Posted on 03/01/2021 9:34:26 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
MADISON, WI — Two public-interest law firms are warning Madison’s teachers union that it could face a lawsuit if educators follow through on a plan to fake COVID-19 en masse as a protest against the return of in-person learning.
“Madison Teachers, Inc. leaders are asking their members to falsely call-in sick in order to shut down in-person learning,” Daniel Suhr, senior attorney at the Liberty Justice Center said Friday in a press release. “An organized sick out is a form of strike and illegal in the State of Wisconsin and we are prepared to file a lawsuit to stop this illegal action. Madison students need to be in school, not used as pawns in a publicity stunt.”
Attorneys at the Liberty Justice Center and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty notified the union on Friday that in the event of an illegal strike, Wisconsin law authorizes students and parents, as well as the school district, to enforce the ban on teacher strikes in court. The law firms say they intend to file a lawsuit in state court on behalf of Madison parents to stop any strike.
As Empower Wisconsin and conservative talk show host Vicki McKenna first reported last week, Madison public school teachers were planning a “sick-out” to protest against Madison Metropolitan School District’s plan to resume in-person learning after nearly a year of failed virtual education.
The work action appeared to have the tacit, if not official, approval of the teachers union.
Empower Wisconsin obtained an email from Madison Teachers Inc. (MTI) faculty representatives encouraging all MMSD teachers to feign illness and ditch their teaching responsibilities. The email urged staff to report to the district before 8 a.m. last Thursday that they had COVID-19 symptoms.
“I’m sure we all feel exhausted, or have consistent headaches, not really feeling our usual energetic selves. Are you picking up what I’m putting down here?” the email states.
“We need them (MMSD) to get thousands of responses on the google forms. Flood them. We are encouraging you and your staff to join us all in solidarity to show the district that we do not believe it is safe yet,” the union reps’ message implores.
A source with knowledge of the situation said there was a change of heart Wednesday evening, and organizers instead were looking to change the protest to Monday, the first day teachers are to report to their buildings.
The source, a Madison teacher, said since the email went out and the coverage of it, a lot of teachers in the district have expressed they don’t support the work stoppage plan. Many still do. An emergency meeting of teachers has been scheduled for 4 p.m. today.
MTI, like many other teachers unions across the state and country, has vehemently opposed any attempt to bring educators back to the classroom while the pandemic persists. The resistance movement continues despite the nation’s health experts urging schools to re-open, noting a raft of studies showing the relative safety of in-person learning.
On Friday, a source told Empower Wisconsin that many teachers in the district had second thoughts about feigning illness to protest re-opening Madison schools — particularly after Empower Wisconsin and McKenna broke the story.
Sources tell Empower Wisconsin some teachers prefer a “TEACH OUT,” tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 4. They plan to post signs calling out what they believe to be COVID safety issues on MMSD campuses.
Another source told Empower Wisconsin middle school and high school teachers plan to be outside Madison’s elementary schools as they re-open. They will continue to teach virtually from the sites, in solidarity with elementary teachers.
“There’s somewhat of a disconnect between elementary teachers (who want to go back to in-person learning) and middle and high school teachers (who don’t). There’s certainly a lot of disagreement about what work action people should take,” a source with knowledge of the situation told Empower Wisconsin on Sunday. “I solely blame MTI for not being organized, for not organizing job actions that would be beneficial.”
In an another email obtained by Empower Wisconsin last week, MTI union chief Edward A. Sadlowski notes he is aware of the communication.
Sadlowski advises MMSD employees to “be honest when answering any health screener.” Then he quickly adds:
“We understand that some may feel pressured to answer ‘No’ to all the questions presented on the District’s health screener when one should answer ‘Yes’. You do not have to, and should not, work when demonstrating COVID-19 symptoms.”
The union leader asserts teachers are experiencing the “psychological fragility and resultant health symptoms brought on by the prolonged health crisis.”
Madison teachers are protesting what may be one of the slowest phase-ins of in-person education out there. Kindergarten students are the first to return to the classroom — on March 9 — in accordance with the MMSD plan to re-open schools. Students in first and second grades won’t be back in class until a week later. And 4-K students start back on March 23. There is no guidance on when the remaining grades will report back to the classroom.
“Teachers unions must be held accountable if they take illegal action to keep students out of school,” said Rick Esenberg, president and general counsel at Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. “Madison parents have been fighting to get their children back in school for nearly a year. We will not allow an illegal strike to continue to bar children from the in-person education they deserve.”
Curious to see what the final dollar-tally is, as far as the combination of loss of income for families by going down to one income for the household, as well as the extra cash layout to keep kids safe (and studying!) at home.
Where are all of our great Economic Minds? You'd think someone would put those figures together. Doesn't that Paul Krugman have a Nobel Prize in Economics?
Or, do you just stop WORKING once you get one? *SMIRK*
Scum of the earth.
Bttt.
5.56mm
If the Republicans retake the governorship and retain their majorities in both the house and senate I would suggest that their first legislative priority would be to ban public sector unions. An outright ban, period. Also include making work stoppages by public employees a crime punishable with a fine and jail time. Enough of this bullsh!t.
“Scum of the earth.”
You are too kind in your description.
When we had Governor Walker, his Act 10 went a long way to stopping a lot of this union foolishness/selfishness.
Our state was in fine shape under Walker; there has been some backsliding, but luckily we still have the House and the Assembly (Senate) in Republican hands. (With a smattering of RINOs, of course!)
$13.9 in savings to Taxpayers is a rare, RARE thing for any state to accomplish over a decade without Socialist Democrats being able to reverse it!
https://www.maciverinstitute.com/2021/02/act-10-at-10-total-taxpayer-savings-hits-13-9-billion/
“Act 10 didn’t just fix the state’s financial problems. It also gave local governments and school districts the tools they needed to keep their budgets balanced. Previously, most school districts were required to buy health insurance through the state teachers union. After Act 10, they were allowed to shop for the best deal.
Act 10 has now been in place for ten years, and it continues to save the state and local governments hundreds of millions of dollars every year.”
Evers (Douche, WI) inherited a very well-run State, no matter what that pencil-necked weasel tries to tell you. :)
rule they must be anally tested every 8 hours untill well enough to work.
They also haven’t missed a day of work. Wife’s best friend and a cousin are both teachers. They are working more hours now than they were when in-person classes were happening.
Is that a brag or a confession?.
Just a statement of fact. They were working a solid eight to nine hours before; now it is not unusual for them to work twelve plus.
Good for them. MANY have worked longer and harder than EVER before through this Sham-Demic brought to you by the Socialist Democrat Party.
No one should be exempt because they belong to a Union. If ANYTHING, Unionistas SHOULD be the ONLY Front Line Workers in any sort of, ‘manufactured by Mother Government crisis.’
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