Teachers hurting themselves
One of the most common and appropriate arguments that is offered by teachers when they go on strike is that professionals are deserving of salary and benefit packages that match their qualifications.
If the individuals that are seeking to prevail in contract negotiations are truly professionals, perhaps they should dress and look the part.
In every teachers’ strike I have noted, including the current labor dispute in the Shaler Area School District, the “professionals” on the picket line look more like they are preparing to wash their cars than portray themselves as esteemed members of the community, walking the picket line clad in T-shirts, blue jeans and shorts.
I realize that if temperatures are 90 degrees, it is not logical to expect strikers to be wearing suits and neckties, but one need not look like he or she just arose from slumber either.
Even the most heinous criminal defendant is told by counsel that he must look like a respectable citizen when he goes to court so as to make the best possible impression with the judge and jury. The “judge and jury” during teachers’ strikes is the public. Why would those who are seeking to maintain or enhance their compensation packages not dress for success when they are before their employers, the citizens of their communities?
Oren M. Spiegler
Upper Saint Clair