Teacher Union Protests

When governor Tom Corbett proposed his new budget cuts, and state education was announced to be losing funding, this instantly angered teachers throughout the state of Pennsylvania. Teachers and even students from many state universities who are also taking a financial hit held rallies against these drastic budget cuts. The union that protested represented 6,000 faculty members and coaches at public universities. Individuals even stepped up and spoke at these protests. Pennsylvania State Education Association's President Jim Testerman stated, "We must remember that students only get one chance at a quality education. Pennsylvanians must not permit this recession to rob our children of the opportunity public education provides to prepare them for a better future." In addition to that, American Federation of Teacher's President Ted Kirsch spoke out by saying, "Pennsylvania’s teachers understand that our budget crisis requires new fiscal strategies—but necessary sacrifices should be shared sacrifices... The energy corporations that are exploiting the rich Marcellus Shale natural gas deposits pay no taxes for the drilling that is producing huge profits." This type of action that is being taken place is volunteer efforts and public protesting. It is volunteer efforts because these people are volunteering their own time to get their point across and by doing so they are using public protests. However, I don't find these protests to be very effective because the teacher union have received raises every year since the recession hit in 2008. "The governor had cited an increase in the average salaries of public employees from $39,037 to $45,105 over the last six years, while salaries of private sector employees remained steady at $32,239." Anyway, my mom told me that the salary only went into effect towards the poorer school districts. Finally I would modify their efforts by having the teachers offer up an alternative. Instead of cutting their salary, they should draw the money elsewhere, maybe like Marcellus Shale and tax payers or road work that's done all throughout Pennsylvania.

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