Bills to prevent teachers from striking debated
LORI HIGGINS | Detroit Free Press
April 21, 2011
Legislation that would revoke teacher licenses for two years or permanently as punishment for illegal strikes would be an effective deterrent, some lawmakers said Wednesday.
Rep. Bill Rogers, R-Brighton, said students can get expelled for violating district rules. “Yet we say that educators can break the law and walk away scot-free.”
But a spokesman for the state’s largest teachers union says the legislation is no more than a way to silence teachers.
“These are scare tactics to keep school employees who are devoted to their students from voicing their opinions,” said Doug Pratt, Michigan Education Association spokesman.
A bill introduced by Rogers and another introduced by Rep. Paul Scott, R-Grand Blanc, were discussed Wednesday in a nearly two-hour hearing in Lansing before the House Education Committee.
The legislation comes on the heels of concerns that the MEA is considering actions that could include a statewide strike. The MEA is reacting to proposed state budget cuts and new laws that give emergency managers the power to nullify union contracts.
The committee heard from Greg Baracy, the superintendent in the Wayne-Westland Community Schools, where teachers went on strike for four days in 2008.
“There must be stronger language in the law to prevent a travesty like this from ever happening again,” he said.
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