Raising Hell

Is this the way to attract the "best and the brightest"?

In an exchange about the impact of aid cuts on schools, Christie told host Chris Wallace the teachers union could have avoided all layoffs of teachers by agreeing to freeze their pay and contribute 1.5% of salary toward health benefits. He said the same last spring. Here’s the notable part of that quote, against the backdrop of approaching contract talks with the CWA’s state workforce: “This is the fight we have to have, Chris. We cannot have people in the public sector getting raises.”

First of all: the claim that a pay freeze would have avoided layoffs is just absolutely, blatantly a lie. His brazenness is really astonishing.

In addition: how would you like to pursue a career as a college-educated professional that will never give you a raise? Sound good?

The average contract negotiated this past year locks in raises to an average raise of 1.6% over three years. This after years of raises that didn't keep pace with the average worker.

This simply will not be a profession that attracts the best possible pool of candidates if we continue this way. We will pay for this - not today, but soon enough.