by Bob Walsh
The teachers union of the Sacramento Unified School District voted yesterday, by about 92%, to authorize a strike.
The district is in DEEP financial trouble. They were, early this year, about $43 million in the hole due to a history of spending one-time money to start long-term projects. They have managed to come up with about half that in cuts but the board claims there is no way to recover the rest without some significant assist from the unions. All of the other unions have cooperated to some extent. The teachers, not so much.
I find it puzzling. Assuming the district goes into receivership, which is at the moment a very real possibility, the board goes away, a receiver takes over and will have the authority to ashcan existing labor agreements. Unless the teachers have a HUGE juice card stashed somewhere (or at least think they do) this seems to me to be a wildly dangerous step.
Are they bluffing? I would not bet on it. Is the district lying about their financial situation? I doubt it very much. Will the district end up in the shitter by the end of this calendar year? That's where my bet is going right now.
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