There seems to be labor troubles all over. No one is feeling the love they believe they deserve, no one is getting what they think they rate – not helped by the fair number of people who have a larger-than-life opinion of their worth to begin with – and then the see other folks scoring either big time in negotiated contracts or the government wipes out debts or hands them money.

All the divisive rhetoric telling people someone has more than you and only because of a zip code or skin hue hasn’t helped a damn thing either.

Where’s mine? When am I gonna get mine?

Here we are.

Prince William County in Virgina has problems like that with their teachers right now. The county sits tucked up next to other counties you might be more familiar with, like Loudon and Fairfax. It’s part of the D.C. suburbs, is the second most populated county in VA with almost half a million residents, its capitol is the legendary Civil War town of Manassas, and the median income in 2020 was $45K.

The new teacher placement chart salary scale for a 195 day contract, 2022-23 school year, doesn’t look too shabby, numbers-wise. There’s also a note on the page which explains how to figure one’s total compensation using the chart:

To calculate your approximate total compensation package, to include benefits, enter your annual salary and add another 35% (e.g., $50,000 x 1.35= $67,500) of annual salary.

Final salary determination must be approved by the Human Resources Department.

According to a local newspaper, they were asking for a hefty jump, which was going to add somewhere in the neighborhood of “$364 million, or about a third of the school division’s existing salary budget.”

Prince William County teachers union 17% pay raise would require 73% hike in homeowner tax bills https://t.co/Z02sdt5tAU pic.twitter.com/v14ElsrZzp

— Potomac Local News (@PotomacLocal) September 14, 2023

The tango got off to a bumpy start in May thanks to the legislature in 2020 giving school boards power to “call the shots” in collective bargaining. In Prince William, it’s done nothing but cause infighting and name calling even trying to figure out how to begin, less mind settle anything. By the beginning of school, the sides were at loggerheads.

This Labor Day marks the first time that Prince William County’s largest employer – its public school division – is in the midst of negotiating a labor contract with the Prince William Education Association, a union representing the division’s more than 11,000 teachers and staff. 

But leaders of the union’s negotiating team say the talks are not going well, charging the school division’s negotiating team is showing bad faith by either not offering feedback on its proposals or denying them outright. Both sides are accusing each other of bad behavior and slow progress at the bargaining table.

…The 2020 state legislation gave considerable power to school boards and boards of supervisors to call the shots for collective bargaining. The elected boards get to decide whether to allow collective bargaining and then can control the process by drawing up the rules in their collective bargaining resolutions or ordinances. Also, public employees are forbidden from striking if an agreement can’t be reached.

“Absolutely the deck is stacked in favor of management across the board,” said Brian Beallor, a senior analyst and labor relations bargaining specialist with the National Education Association, who has been assisting the PWEA with the talks.

But I’m not really feeling the teachers’ arguments here. Sorry, guys. A cop works all year, all hours, all weather, and puts his life on the line every single time he steps into his uniform.

Find someone else to compare yourselves to.

…In its statement, the school division said teachers, except those at the very highest step, received raises ranging from 12% to 21%, while “classified” employees such as bus drivers received raises of 15% to 16% over the past two years.

The county’s police and fire departments also received annual raises over the past six years in addition to the most recent 17% raises, which were driven in part by similar increases by the Virginia State Police and other area police and fire departments. The county supervisors also began offering $10,000 signing bonuses to police officers last December in part to help fill the more than 100 vacancies that existed at the time. 

Prince William County’s starting salary for teachers with a bachelor’s degree is $54,761, while a starting Prince William County police officer now makes $62,000.

Prince William County schools offer the third-highest starting salary in Northern Virginia, behind Loudoun County and Falls Church, which both offer more than $55,000, according to the most recent report by the Washington Area Boards of Education. 

As of 5 days ago, little had changed between the union and what I believe is a 7-1 Dem dominated school board.

Now that the Prince William County teachers’ union and school division officials are at an impasse in contract negotiations and heading toward mediation, there’s been little change in position on either side.

The school division says funding the Prince William Education Association’s requested raise will take a third of its total salary budget. As a result, the school division sent the union a counter proposal for 5% and 9% raises it says are more affordable.

“In order to fund the (union) proposal with an estimated increased cost of $364.4 million within the current budget total of $1.5 billion, cuts would have to be made in school programs, school resources, transportation, facilities, and central support based on our current revenues,” the school district wrote in a press release.

The union, meanwhile, remains steadfast in its demand for 17% percent raises, pointing to similar increases the county gave to police officers and firefighters this year.

…Yvette Martinez, another union member, cited many other complaints that teachers and staff have made against the school division, including the new regulation that requires teachers to teach classes remotely on days when inclement weather prevents in school instruction or “Code Orange” days.

“If we fail to come together again, we consent to virtual Code Orange days being the norm, ‘other duties as assigned’ is the norm, working beyond our contract hours is the norm, 2% pay increases … the only way to see the change we asked for is to let our voices be heard,” Martinez said.

Let me get this straight – they would have to teach remotely on a snow day? UNFORGIVEABLE

It’s basically slavery, no?

Guess what that cop and firefighter you’ve been bitching about is doing during “inclement weather,” sister?

They’re not home on the couch with the dog.

Now, from what I understand, by law, VA teachers can’t strike. But being members of the teachers’ union, they sure can be obnoxious.

And in a state with as many problem school boards as VA has, that’s what the teachers of Prince William County have decided to be – obnoxious.

This is the slick trick the dedicated professionals pulled at the school board meeting last night.

…These are the same people who paraded around town with baby coffins on their cars during covid – fighting to stay home instead of showing up to work. The only seat at the table they care about is their own.

We had several parents in our M4L chapter that tried signing up to speak. They had real issues they wanted to address but were denied a spot because of these clowns. The board just watched it happen like it was no big deal!

— Merianne Jensen (@MerianneJensen) October 6, 2023

Parents were there to speak. Parents who had real issues, and pay the real taxes which support the salaries of these clowns. Who then made sure to shut everything down and then leave.

A textbook lesson in making friends and impressing the people who pay your salary.