Posted on 09/11/2006 3:18:02 PM PDT by SmithL
DETROIT -- Thousands of striking Detroit teachers defied a judge's order to return to work Monday as school officials and the union resumed contract talks in the two-week dispute.
Circuit Judge Susan Borman on Friday ordered the 7,000 teachers to go back to work Monday, but district spokesman Lekan Oguntoyinbo said the overwhelming majority remained off the job. He said attorneys would go back in court Tuesday to ask the judge to "enforce our rights."
State law allows for fines and other penalties against employees who ignore a back-to-work order, but Oguntoyinbo would not say what action the district would seek.
Janna Garrison, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, said individual teachers were free to decide whether to work or strike.
"We're not just fighting for ourselves. We're fighting for our students," she told reporters.
The two sides resumed talks Monday after a one-day break but adjourned in the afternoon with no date set to return, said union spokeswoman Michelle Price.
The walkout began Aug. 28 after teachers rejected a two-year contract that would have cut pay 5.5 percent and increased co-payments for health care. The district has sought $88 million in concessions from the union to help close a $105 million deficit in its $1.36 billion budget for the fiscal year.
The school district had hoped to use Monday as a planning day before the 130,000 students returned to class Tuesday. Classes for Tuesday were called off.
Teachers picketed outside several high schools.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
It's for the children. They really want us to have a raise and more vacation days, and more paid health insurance, and new skis and a waterbed, and fabulous vacations. It's for the children.
There, fixed it.
Give the taxpayers their money back. Put all the strikers out of work, like the Air Traffic Controllers.
Hey, if you don't like the law, then just ignore it.
The biggest losers in the Detroit School Strike are the taxpayers.
They are footing the bill, and are still being charged.
Those attending the schools were just receiving a gift from the taxpayers, and not receiving a gift is not the same as losing something you have paid for.
The teachers have had a contract with the School District in the past. The contract has expired. It's like a contract on a cell phone, when the contract is over you can renew it or switch carriers. Just because you have used one cell phone company in the past does not mean you have to use it in the future.
Taxpayers are paying for a cell phone that wont connect it's calls and the contract with their cellular provider has expired.
Oh what to do! Such a difficult decision! The mind reels with the possibilities. Or maybe it is a no brainier. The cell contract is expired, and the phone WONT work. How about a new phone with a new contract?
Time to ditch the old phone, the contract is expired.
Who in their right mind would keep paying a bill for a service that is not being provided? If your cable television service was down for a week, would you expect a reduction in your cable bill?
Tax collections for the School District should stop. No service - no collections.
When or if the School District finds a dependable service provider, the voters can then choose to reinstate some sort of tax collection to support the operations.
The bottom line is if the service is not provided, the bill should not be sent out.
Wonder how much the students will get?
Or maybe they'll just graduate high school reading at a 5th-grade level??
More proof (as if we needed it) that for "progressives",the rules only apply to others.
You're being generous.
Fire the puke democrat party "teachers." Give all the children vouchers to go to private schools, Catholic schools, Christian schools, suburban schools.
A generation would be saved from enslavement and ignorance.
It's a step up from the current 4th-grade level. ;)
These are the same fools who marched on Lansing a few years ago when a private citizen offered $150 million dollars of his own uninherited money to build brand new union-exempt charter schools throughout the city.
That, too, was for the children.
This education mess is the single most important civil rights issue of this generation. There are thousands of single moms in Detroit who go to bed every night praying that their kids somehow by the grace of God make it out of the squalor that is public education.
These parents would give their right arms to be able to send their kids to a better school but they cannot. The establishment has stacked the deck against them, and of course, we hear nary a peep about it out of the MSM. Sort of reminds you of the South in, oh, 1860.
Check out www.mackinac.org and search for "Universal Tuition Tax Credit". It's a fabulous concept that would allow individuals, small businesses, non-profits and corporations to donate funds to be spent on a child's education (tuition, transportation, tudoring, etc) while receiving a dollar-for-dollar tax credit. It would be a great alternative to vouchers simply because it would limit the potential for strings to be attached to the money, since it would come from private sources rather than doled out by the state.
Perhaps these teachers could be encouraged to stay away from the classrooms. What with the current state of public education, they really are preforming a community service that is beneficial to the children.
Sounds like a Plan!
And, if they want their "new" old jobs back, have them take a proficiency test....that would create a LOT of openings in THAT school system.
Is that a typo?
Woo-hoo, you bet it would!
The graduation rate in Detoilet is 21.7%.
I'm sure throwing more money and more concessions at these "teachers" will solve THAT crisis.
This strike is to receive their hazard pay.
Detroit teachers are not teachers at all. They're prison guards.
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