Portland Taxpayers Asked to Sign Blank Check for Teachers’ Union After Secret "Negotiation"

March 3, 2011

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 A tentative agreement is reached between Portland Public School teachers and you. How much will it be? No idea. Nobody bothered to ask you. You’re just told to pass the money measures in May, shut up, and go lie down by your bowl. 
Quotes of the day from the Zero article about the secret negotiations. Two reminders: You’re not allowed to know the amount of the check you’re being asked to sign and, you don’t deserve to know what they’ve sold to the unions even as they ask for more money this May. Secret deal? Sounds like some of that money being asked of the taxpayers in May is being promised to the teachers. Why else would they keep it a secret?
  It was reached without any public discussion and without the two sides’ designated negotiating teams ever meeting to talk about contract terms.
Neither side would reveal the pay, benefits or working conditions spelled out in the tentative contract deal, as is customary at this stage. Teachers traditionally get to learn what their union and school district have agreed to before the public does.
Tyler Whitmire, director of Stand for Children’s Portland chapter, said parents, taxpayers and community members have a large stake in the contract terms and deserve to see them.
Tell ’em where you saw it. Http://www.victoriataft.com