By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org
     
OCALA, Fla. – “Solidarity forever” makes for a great union slogan, but “Looking Out for Number 1” might be a more accurate description of one Florida teachers union’s philosophy.
    
On Monday, the Marion Education Association was offered a deal by the vice-chairman of the local school board: If union members give their state-issued performance bonuses to the district, none of the 160 first-year teachers will be laid off after the current school year ends.
    
Vice-chairman Ron Crawford said the $7 million in performance bonuses would also save the jobs of many other school employees who are facing termination, due to the district’s $29 million deficit, reports the Ocala Star-Banner.
    
Non-union, school-level administrators would also have to surrender their extra state pay in order for the plan to work, reports the Star-Banner.
    
MEA President Chris Altobello wasn’t impressed with Crawford’s plan.
    
“The intent of the Legislature was to reward teachers with this modest increase,” Altobello said of the performance bonuses, “not to bail out local School Board/elected leaders for not having the vision to invest in our schools at the local level.”
     
Sounds like a rather selfish “no” to us.   
    
Altobello continued: “It seems as though Chairman Crawford intends to use this as a wedge-issue, pitting teacher against teacher.”
     
Actually, that’s one thing Crawford and his fellow board members can’t be accused of.
    
According to the Star-Banner, district leaders have bent over backwards to take care of their teachers and school employees during the six-year recession. Crawford and other officials used stimulus money and the millions tucked away in the district’s savings account to keep everybody employed.
    
As a result, no Marion County teachers have been laid off, even while many U.S. school districts have been busy handing out pink slips year after year.
    
Crawford and his fellow board members would probably still be using that approach, if the district’s bank account wasn’t nearly empty.
    
Altobello and his fellow union members apparently aren’t willing to give the district credit for being exceedingly generous all those years.
    
Instead, the MEA blames the local school board for not pressing voters into passing a tax levy increase back in 2009. It also blames Florida’s lawmakers for not adequately funding K-12 schools.
    
Instead of searching for fault, MEA members should be eager to live out their “We Are One” philosophy. Agreeing to Crawford’s offer would not only help their young colleagues, but it would set an example for their union brothers and sisters across the nation.
    
They will be able to demonstrate the true meaning of union solidarity.
    
But that doesn’t seem likely.
    
Instead, Marion County’s 160 first-year teachers will be offered positions as permanent substitutes  – a job that comes with a huge pay cut and no benefits – and 72 teacher aides will soon be out of work entirely.
    
Instead of rallying to the aid of their fellow teachers, MEA members are going to keep their bonuses for themselves.
    
We can’t say we blame them. Most Americans would do the same.
     
But please, at the very least, can we finally put to rest this tired notion that unions are about “solidarity forever”?
    
It’s just not believable anymore.