Work-to-rule action

[Chadtuba]

As I prepare to move so that my wife can attend grad school, I'm looking for a new job; at least one of the school districts in the area is currently on a work-to-rule action while they are trying to negotiate a new teacher contract. I'm curious of your opinions on this and how this would affect your work as a band director with so much of what we do being done outside of the standard contract day? Those of you that aren't teachers, what do you think about this? I had never heard of work-to-rule before so I'm just kinda curious about other's thoughts on it.

[The Big Ben]

As I prepare to move so that my wife can attend grad school, I'm looking for a new job; at least one of the school districts in the area is currently on a work-to-rule action while they are trying to negotiate a new teacher contract. I'm curious of your opinions on this and how this would affect your work as a band director with so much of what we do being done outside of the standard contract day? Those of you that aren't teachers, what do you think about this? I had never heard of work-to-rule before so I'm just kinda curious about other's thoughts on it.

I am a veteran teacher. This has been done in Washington State a number of times. The most effective way to do it is to have everyone leave together as a group at the contracted time. It puts the idea in the mind of the people that teachers do a lot of things on their own time. If the band director conducts the pep band and does not have the compensation or the responsibility written into the contract and is doing it out of the 'goodness of his heart' there should be no pep band directed. In my school district, the band director is given a blanket stipend for all home football and basketball games, a certain number of concerts and a certain number of parades. That activity is a "rule" so in a 'work to rule' action, the band director would still do the work he is contracted to do.

I would have to say that, for the most part, in the districts I am familiar with, teachers just take all of the work home and do it there instead of in the school building. The staff makes a point of all leaving the building together and makes sure the local media is aware of what they are doing and why. Someone may complain but the teachers are working the schedule they are contracted to work. The hours outside of actual teaching with students in classes is 1/2 hour before and after school, 1/2 duty free lunch, and, in many but not all districts, a 50 minute period for planning and correcting papers. There is usually 4 to 6 min. between classes. Most schools have six classes, some have seven and a few have eight which are usually about 40 minutes long.

[MartyNeilan]

My wife has been in an "entry level" accounting position for the last eight years and still makes less than most starting teachers with a B.S. She works at least an hour extra most days and does not know the meaning of a lunch break most weeks.
I work 10-40 extra unpaid hours most weeks but couldn't afford to put gas in my car without a couple of private students and I work on computers on the side to cover holiday gifts. I am running out of things to sell to keep my head above water. On my rare "day off" I usually field more phone calls and emails than when in the building and spend half my day dialed in.

This is not the 50's and 60's, most public school teachers are now fairly compensated and have decent benefits (the same cannot be said for many private schools.) In most professions, if you are labeled a "clock puncher" you will never move up and probably won't last very long, no matter what the field or pay scale.

My two cents: wherever you work and whatever you do, plan on working extra. As my depression era grandmother would say, "you can like it or lump it." There are a couple of successful repairmen on this board and they work unreal hours. I am sure that has at least something to do with why they are successful.

[The Big Ben]

We're talking about two different things. "Work to rule" is working on the schedule which is contracted for so that 'the people' realize just exactly what they have been paying for and what the teachers are giving away for free. That work which is not done in the building is usually done at home. "Work to rule" actions are usually one or two day affairs. More than anything, it is a public relations action.

Speaking as a union member in a union state, why do you guys in "right to work" states put up with that crap? Why are wages so low that you have to take work on the side to just 'get by'? What are you planning to do to change that situation? Why did that the attempt to unionize the VW plant in Kentucky fail when VW was in favor of the union? Why is VW considering expanding in another state where they will be able to manage their plants with worker councils as they do in their German plants? Why was it necessary for elected government officials to intimidate workers by telling them that they might pull tax advantages that they gave to VW to locate in the state if the workers voted for a union? Isn't that the evil government interference in the affairs of a private company and the way that they choose to manage their factories?

"Working for free" and "working off the clock" are not virtues. The only thing that the worker has to sell is his labor. If workers give away labor for free, the employer just asks them to do more without any additional compensation and the income of the worker declines. If the conditions of employment is 'do these many hours of work, get this much pay" that's what should be worked! If the agreement is: "Do all the work which comes in the door at this rate of pay and in whatever time it takes to do the work" that is a whole different thing. The successful repairmen on this board do work very hard but are not forced to work extra hours. They do so because it is in their economic advantage to do so. The profits from the labor for each trumpet repaired/rebuilt goes into the pocket of the independent businessman.

For the life of me, I can't see why workers clearly vote against their own interests...

[MartyNeilan]

Unions didn't exactly do Detroit a lot of good.
The problem with the modern union worker is that they do not realize just how good they have it, but keep wanting more, more, more instead of appreciating what they have. When the cost of workers far outstrips the value of what they produce, the industry either moves overseas or shuts down. Unfortunately, we are seeing that with teachers now. Yes, once upon a time, they were underpaid. Many private school and part-time college teachers still are. However in many districts starting pay for a teacher fresh out of school is nearly 40 grand and there are many teachers making 80 and above after a couple decades and another degree. That can be hard for a town to swallow when many workers are unemployed and others are working two full time $10/hr jobs to make ends meet.
The autoworkers at the VW plant in TN currently have a good thing going and they know it. They don't want to blow it, so they voted down the union.
Do I think my kids' teachers should get paid fairly? You bet! I also think they should work to earn their pay like everybody else, and that they don't deserve to make 2-3 times what comparable positions may pay. I want them to afford a decent place to live and car, but they don't need a mansion and a Bentley either (yes I know a music teacher who has that, and it isn't from penning a top ten hit).
I would love to make twice the pay for half the yearly hours too. But I am mature enough to realize that we can't all get something for nothing, and that there is no shame in honest work.
The 13 years I attended K-12 public schools in a very unionized state there was exactly one work action or strike in my district, and it was settled very quickly. Unfortunately that seems to have become a way of life in some districts now.

[Chadtuba]

As far as I am concerned, I have worked as a teacher before so I'm not going into a new job (that has yet to be found) blind. I know what is expected and I understand all the extra hours that I will work, both un-contracted and on an extra-duty contract. I have no problem working the extra hours needed to meet this job. This has just caught my attention as I've been keeping an eye on things in the new area since this is by far the largest school district in the state and only a few minutes from where we are moving. There are still a bunch of other districts in the area that have yet to get their new contracts either so this all has me a bit concerned.

[Uncle Buck]

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