I was a public school teacher and I know firsthand what Los Angeles school strikes do to students
Teachers unions use students as pawns in a political game
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), the union behind the draconian school closures that brought untold harm to LAUSD students, their families and communities, are once again – in the name of serving students – denying children their right to an education. Citing "solidarity" and a need for raises and "respect," they’re walking off the job, and once again pulling the rug out from under vulnerable children who are already suffering immensely from loss of learning and extreme emotional trauma, all thanks to UTLA.
UTLA is also dealing another blow to the great teachers and school employees dedicated to providing children an excellent and uninterrupted education. You likely don’t know these good folks exist since UTLA and most media drown out their voices, but there are hundreds of LAUSD employees of integrity who get bullied by UTLA for putting the children first.
The union just can’t help itself. Using children and teachers as pawns in a political game that pits students against adult entitlements, gives unions and their political allies great power. That’s why they silence the voices of educators who are awake to their corruption, and use manipulated and unsuspecting teachers as poster children for the union agenda.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Los Angeles Times printed an op-ed written by a UTLA poster teacher whose piece was full of union talking points. She shared she was striking in part because teachers need respect. It seems lost on her that abandoning the children she was hired to serve is not a respectable thing to do – for any reason. And that to receive respect, one must be respectable.
MORE THAN 500,000 STUDENTS HOME FROM SCHOOL ON FIRST DAY OF LOS ANGELES UNION STRIKE
Perhaps she’s unaware that at the last UTLA strike, union activists were caught on camera physically blocking a family as they tried to drive into the school. With Antifa-like bullying, they bounced the car up and down – terrorizing the children inside. That’s not behavior worthy of respect.
Maybe she doesn’t know that UTLA had backroom deals with the CDC to keep schools closed while denying children the right to learn. Or that UTLA abandoned teachers opposed to COVID vaccine mandates and still refuses to support the more than 1,000 LAUSD employees who’ve been forced from their jobs for choosing to make their own medical decisions.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}UTLA is so void of respectable behavior that dozens of LAUSD teachers told me, "We believe in doing the exact opposite of whatever UTLA tells us to do as they have been found untrustworthy. We’ve awakened to the ways they are the source of the perils in our schools."
So UTLA may want respect, but it has earned our contempt. We loathe UTLA because it has placed its own selfish desires above the needs and rights of children, good teachers, parents, and taxpayers.
Tragically, union behavior paints all teachers (even the great ones) with the broad brush of contempt. But most teachers are nothing like the unions that claim to represent them.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dozens of good teachers witnessed a UTLA rally on March 15. They told me, "UTLA paraded posters of our superintendent dressed as a donkey and wished death upon him. They said to avoid a strike, LAUSD must agree to a list of demands – many of which have nothing to do with education. This is not a union that speaks for the teachers and students of LAUSD."
But you won’t see the testimonies of these dedicated teachers in the LA Times or most media outlets. And that’s a tragedy because the radical political agenda of the union is so disturbing that many of these teachers – at great personal cost – will cross the picket line during the strike. These are the people we can respect – true servants, putting themselves in harm’s way in defense of children and decency.
So, how about we stop giving air to disrespectful union strikes, and instead listen to the teachers who have the respect and courage to cross the picket line?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER
A crowd gathered in Grand Park infant of City Hall on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, in Los Angeles, CA. United Teachers of Los Angeles and SEIU 99 members hold a joint rally at Grand Park in a historic show of solidarity. It has been almost ten months since the contract between LAUSD and UTLA has expired, and a staggering three years for SEIU members, leaving almost 60,000 employees vulnerable in the midst of a record-high inflation and a housing crisis. ((Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images))
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
They’ll have newsworthy stories of union mafia tactics used against them as they stand in defense of our children. And since they’re also rejecting unions entirely by exercising their newfound right to stop paying union dues, they’ll suffer trauma at the hands of our corrupted union-controlled educational system.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It’s time to liberate teachers from these thuggish unions. Time to stop allowing imposters like UTLA and other so-called teacher unions to use the teaching profession, our schools, and our students to push their nasty agenda.
It’s time to respect students, parents, and great teachers again and show the contemptible ones the door. It’s time to remove UTLA and all other unions from our schools. We can no longer allow such organizations to hold us all hostage.