[etni] extra work, no extra pay
- From: Renee Wahl <renew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:03:37 +0200
Hi All and a very good and fulfilling year to all of us,
I've been using the relative quiet of the holidays to catch up on my reading
and I would like to quote to you from the book "Games Mother Never Taught You -
Corporate Gamesmanship for Women" by Betty Lehan Harragan.
This book was written as a guide to women in the corporate workplace, but since
women also predominate in the field of education, wherever you see the word
'women', simply substitute 'teacher' and you've got an excellent view of our
situation and the simple, common sense solution.
quoote:
Speaking about one of her first jobs on an assembly line:, Ms Harragan
describes a typical experience:
"I loved machinery and metals and polished metal sculptures flew off my machine
so rapidly that operators in the line couldn;t feed through the rough pieces
fast enough. I'd help the others at their jobs to process the work through to
me because I was making fabulous money for those days. This financial bubble
burst in a few weeks when the efficiency engineers descended like vultures
to recalculate the piecework rates on my operation. Management's response was
quick. If I could produce so well and efficiently, then the job was obviously
overpriced, and I should get paid LESS per piece! ....In the real world, if you
work too hard and perform above average, your work and ability are devalued,
not appreciated and rewarded." (HOTS - compare and contrast with our situation
today) And to continue:
"Performance is not so easily measurable in professional or white-collar jobs,
but the byplay on pay is equally merciless. Women who demonstrate exceptional
ability are gradually overloaded with additional work demands without added
compensation. It is assumed that if they can do so much extra, the job tasks
were overpriced initially. Your only countermove is to ask for a raise every
single time you are told to do anything beyond your original sphere of
operation, or to absorb additional responsibility."
You do have a choice! Listen to your union who have more experience than you.
Don't you think the Ministry can find a solution to all the 12th graders
failing the oral exam because they cannot be tested on a project? They can
simply drop that part of the test and count the written part as 100%. That
will save them the money they have to pay us for testing in other schools and
save us the chore of doing the project, checking it as well as having to test
each of our own pupils and give a 'magen' grade for the oral, at least until we
are given the hours and the pay for doing these jobs.
I don't believe that getting the parents involved is a good idea. This will be
like waving a red flag in front of the bull. The parents didn't care enough
about our last strike to make a loud enough fuss to be effective, did they?
They don't care enough about the size of classrooms, cut hours, etc. to strike
the schools. I.e, they simply don't care enough, as long as their kids are
with a relatively safe baby-sitter.
Regarding the claims that high school teachers teach fewer hours and Bagrut
classes end after Pesach when the kids are studying for tests, this is no
reason to burden the rest of the year with impossible loads of work for both
the teacher and the pupils. It is simply more evidence of what is wrong with
the ed system. For years, we have been seeing a decrease in the number of
hours our pupils are actually in classes in addition to the hours being cut.
This is school and MOE policy, not the fault of the teachers. In every other
first world country I have every heard of, extracurricular activities are just
that - EXTRAcurricular. They take place AFTER study hours, not in place of.
Kids are only pulled out of their classes to deal with major catastrophies like
the 9/11 events. Sports events, lectures, trips, etc. take place either after
school or on a preset non-study day. And why do pupils need to get a day off
before each 'matkonet' and each 'bagrut' exam - the reason why we don't see
them after Pesach? Which of you had this kind of accomodation when you were in
school? I remember having to do math, chemistry and physics final exams all
on the same day, and no 'moed B' either! If there is a big project, deadline,
operation, or trial due, do you think lawyers, doctors, hitechies are given a
day off before? Is this the way to prepare kids for the real world? We
teachers have been tearing our hair out for years because of the gigantic waste
of resources imposed (yes imposed - not voluntary) on us and the system. We
don't want to get paid for not working - we want to work and get paid decently!
Again, I urge you all to follow your union's directives, because they are your
only protection from an abusive system. Yes, we need to keep after the union
and pressure them to keep our case current and at the top of the agenda. So
you can help with that and stand firm.
My soap box just collapsed, so that's it for today.
Renee
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