RI Teachers Fired...

[MrsB]

About 1,500 people jammed the street in front of City Hall in Providence, R.I., on Wednesday to protest last week's dismissal of the city's entire teaching force.

"I thought the only insanity was in Wisconsin, not in Rhode Island," Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told the crowd, which raised signs and banged drums.

Weingarten calls the terminations insane, but city officials say they had no choice: The city is facing an estimated deficit of more than $100 million for the next fiscal year, or roughly 20 percent of the city budget.

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/03/134209567/providence-mayor-defends-firings-as-teachers-protest


What do you think about this? I do not know how I feel. This is the only article I have read about this, but I wonder if he saw what is going on in WI and just decided to avoid the hassle?

 

[Grey Colson]

It's possible that's what he was trying to avoid. Everyone knows the private sector has already been laying off people for two years. It was just a matter of time until it hit the public sector. I hate it for anyone to lose their job, unless they're a SLUG, but those in the public sector have no more of a "right" to a job than those in the private sector.

I'm obviously in that public sector bunch and have not seen our typical 2 to 3% raise in 3 years now. I'm thankful to still be empolyed, but marching on Marietta Square wouldn't do me or anyone else any good.

 

[Foxmeister]

I heard they did the same thing last year.