Teachers union has unrealistic demands

The Millstone Township schools' union is demanding a new three-year contract with annual salary increases of 6 percent and fully paid health care, prescriptions and dental care benefits.

Are they living in "Alice in Wonderland?" The union leader stated in a recent news article that these demands are just a starting position in a negotiations game. I am furious.

School budgets and property taxes are not games, especially in the current economic environment of depression. The union should propose realistic requirements. Everyone wants more. It is the human condition to want more.

But if teachers want more then they should choose a different career instead of one that offers tenured lifetime job guarantee, automatic annual salary increases with no pay for performance measures of merit, and a juicy state pension. Salary bands of $48,000 to $75,000 with a bachelor's degree and $51,000 to $78,000 with a master's degree sounds good to me.

I have two masters' degrees. Maybe I will come out of retirement and start a second career. Dollar values for a job are based on what the job is intrinsically worth in the marketplace and what the person filling the job is worth based on skill set, talent and performance. The teachers union wants to hear none of this.

Some people rationalize the school budget impact on the homeowner as only $1 per day per home. Well, $7 a week is one or two meals for struggling homeowners.

What about municipal taxes and county taxes added to the property tax bill? How many people know that there are 30 homes in Millstone Township in pre-foreclosure status? This way of reasoning that something only costs a little extra a day is one of the factors that got our economy into the current economic mess. Increases of $300 or more per year will eventually drive many people out of their homes.

The school population has flattened for now, in part due to the economic depression. If the school board caves in to the unrealistic demands of the union, then as President Obama has asked, it is time to sacrifice. A 10 percent layoff of the teaching staff would be a good place to start. The ones at the bottomof seniority will make the sacrifice for the tenured staff. That is the choice. Everyone stays employed at reasonable salaries or some sacrifice for the rest.

Let us keep in mind that the majority of teachers will still get raises under the current contract. They automatically get raises each year within the salary band until they reach the maximum.

Gregory M. Cinque

Millstone