Time for teachers unions to go

As a former candidate for the District 200 school board, I proposed denying official recognition to the Wheaton-Warrenville Education Association, the teachers union there.

Your recent report, on how the current recession will impact teachers' negotiations with school boards, set me to thinking about the past 10 years or so, when the unions kept demanding more money, the boards caving in and our property taxes kept going up. During that time, residents of DuPage County were already experiencing this recession. Lucent, Molex, Motorola, Tellabs, United Airlines, J.C. Penney, Montgomery Ward, Sears, Bank One and other corporations were downsizing or shutting down, putting great financial strains on families.

What did the teachers unions do? They demanded more money and got it. They did not care about financial strains on families, that families had to sell their homes and move away, that family ties and communities were disrupted. What are they doing now? They are worried that they will not get good raises. They do not care now, either.

The highest priority of a teachers union is not the students, contrary to they want us to believe. Their highest priority is the union. That is why they are unfit to teach our kids. We do not send our children to school to be taught by people with divided loyalties. We demand full focus on the welfare of our children. I find it unfortunate, especially now in these tough times, that the union-backed candidates won and will continue to shortchange our students. The time has come for the unions to go.

George Kocan

Warrenville