We Support . . . .

The Harmon V. Wade Administration Building, Martinsville, NJ

. . . . our teachers and staff:  That’s what the lawn signs bearing words in white letters against a blue background, sprinkled here and there in Bridgewater proclaim. 

Proportionately, there doesn’t seem to be nearly as many in Raritan, and the number of posters along Bridgewater’s roadways has diminished significantly from the time when they first appeared many months ago.

But the remaining ones still capture my attention.  Over time, they seem to have morphed into an annoying message, but not for the reasons you may be thinking. 

The subliminal meaning now being delivered by those posters has evolved into this:  “Cash, give me cash, lots of it . . . and settle that darn contract, because we don’t like to work without one!”   The latter is legitimate – should have happened long ago.  The former is highly problematic.

Nonetheless, those sentiments are being delivered to the wrong audience.  The recipients to which those messages should be delivered are the local leadership of the union to which the “teachers and staff” belong, a body which needs to be under the direct democratic control of its members.  That is not the case:

Rank and file union membership is just as much in the dark about what is going on as are ordinary citizens and everyone else in this educational community, and it has no control over the process. 

It is not the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education which, long ago, declared negotiations to be at an impasse and called for formal mediation – it was the leadership of the BREA and, so far, that process has led only to an extended stalemate.

At the moment, the Board of Education may be on the ropes.  Another mediation session is scheduled for mid-August, and the Board is rapidly nearing the point where it may be faced with caving in to BREA demands or confront a surge of partisan politics once the school year begins in September. 

The BREA shows no signs of agreeing to a “fair” contract or of doing “what is best for the kids.”   Come September, however, you will hear the opposite. 

Since the Bridgewater-Raritan School District is so large and prominent, it is important for the BREA to demonstrate that this labor union still retains sufficient power and punch to deliver a deal, even if it is one which may go well beyond the economic reality of the times. 

(Click on the image for an enhanced view.)