Dist. 15 board must remain strong
A union retiree opines in the Aug. 26 Fencepost storm clouds may loom in District 15's future, leading a call his "union begin preparations for another ugly fight". Perhaps red clouds on dawn's horizon incite fear as an educational version of a sailor's rhyme forewarns: red sky at night, taxpayers delight. Red sky in the morning, unions take warning.
The writer relives his 1980 "stunning union victory", begging the question who did they conquer? Perhaps school board's steadfastness for fairness and parity two years later is misconstrued as rumored "revenge".
The 1982 union strike is portrayed as being "forced out", ignoring an inconvenient truth there must have been a union vote.
He replays recent history, savoring his "union won a decisive victory against a gaggle of anti-union board members" because "the board blinked first".
The school board members who "blinked first" were not the so called "anti-union board members" but rather board members who he interestingly does not brand pro-union.
The writer disparages the hiring of Mr. John Fenton, reportedly a "labor-law specialist" who may "sit at the table during negotiations with the union". How dare District 15 hire an individual with "lots of labor-law experience before the National Labor Relations Board" to sit across the table from union representatives who may have extensive labor experience.
Mr. Fenton's hiring is suspected saber rattling, a possible "first shot across the bow in future contract negotiations".
The writer's militant tenor demonstrates he and his union may understand what an American President asserted in dealing with the old Soviet Union, "... strength is a prerequisite to peace, but let it be clear we maintain the strength in the hope it will never be used..."
The question is: Does our school board understand?
M. Bryan Neal
Rolling Meadows