What Unions Hath Wrought

In Pembroke NH there is a dispute going on between the local School Board and the Teacher’s Union there. At issue is whether Teachers should continue getting raises on a schedule that was agreed to in a contract that is no longer in effect. They, and their sense of entitlement, insist the raises should keep coming unabated. The Pembroke School Board disagrees:

The teachers union, officially known as the Education Association of Pembroke, filed a complaint with the Public Employee Labor Relations Board last March accusing the Pembroke School Board of skirting the intent of the Evergreen Law, which was passed in 2008.

The law says that if a public employee contract lapses, workers must continue to receive salary step increases outlined in the original contract during that lapse.

But during contract negotiations in Pembroke, officials said the school board wanted to take away salary step increases and replace them with cost-of-living raises, which are not covered under Evergreen.

A little research into “Evergreen” leads you to the text of the bill (NH House Bill 1436) which describes itself as an act “relative to requiring inclusion of an automatic continuation clause in collectively bargained agreements with public employees” and a fundamental question: Why? Why would New Hampshire have passed such a law?

A little more digging results in a brochure designed to “explain” Evergreen to the huddled masses. There’s only one small problem; the brochure is printed by the New Hampshire chapter of the National Education Association – the folks with the most to gain by continuing to get raises under contracts that are no longer in effect.

How did they get such a sweet deal? By way of the oldest trick in the Union manual: blackmail. A quick skim of the lead off paragraph of the NEANH brochure, offers this:

In July of 2008, NEA-New Hampshire sucessfully lobbied on behalf of our members to pass House Bill 1436, the Evergreen Law, guaranteeing that collectively bargained salary schedules continue in full force and effect at the expiration of the current contract until a new contract is negotiated.

So the Teachers “write” a bill in the Legislature that guarantees them all the perks of a contract…even without one in effect…and gives them no reason to offer concessions or negotiate in good faith during trying times in order to get contracts renewed. Not a bad deal I’d say; they get to hold out in negotiations against things that appear on the surface to be more than reasonable, and remain comforted that there will be no consequences – no effect on their livelihoods, no effect on their insurance, no effect on their job security whatsoever. Given this, I see no real need for them to even HAVE contracts.

The UL piece indicates that, after a hearing before the PELRB, the case will likely continue (regardless the outcome) all the way to the NH Supreme Court. I hope it does; rewarding Unions for blackmail and paying them to hold out for things their employers can not afford is no longer tolerable.

Unions, historically, have no regard for the destructive effects of their far-too-often unreasonable demands, and the case of the Pembroke teacher’s Union is no exception. At a time when the economy is in the tank, jobs are being lost at historic rates and costs for insurance and other benefits programs are at an all time high, these folks had the choice to do their part to help the local community and share the sacrifices of their neighbors. They chose poorly; this kind of Union tone deafness HAS to be stopped…there’s no reason why that effort can’t begin right here in the Granite State.