel free if you agree with my
Speaker 2: idea feel free. Something has to be done. We have
Speaker 2: a Massachusetts teachers Union, and we have invited them to
Speaker 2: come on to the show and to defend themselves, okay,
Speaker 2: and they have always rejected our invitations. It's an open
Speaker 2: door invitation to the president Teachers Union, max On Paige,
Speaker 2: and there's his assistant. I forget her first name, but
Speaker 2: Ms McCarthy. I only remember that name because I'm one
Speaker 2: of my grandmothers is well, my mom's mother is a McCarthy.
Speaker 2: So if you're McCarthy out there, maybe we're related. Let's
Speaker 2: get to this, okay. If you're a teacher and you
Speaker 2: think that I'm being horribly abusive to teachers, I'm not.
Speaker 2: I'm not at all. And I would suggest that all
Speaker 2: of you go to the Massachusetts Department of Education slash
Speaker 2: teacher salaries. These teacher salaries, when I last check a
Speaker 2: week ago, are only updated to the year school year
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, meaning twenty twenty through twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: so they're four years old, and all of the teachers.
Speaker 2: The average salary for these three school systems again Beverly, Gloucester,
Speaker 2: Marvel Head the ones that are out on strike about
Speaker 2: eighty six eighty seven thousand dollars average average six one seven, two,
Speaker 2: five four ten thirty six one seven, nine three one
Speaker 2: ten thirty. There's been a bunch of teacher strikes and
Speaker 2: it's only going to get worse until the legislature and
Speaker 2: the governor get some backbone and take them on and
Speaker 2: say this shall not stand. Back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: The Globe editorial says tougher action is needed on teacher strikes.
Speaker 2: Illegal teacher strikes continue this week in three North Throe communities, Marblehead,
Speaker 2: Beverly and Gloucester, causing massive disruption for those communities. With
Speaker 2: little apparent progress toward a conclusion. The article concludes. It says,
Speaker 2: the way the process now works, finds typically aren't levied
Speaker 2: until a strike has been in effect for several days.
Speaker 2: Finds generally started about fifty thousand dollars increased by ten
Speaker 2: thousand dollars or so each day that the strike continues.
Speaker 2: But it finds aren't immediately onerous, and payment can be
Speaker 2: delayed until the strike is over, whereupon the cash flush
Speaker 2: parent union can quietly help make its locals. Whole pressure
Speaker 2: to end the illegal strike obviously won't be maximized, but
Speaker 2: it finds for striking starts, say one hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: thousand dollars a day, I went up by that amount
Speaker 2: or more each day the strike continued, Unions would be
Speaker 2: more cautious about breaking the law by going out on strike.
Speaker 2: As the MTA locals begin their second week of of
Speaker 2: disrupting their communities, it's pretty soon going to be the
Speaker 2: third week with illegal strikes. It's time for a tougher approach.
Speaker 2: After all, if a state isn't serious about enforcing the law,
Speaker 2: in the Massachusetts Teachers Association and its locals simply won't
Speaker 2: get serious about abiding by it. Pretty good editorial in
Speaker 2: the Globe today. Let's go to the call is going
Speaker 2: to go first off too, John and Denham. John, you
Speaker 2: first tonight on night Side. Whether you agree to disagree, folks,
Speaker 2: you are welcome to join the conversation. Go ahead, John,
Speaker 2: hey Ed.
Speaker 3: I was in high school during the Blizzard of seventy eight,
Speaker 3: and we had like three weeks off around a vacation week,
Speaker 3: and I believe we just added twelve minutes to each class,
Speaker 3: so we were basically making up a day every week
Speaker 3: and so cause to take away vacation from especially like
Speaker 3: you're a senior. You may be going on a senior
Speaker 3: class trip or something. It's just it's ridiculous. And and
Speaker 3: I think if you're both parties, I know this will
Speaker 3: sound harsh. I think maybe for every day they strike,
Speaker 3: both parties have to start one week of jail time
Speaker 3: in the summer. You take away somebody's time. You watch
Speaker 3: how quickly this stuff gets resolved.
Speaker 2: So when you say both both parties, you're saying both
Speaker 2: the school committee and the union the heads of the
Speaker 2: union exactly.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 3: Well, because that way, that way neither party can hold
Speaker 3: the other hostage. You know, if you say just the
Speaker 3: teachers are going to.
Speaker 2: Have to go interesting suggestion. What do you think about
Speaker 2: my idea, which is basically, you got to start negotiating,
Speaker 2: in effect, the summer before the contract expires. We don't
Speaker 2: expect you to come to an agreement. But once the
Speaker 2: contract expires in June, that next summer, the next two
Speaker 2: months July in August, you got to have You may
Speaker 2: blow your entire summer, but you got to sit and
Speaker 2: negotiate and at the end of it, if you don't
Speaker 2: come to an agreement, the arbiter or the mediator will
Speaker 2: issue a decision, just like they do in professional sports.
Speaker 2: You know, when you know, when some you know, hotshot
Speaker 2: player says I've had great years and I want a
Speaker 2: ten year contract for fifty million a year, whatever it is,
Speaker 2: and the team says, no, we're going to give you
Speaker 2: three years at twenty million a year. Eventually, somewhere somewhere
Speaker 2: in the middle, a decision is made. I think that
Speaker 2: the well what do you think. I like my idea
Speaker 2: a little better because it's more specific.
Speaker 3: I think you and I are on the same page.
Speaker 3: It meaning that, hey, if you're going to take away
Speaker 3: these kids, the time from these kids in their families
Speaker 3: because families have totally disrupted, then we're going to take
Speaker 3: away your time in the summer, which is I think,
Speaker 3: what kind of to your point? And I said, if hey,
Speaker 3: you got two months, you can't go vacation until you
Speaker 3: get this resolved. But I mean the teachers that probably
Speaker 3: can still go on vacation cause they're not in the
Speaker 3: part of negotiate, right, you just have the union members
Speaker 3: and any any teacher who says this is for the kids.
Speaker 3: You know they're full of you know what.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well again, as they say, people should go look
Speaker 2: at the Department of Education statistics from four years ago.
Speaker 2: It's on it's a Massachusetts website, and it'll tell you
Speaker 2: exactly what the average teacher makes in your community, wherever
Speaker 2: you live in the three hundred and fifty one cities
Speaker 2: and towns of Massachusetts. Well, the idea, John, I think
Speaker 2: you're thinking outside the box, which is which is great.
Speaker 2: We got a couple of ideas. Maybe we could blend
Speaker 2: them together. Okay, begs buddy, Hey you doctor you soon?
Speaker 2: All right? Good, nay, all right, let me see that.
Speaker 2: I got one line at six one seven, two five
Speaker 2: four ten thirty, and got one line and six one
Speaker 2: seven nine three one ten thirty. We can talk about this.
Speaker 2: I have no guest scheduled this hour. We may have
Speaker 2: either some union representatives who we have invited to call in,
Speaker 2: or some of the representatives of the various school committees
Speaker 2: they have also been invited to call in, but no
Speaker 2: guests who will be here for a long time. So
Speaker 2: I'd like to get as many calls in as possible.
Speaker 2: And I got two lines up right now that are
Speaker 2: available six one seven two five, four, ten thirty and
Speaker 2: six one seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty and if
Speaker 2: we need to go into the next hour, we will.
Speaker 2: I think it's important. Now some of you are saying, Hey, Dan,
Speaker 2: what's what's the big deal here? We're talking about Gloucester, Beverly,
Speaker 2: marble Ed. I don't even live near those places. Guess
Speaker 2: what if the mass Teachers Association can pull together a
Speaker 2: little North shore combined strike. You don't think that we
Speaker 2: could be seen a little south shore maybe a Metro
Speaker 2: West combined strike, Berkshire Teachers' Union combrian strike. Don't kid
Speaker 2: yourself back on nights side right after the news at
Speaker 2: the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1: If you're on the night side with Dan Ray on
Speaker 1: w b Z, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Let's get back to the phones and let's talk to
Speaker 2: Dot from Midford. Dot, welcome back.
Speaker 3: How are you hi?
Speaker 2: Dan?
Speaker 5: Hey?
Speaker 6: Dan?
Speaker 7: You know they're not going to negotiate in the summertime
Speaker 7: because they've got the vacation planned. They're going to be
Speaker 7: in Europe on our dime.
Speaker 2: Well, maybe the tender will be, but the union leaders
Speaker 2: will have to negotiate because if they don't negotiate, then
Speaker 2: the arbiter, the mediator can say, Okay, this is the
Speaker 2: proposal I have from this from the town of such
Speaker 2: and such and the city such and such. The union
Speaker 2: chows not to negotiate. I'm going to go ahead and
Speaker 2: support the towns and that would make that then would
Speaker 2: be the contract they'll have they have to live under.
Speaker 7: Well, I think the first thing that should happen is
Speaker 7: right away, now that they're out for two weeks, they
Speaker 7: get a ten thousand dollars pay cut boutomatic automatic, every.
Speaker 1: One of them.
Speaker 7: And then the next step would be what President Reagan
Speaker 7: would do. They all lose their job, get all new teachers.
Speaker 7: They lose their job period.
Speaker 2: Would it's tough to do that in the middle school
Speaker 2: year to be well, you know.
Speaker 7: What, they're going to have to do something the teachers
Speaker 7: and the yeah, oh yeah, but I think a ten
Speaker 7: thousand dollars pay cast if that wound over the squashy
Speaker 7: little head that they'd give in, I think they'd have to.
Speaker 2: Well, what happens here is that because these three schools
Speaker 2: go out on strike, that sends a message to the
Speaker 2: other communities. The community say, if all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: now our teachers union threatens a strike, we better well,
Speaker 2: pay attention. That's the nasty little secret here. And you
Speaker 2: have the Mass Teachers Association, which was very successful and
Speaker 2: getting rid of the the m CAST graduation requirement. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and the next thing they're going to try to do
Speaker 2: is get rid of the m CAST testing in the
Speaker 2: eighth in the third grade.
Speaker 7: The way powerful. They're too powerful and they get you.
Speaker 7: Gotta nip them in the butt with a pay cut.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, Dot, I got it in there. All right,
Speaker 2: let's see if people more people might agree with you. Okay,
Speaker 2: I was trying to do it in a nice way.
Speaker 2: You're like, bottom line, Dot, can't be.
Speaker 7: Nice to have you taken a look at them on TV?
Speaker 7: We snap and gum bigger bath losses. Are you kidding?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: Come on now, none of that, None of that, None
Speaker 2: of that, all right, no rabbit punches. Okay, all right, thanks,
Speaker 2: thanks Dot, Let's keep rolling here. Steve is in Revere.
Speaker 2: Steve you are next night? Said welcome?
Speaker 3: Hey, agreeing Dan there? How are you doing it for
Speaker 3: my call?
Speaker 2: Dude? Great? Well, thank you for calling in. What's your
Speaker 2: taking all of this?
Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you I don't agree with them going
Speaker 3: on straight. I mean, it's not right, But.
Speaker 2: It's more than not. It's Steve, if I could, it's
Speaker 2: more than it's illegal. It's not right for you. It's
Speaker 2: not right for you to park in that handicap parking
Speaker 2: space when you were running into dunkin Donuts. Not right
Speaker 2: to do that, but it's also illegal.
Speaker 3: Go ahead, exactly, I totally agree, but I have to
Speaker 3: tell you I'm powerfully there. My sister is a para
Speaker 3: and re rere school system and again, they're actually under
Speaker 3: contract negotiation. Also. I don't know if you know that
Speaker 3: or not, but they've made their statements by doing other
Speaker 3: things on their off time. She tells me some stories
Speaker 3: about what she goes to with kids. I mean, I
Speaker 3: don't think she's nearly paid enough for what they do
Speaker 3: with kids, biting and kicking them. But if father's teachers
Speaker 3: going on strike, you know that should be done on
Speaker 3: a time that doesn't take away from the learning of
Speaker 3: their children going to school. Absolutely not.
Speaker 2: Yeah, did you say this was your wife was a paralegal?
Speaker 3: Oh no, my sister was a paralegal.
Speaker 2: Your sister Okay, okay, I'm sorry. We want to make
Speaker 2: sure so now paralegals mates make substantially less than teachers absolutely,
Speaker 2: which is something that the Teachers' Union over time has
Speaker 2: negotiated with various cities and towns. How long has has
Speaker 2: your sister been doing this type work.
Speaker 3: It's en seven years, seven years.
Speaker 2: So this is a career path for her. This is
Speaker 2: not she's trying for com.
Speaker 3: Yeah, she has. She has graduated from Stuffolk University years ago.
Speaker 3: She's I mean she's almost fifty three years old.
Speaker 2: Okay, did she take this up after did she do
Speaker 2: something else or was she.
Speaker 3: I'll make a long story shot. She used to worked
Speaker 3: years ago for the FBI as a different things I
Speaker 3: can't get. I don't want to talk about secret, secret.
Speaker 2: Stuff, secret stuff, No problem, go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 3: But she shows his career path when her daughter was
Speaker 3: born and my niece is now in college and she
Speaker 3: went back to work, and she said, it's just frustrating
Speaker 3: to see what they go through. His palties because I mean,
Speaker 3: they're nearly not pay enough and they have to they
Speaker 3: have to come on a lot of classes for when
Speaker 3: teachers are own. It's yeah, if.
Speaker 2: They should be, they should be paid more. I think that,
Speaker 2: if anything, the teachers should negotiate it. Take take one
Speaker 2: break from from once, if the teachers said to a town. Look,
Speaker 2: we're okay, we'll work for the next three years without
Speaker 2: without a pay increase, but we want a substantial increase
Speaker 2: for the paralegals. I would be with the union one
Speaker 2: thousand percent at that point. Steve. Again, I'm not going
Speaker 2: after you know, anybody here personally, and certainly not going
Speaker 2: after your sister. But I think something has to be
Speaker 2: done structurally here. And and maybe what we just talked
Speaker 2: about having the teachers back off in one cycle, well,
Speaker 2: you know, take it two or three percent raise and
Speaker 2: give the rest of it because you know and helped they.
Speaker 2: They always talk about the powers and how the parers
Speaker 2: are underpaid. Notice they don't say the teachers are underpaid.
Speaker 2: It's so they used the parers to negotiate raises for
Speaker 2: the teachers. That's not fair either.
Speaker 3: I know it's not all right.
Speaker 2: Stay appreciate you call so much, thank.
Speaker 3: You, thank you. Not to jump off the second, but
Speaker 3: I can't wait. You have the Kay guys back on.
Speaker 2: So we love the car guy Scott and Larry's. Matter
Speaker 2: of fact, I talked with Larry well buy or buy
Speaker 2: a text message a couple of days ago, and we'll
Speaker 2: have them on early in December. I guarantee you.
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you so much and I appreciate you. Thank
Speaker 3: you so much.
Speaker 2: Let me go to Pete in South Carolina. Pete, thanks
Speaker 2: for that suggestion. We did. I had a lot of
Speaker 2: fun with Charles Rowe. It was a wonderful, It was great.
Speaker 5: But I am calling dot took some of my thunder
Speaker 5: and Ronald Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers because
Speaker 5: right now, I am sure there are plenty of men
Speaker 5: and women college educated don't have.
Speaker 4: A job, would love to have.
Speaker 5: A job, even if it's teaching. They're certified or they
Speaker 5: have a degree and you know some sort of institution
Speaker 5: of higher learning.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well the only work. Yeah, no, I get it.
Speaker 2: But the problem is if you were if somehow someway
Speaker 2: they fired an entire union, it's going to end up
Speaker 2: in court. I think that would be penny wise and
Speaker 2: pound foolish in my opinion. That you know, maybe what
Speaker 2: they could say is, Okay, we'll give you the rays
Speaker 2: you want, but we're going to have to cut you know,
Speaker 2: ten percent of the teaching staff. And it might be
Speaker 2: that that might wake them up or something to basically
Speaker 2: to say to a union group of you know, however,
Speaker 2: many teachers, it might be two hundred teachers in a community,
Speaker 2: you're all gone, and then to recruit and get twenty
Speaker 2: two hundred people to replace them in the middle of
Speaker 2: a school year. I think that's that's a big mountain
Speaker 2: to climb.
Speaker 5: Well, it's either a big mountain to climb where you're
Speaker 5: gonna have to climb the same mountain because your kids
Speaker 5: are n't educated.
Speaker 2: No, I understand the frustration. I really do.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I'm in South Carolina. This is you know,
Speaker 5: I usually don't call in when it's a local Massachusetts
Speaker 5: type thing, but I just had a thought that was it.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, let me ask you. I'm assuming that
Speaker 2: you have, you know, teachers in schools down in South
Speaker 2: Carolina obviously, who are very qualified, very competent. The teacher strikes,
Speaker 2: our teachers are unionized in South Carolina. Might South Carolina
Speaker 2: might be a right to work state.
Speaker 5: It is right to work. Stay okay, because my my
Speaker 5: three grandchildren once my grandson just graduated high school and
Speaker 5: my and the other two were in middle school and
Speaker 5: high school. So you know, we stay on top of it.
Speaker 5: My daughter obviously does because it's her kids. But like
Speaker 5: I said, you know, pulling this off in the middle
Speaker 5: of the school year.
Speaker 2: It came, by the way, in three in three communities
Speaker 2: that are like peas in a pod. They're all you
Speaker 2: know Massachusetts, I know a little bit. Yeah, I've lost
Speaker 2: Beverly and Marblehead.
Speaker 1: They're right up there in the north Shore right.
Speaker 5: Uh. And to do this to the children, that's not fair.
Speaker 5: I'm sorry. Well, like the one lady said before me,
Speaker 5: take away some of their money. There's got to be something.
Speaker 5: I don't know, but I just frosted toasts a little
Speaker 5: bit when I heard the topic. I gotta call them.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm glad you did, and I'm certainly glad
Speaker 2: to suggest you made. And for those of you who
Speaker 2: do not know, Pete is a big train I guess
Speaker 2: fan you know, Lionel and railroad railroading and he he
Speaker 2: suggested one of our guests last night at eight o'clock,
Speaker 2: Charles Row of the company named Charles Row. Uh, and
Speaker 2: we if you haven't heard it, you want to listen
Speaker 2: to the to last night's eight o'clock hour gives you
Speaker 2: some great ideas. If you have a kid for presence
Speaker 2: this holiday season, you know, you a little a little
Speaker 2: bit of a throwback. But boy, I'll tell you. You
Speaker 2: look at their website and you see the trains that
Speaker 2: this this website has. I'm I'm thinking pretty seriously here,
Speaker 2: Pete have given Charles a call and getting something for
Speaker 2: my grandson, so I got to get it clean with
Speaker 2: the parents though. If you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5: Oh of course I understand. But anyway, you have a
Speaker 5: great Thanksgiving. I probably we'll get you sometime afterwards.
Speaker 2: But absolutely right back to you.
Speaker 5: Take care, my friend, Thank you much, thank you.
Speaker 2: Okay, go take a quick break here, I got death, Mario,
Speaker 2: Paul and Andrew coming up. Only room for you at
Speaker 2: six point seven nine, one line open.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Good full lines. Let's keep rolling here. I'm going to
Speaker 2: try to give everybody a couple of minutes, and let's
Speaker 2: keep rolling. Andrew and Lemonster Andrew next on Nightside, go right,
Speaker 2: hit sir.
Speaker 4: Hey, how you doing.
Speaker 2: I'm doing great, Andrew, tell them tell.
Speaker 4: Me what you did this? Well, what I think is
Speaker 4: I am actually a husband of a teacher who just retired,
Speaker 4: and I've seen the ups and downs in her career.
Speaker 4: I spent thousands of dollars on education on that she
Speaker 4: had to get PDP points over the thirty years that
Speaker 4: she was there. And what I say is, why aren't
Speaker 4: the school committees fine for not having their contracts ready
Speaker 4: for them or in agreement at the time that they
Speaker 4: were supposed to be rather well.
Speaker 2: They probably they probably well they I don't know if
Speaker 2: they had contracts ready for them. Obviously if they presented
Speaker 2: them with a contract that the union liked, but then
Speaker 2: you know, the negotiations can be over in a day.
Speaker 2: But that's really not the way it works. What they
Speaker 2: do is they start off, You've got the base of
Speaker 2: of of the contract that currently exists, and obviously any
Speaker 2: union is going to come in and say, would like
Speaker 2: to get a raised here, like to get this situation
Speaker 2: worked part of the part of the negotiations.
Speaker 4: And I agree with you there, and I agree with
Speaker 4: you there, But but you have to look at the
Speaker 4: whole picture of the whole cyclativity of the economy where
Speaker 4: these teachers have taken zero percent for three years, and
Speaker 4: now that the economy has grown, they understand that, you know,
Speaker 4: there's a there's a lot to pay for and you know,
Speaker 4: with with the whole economy thing going up and down whatever.
Speaker 4: So if they were more proactive in these school committees
Speaker 4: and and acknowledging that and giving them the right percentages
Speaker 4: or something close, you wouldn't have this situation. You would
Speaker 4: actually have people.
Speaker 2: I got two questions for you, and I'm really interested.
Speaker 2: Let's assume and I don't know the specifics of these
Speaker 2: three contracts and Gloucester, Beverly Marblehead.
Speaker 4: Do I, yes, I do.
Speaker 2: You're you're telling me that that they've received no raises
Speaker 2: in the last three years. I don't know that.
Speaker 4: No, no, no, no, no no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 4: don't say that in the last three years. What I'm
Speaker 4: saying is over a thirty thirty year career. Okay. I've
Speaker 4: experienced this with my wife because she's she is a
Speaker 4: public school teacher in the system for thirty years.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 4: There are times when times were hard for the state
Speaker 4: in the in the cities and towns where they received
Speaker 4: no zero percentage raises. Okay, And again I'm not.
Speaker 2: I'm not disputing that. And I don't want to talk about,
Speaker 2: you know, a situation that I don't know about, and
Speaker 2: you don't know about whether this was in twenty thirteen
Speaker 2: or twenty eighteen. I don't know. My point is this,
Speaker 2: you got three towns. Let's let's deal with what we
Speaker 2: can agree on. We got three counts towns, Gloucester, Beverly,
Speaker 2: marbles Head. There's no school now for eight or nine days? Okay?
Speaker 5: Correct?
Speaker 2: What would be a fair resolution in your mind these
Speaker 2: three schools? The average teacher?
Speaker 4: No, no, no, no.
Speaker 2: Question. Let me a favorite answer. I'm trying to pose
Speaker 2: a question to you. Okay, So if you would give
Speaker 2: me the privilege of posing the question inno entirety, I'll
Speaker 2: let you answer me in your entirety. Okay. So you
Speaker 2: have three towns. Do we know of the average salary up?
Speaker 2: There is around eighty six eighty seven thousand dollars in
Speaker 2: all three towns. That's according to the Department of Education.
Speaker 2: What do you think would be a fair percentage increase
Speaker 2: in your opinion? You're the husband of a former teacher.
Speaker 2: What do you think would satisfy the union for the
Speaker 2: next three years? Give me the numbers that you think
Speaker 2: would be reasonable.
Speaker 4: Well, the thing is is, I can't. I can't give
Speaker 4: you those numbers because I am not in their history
Speaker 4: of their contracts. The issue is is when you get
Speaker 4: into these history of contracts, right, they have maybe maybe
Speaker 4: they have taken zero maybe five ten years ago, okay,
Speaker 4: and now that now that the income ratio is much
Speaker 4: much higher, maybe the police in the fire department or
Speaker 4: the public works, the contracts are much much higher. The whole,
Speaker 4: the whole deal with this is, you know, you're talking
Speaker 4: about three different towns here. Why isn't the school committee
Speaker 4: fined but not doing their contract on time?
Speaker 2: These people because there's no obligation, there's there's nothing illegal
Speaker 2: about negotiations going beyond beyond a certain date. However, however, now, however,
Speaker 2: however you asked again, You've now asked me a question,
Speaker 2: and you don't want to hear my answer. The reason
Speaker 2: that the teachers union are being fined, Andrew, is that
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts strikes by public employees teachers included, that's illegal.
Speaker 2: That's what they're being fined for.
Speaker 4: That.
Speaker 2: There's no basis to find the school committee of these communities.
Speaker 4: So why isn't there though, Why isn't there that's the
Speaker 4: legislature talking about three different communities up there, right, and
Speaker 4: you're saying, well, why why why are these kids not
Speaker 4: going to school, and I said, well, why let's be
Speaker 4: a little bit more proactive. Why aren't Why isn't the
Speaker 4: school committee obligated to make those contracts come in in
Speaker 4: fair on time.
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, that's a subjective determination, Andrew, and
Speaker 2: that's you might think that fair and on time would
Speaker 2: be eight percent, eight percent and eight percent. And maybe
Speaker 2: they say, we don't have that money in this town,
Speaker 2: and we cannot go back to people in this town
Speaker 2: and raise their real estate taxes to fund that. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's what their problem is, Andrew. I appreciate your point
Speaker 2: of view on it. I just was hoping that you
Speaker 2: could give me some idea. What you think they deserve
Speaker 2: they're making eighty five or eighty six thousand dollars?
Speaker 4: No no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2: No no no no, no, no.
Speaker 4: No no. What you have to look at too, is oh, you've.
Speaker 2: Already told me that, Andrew.
Speaker 5: I've heard it.
Speaker 2: I don't need to hear it twice. I got to
Speaker 2: look back at the entire history. So why don't we
Speaker 2: do this, Andrew? Why don't I change the subject and
Speaker 2: I'll spend tomorrow looking back at the entire history the
Speaker 2: Gloucester Beverly and Marvelhead School contracts over the last say,
Speaker 2: twenty five years, and then we'll open up the phone
Speaker 2: lines again tomorrow night. That's not the way my world works,
Speaker 2: andrews as much as.
Speaker 4: Okay, no, no problem, dd, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2: Right back at you, all right, much appreciate It'll we
Speaker 2: go next to Beth in bever in Berkeley. Beth in Berkeley.
Speaker 2: How are you, Beth?
Speaker 6: I'm fine. How are you doing?
Speaker 2: I think I'm doing Okay, go right ahead.
Speaker 6: Yes, I'm a former teacher. I taught in the Farvar
Speaker 6: public schools for thirty five years. I retired in two
Speaker 6: thousand and eight.
Speaker 2: And what you told me and I missed here. I
Speaker 2: did not hear. What public school system did you teach in?
Speaker 5: Fall River?
Speaker 2: Oh? Fall River? Sure? Okay, absolutely, okay, thank you for
Speaker 2: your service. Go ahead.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: And I retired in two thousand and eight. And so
Speaker 6: I was listening to your discussion. I know Fall River
Speaker 6: isn't on the same level as the north Shore schools
Speaker 6: that you're talking about, But at the same time, you know,
Speaker 6: I feel like you know, like you know the voice
Speaker 6: of reason, But I don't understand how you can have
Speaker 6: such strong opinions about something that you've never done before,
Speaker 6: like taught in public school settings. It's not.
Speaker 5: Easy.
Speaker 6: It's a difficult job.
Speaker 2: I happen to understand that very much. And I and
Speaker 2: I agree with you. I have never I have never
Speaker 2: played Major League Baseball, but I criticized the Red Sox
Speaker 2: every year when they lose. And I've never been a
Speaker 2: United States senator, but when I listen to someone of
Speaker 2: our senators say something that I agree or disagree with,
Speaker 2: that's my job is to kind of comment here. You know,
Speaker 2: but did you did your union ever go on strike?
Speaker 2: Or no?
Speaker 6: Yeah, we did, we did. I started teaching in nineteen
Speaker 6: seventy three, and I believe we went on strike soon
Speaker 6: after that, and you know, we had to pay fines,
Speaker 6: the far of the Teachers Association had to pay fines,
Speaker 6: and we ended up going back to work, and we
Speaker 6: ended up teaching longer days and teaching into like the
Speaker 6: end of June to make up the days that you
Speaker 6: were on strike. But you know, it's just like if
Speaker 6: you've never taught before, you know, the bell rings you teach,
Speaker 6: you're on, you know, like you're on, kids are looking
Speaker 6: at you, and you're teaching like straight for forty five
Speaker 6: minutes and then the bell rings. You can't go to
Speaker 6: the bathroom.
Speaker 3: You have to.
Speaker 6: It's it's not easy and in floridv we I mean,
Speaker 6: I retired in two thousand and eight, and I think
Speaker 6: I retired at fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: Which the average salary in Fall River in the school
Speaker 2: year twenty twenty to twenty twenty one. Want to take
Speaker 2: a guest as to what it was in that community
Speaker 2: a few years.
Speaker 5: I have no idea.
Speaker 2: Seventy four seventy four thy one hundred and seventeen.
Speaker 6: Dollars that average average teacher salary. That's with the masters.
Speaker 2: It's an average salary. So if you have one hundred teachers,
Speaker 2: you combine every everybody, you combine top of the scale,
Speaker 2: bottom of the scale, and average. Okay, yeah, so I appreciate. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: I'm up. I'm up till ten o'clock. I'll hold you
Speaker 2: into the next hour. If you have more comments you'd
Speaker 2: like to make, would you like to hold through the news?
Speaker 6: No, I'm all set.
Speaker 2: You are, okay, Well, thank you very much for and
Speaker 2: thank you for listening, and thank you for calling. We'll
Speaker 2: take a break. I'm going to stick with this into
Speaker 2: the next hour. For a little while, we have some
Speaker 2: lines open at six, one, seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty.
Speaker 2: Feel free to fill them up.