NYC Educator provides a different (and cynical) perspective on the United Federation of Teacher’s court battle for the right to wear political buttons. In his eyes fighting for teachers’ rights to wear political buttons in class seems odd when there are so many other problems like teacher pay and class size to deal with.
Take heart, UFT members. Sure, you're working more days than anyone in the area, and you're still being paid less than your neighbors. It's certainly true that our canny leaders managed to negotiate the worst contract in my 24 years as a teacher without even demanding cost of living to compensate for the massive givebacks they agreed to.
Ms. Weingarten and her gang were in court fighting for your right to wear buttons in school. Personally I don't wear buttons anywhere, and if I did, I probably wouldn't bother to try to influence my students, few if any of whom can vote anyway. But the point is that this is where the UFT has chosen to draw the line.
