[Reformated] slavery in New Jersey

[Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Major Variola ret) writes:

> Complete with soccer-mom revolutionaries and "obligatory contracts"...
>
> I suppose this is what you get for working for the state, eh?
>
>
> 
>http://latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000097073dec06.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dnation
>
>
> MIDDLETOWN, N.J. -- On Saturday, the Middletown High School South
> Tigers won the state football championship. On Monday, their head
> coach went to jail.
>
> Coach Steve Antonucci was among 135 striking schoolteachers and
> secretaries behind bars by day's end Wednesday, and the number is
> expected to swell as nearly 900 continue to defy a judge's order to
> get off the picket line and into the classroom.
>
> The five-day strike and jailings have torn this otherwise average
> American suburban community in two.
>
> Favorite kindergarten teachers, drama coaches and others who have
> always seen themselves as normal, law-abiding folks are being led
> to jail sobbing or defiantly denouncing the local school board
> and residents. "This town ought to be ashamed of itself," said
> Lauren Spatz, a second-grade teacher. "The parents don't care about
> education. . . . It's not going to be the same ever again. The
> teachers' morale is going to be shot."
>
> But parents and administrators say the teachers' timing couldn't be
> worse, with layoffs at nearby computer firms and families still shaken
> by the death of more than 30 local residents in the World Trade Center
> attacks.
>
> And there is no end in sight.
>
> "It's become a war," said plain-spoken, chain-smoking school Supt.
> Jack DeTalvo, shortly before getting on the phone to give instructions
> to the board's attorney about how to garner the best coverage on local
> evening news shows.
>
> One thing all sides agree on: If and when the contentious job action
> ends, the bitterness could leach into the classroom.
>
> The strike has left 10,500 students out of school in this sprawling
> suburb of 70,000 an hour and a half south of New York City. With
> record-breaking warm weather, the days off are a treat for the
> children but a hardship for working parents, who range from truck
> drivers to Wall Street investment brokers.
>
> In addition, state law dictates that all missed school days are made
> up at the end of the year.
>
> Teachers counter that a few days of inconvenience is minor compared to
> being hauled off in handcuffs.
>
> "I'm a soccer mom, I drive a van and I have a dog," science teacher
> Katie Connelly said with a rueful laugh as she sat waiting to go to
> jail. "But this is our revolution. . . . The only way you get respect
> is if you stand up for yourself."
>
> Dispute Over Who Pays Health Benefits
>
> At the heart of the dispute is a demand by the school board that the
> union members pay a percentage of rising health benefits instead of
> a flat annual fee of $250. The strikers angrily respond that they
> will end up having to pay up to $600 extra for benefits, which would
> effectively cancel out wage increases. The teachers have been offered
> pay raises of 3.8%, 4% and 4.2% over three years.
>
> The teachers went on strike for a short time three years ago. They
> said the board at that time had ignored the recommendations of a
> fact-finder and instead imposed a contract on them that, by law, they
> said they had to accept. This time, the union is calling for binding
> arbitration, which the school board has refused, insisting that the
> teachers return to class first. <snip>