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CerberusAteMyDog t1_j2208l2 wrote

Reply to comment by emsilverstein in Globe Editorial Board: Boston police union needs to accept new realities of policing by GlobeOpinion

Teachers are criminally underpaid and need a means to negotiate better salaries and benefits. Police Unions are just gangs that exist to strong-arm the legal system into never holding the police accountable.

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too-cute-by-half t1_j23pjvn wrote

Boston teachers averaged $105k three years ago, probably closer to $110k by now. Most of my kids' teachers have made over $120k. They work hard, but the pay is better than most private schools and the benefits are generous.

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CerberusAteMyDog t1_j241kla wrote

We’re talking about unions in a general sense. Teacher Unions are important for legitimate reasons and Police Unions aren’t was my point. Also, as someone who works in Boston Public Schools, you have to understand that the schools themselves are also criminally underfunded so while teacher pay is a lot better here than a lot of other places, BPD teachers often have a LOT more to deal with than say teachers in a suburban setting. Also, the cost of living here is insane. $105k to deal with what these teachers deal with year round in the city of Boston isn’t as much as you think it is.

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emsilverstein t1_j22ufgd wrote

I’ll respectfully disagree. Not to discount issues with police unions protecting their own tho. Significant issues of the union closing ranks around officers which need to be reprimanded and sometimes removed from the force. But for teachers unions, specifically good teachers are criminally underpaid because teachers unions emphasize seniority over competency and the inability to fire/remove older teachers mailing it in. The negotiations of teachers unions emphasize years on the job over competency, causing great teachers to become unenthusiastic about their roles due to the inherently unfair pay structure. Obviously good teachers should be paid more, which is why private schools and charters schools perform better. It’s the unions negotiations which are the cause of poor performance and are in need of a change

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