State Senate Republican leaders rejected a compromise backed by the governor and vowed Thursday to press ahead with their attempt to repeal the collective bargaining rights of public school teachers, reports Jeff Woods.
Excerpt:
With the Tea Party demanding that lawmakers stand firm against the teachers’ union, Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey issued a strong statement in support of legislation to end collective bargaining.
It’s the first time Ramsey and Haslam have butted heads since Haslam defeated the Senate speaker in last August’s Republican gubernatorial primary.
“Last November, Tennesseans issued a mandate to the Republican majority to institute bold and meaningful education reform,” Ramsey said. “Senator Jack Johnson’s bill to outlaw locking taxpayers into funding union contracts is a prime example of the kind of reform Tennesseans have requested. The Senate remains committed to answering the call of the voters and hope[s] to ultimately see this reform reflected in the law.”
Memphis Tea Party leader Mark Skoda, meanwhile, denounced the deal on the bill that was brokered by House Speaker Beth Harwell and unveiled Wednesday.
…Skoda called the TEA “a slush fund” for Democrats and criticized Haslam for failing to follow the lead of governors in Wisconsin, Florida and elsewhere who have acted aggressively to undermine teachers’ unions.
“Haslam has shown no leadership in this matter,” Skoda said. “The other governors who have stood up on this issue are on the side of the people. This is exactly what we expected Beth Harwell to do. It’s regrettable. The Tea Party certainly will challenge this. We need to make our voices heard.”
3 thoughts on “Senate Republicans, Tea Party Reject Compromise on Collective Bargaining Bill”
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Really. I thought the outright repealers had the votes for this, so why compromise?
The TeaParty is a far-right wing group, so of course they won’t compromise, they hate all unions. The Tennessee Legislature is wasting time and money trying to destroy the Teacher’s Union. This is an outrage. I hope the teachers will stay strong and keep fighting. We need to show people in Tennessee that these Republicans who are against the Unions are just doing whatever they think is best for the richest people and don’t care about public education. If they did, they wouldn’t be attacking public school teachers.
IndyAnna, that’s a ridiculous statement. The Teacher’s unions do not care one bit about students. The unions are STRICTLY to gain power, benefits and money for the teachers. The scores & educational quality of students has steadily declined since unions took over the school systems while huge sums of money have been poured into education. We are not attacking public school teachers. However, we are attacking the fact that public school teachers have aligned themselves with a group – the NEA/TEA – that aspires to socialist goals. If you’re in support of the teachers union, it’s time you stood up and admitted that you’re in support of these socialist goals.