WTEA Meeting held at Woodbridge High School today

 In response to the pressures of the state and school budget issues, the WTEA held a purely informational meeting for the members of their union this afternoon at Woodbridge High School.

To be completely honest, I was there as a member of the union.  I am one of the people who will mostly likely be laid off.  So I am not an unbiased person in this issue.  (Feel free to comment at the bottom of this post, if you want to.  Good or bad.  If you are not flaming me, I won't delete you.)  The statements that I make on this blog represent my own opinions, and no one else. I do not speak for any other side in this battle, only my own perspective.  I do not represent the Union, even though I am a member.  I do not represent the state, even though I am a voting tax payer.  And I do not represent the school, even though I am an employee.  And a parent with a child in the school.

If you listen to the Governor's press releases, it all seems so very simple.  It seems like the state's current financial crisis is completely due to a union who represents people who are unwilling to bend in the current economic storm. All the teachers have to do, according to the Governor, is just bend the contract a LITTLE BIT, and the hundreds of employees in Woodbridge Township who are being laid off will still have jobs.

But in fact, NOTHING IS THAT SIMPLE.   The issue at hand is so complex, it's nearly impossible to wrap your head around it.  In fact, the truth is that even if the teachers concede, my job probably won't be saved.  Unless the Governor is playing with the numbers in order to get his way, and magically finds more money as a reward once he busts the union.  And even then?  The money will probably go to fund sports programs that have been cut.

To me this looks a lot like a chess game, and the Governor is a much better chess player than the Union is.  The Governor has come out attacking early, and the Union is pushing pawns around the board hoping to defend itself.  The Union seems to be losing.

There is no black or white.  Everything is a shade of gray.  No matter which side is telling you something, no matter which side you believe, there are two sides to every story.  (Is that too many cliches for one sentence?)  There is an element of truth to both sides.  I just wish that people would stop believing every press release that the Governor's PR staff sends out.

And I really wish that the union would do a better job of expressing it's side of the story.  But I don't think they HAVE a PR staff.