UNIONS WANT NO TEACHER ACCOUNTABILITY! FIRE VTHEM ALL AND GIVE JOBS TO RESPONSIBLE TEACHERS!

Dear Conservatives, 

While children across the country have returned to school for another year, approximately 400,000 students in Chicago have been forced out of the classroom for four days -- and counting -- as a result of a union-boss-ordered teacher strike in the country's third largest school district.

The strike has forced parents and guardians to scramble to find adequate supervision for their children by taking unscheduled time out of work or making last-minute arrangements with relatives, churches, or daycare centers -- if they're lucky.

And if the union power brokers' strong-armed tactics succeed, it's not just today's children who will suffer.

Union bosses reportedly ordered the strike not primarily over salaries, but to protest modest reforms to make bad teachers more accountable to parents and principals.

Imagine what the union bosses would do if their iron-clad grip on schools were truly in jeopardy.

Of course, school-age children in Chicago have long suffered as a result of the Chicago Teachers Union hierarchy's iron grip on city and state politics.

Even 25 years after U.S. Secretary of Education Bill Bennett named the Chicago public school system the worst in the country, reading scores for elementary and middle school students haven't budged.

The strike comes at a time when local budget problems have driven some cities and towns to bankruptcy.

That's why reform-minded legislators and governors across the country are looking to reign in union bosses' monopoly bargaining powers that corrupt our politics.

And make no mistake, this strike is enabled by the teacher union hierarchy's forced unionism powers.

By extracting forced fees from teachers and funneling that cash into city and state politics, teacher union bosses will threaten to withhold their massive electioneering warchest from politicians who would stand up to them.

It's no wonder the Chicago Democrat political machine has long worked hand-in-hand with union bosses.

If Chicago and Illinois elected officials ever want to pass meaningful education reform or restore fiscal sanity to their budgets, they ought to take a long, hard look at the corrupting effects of monopoly bargaining.

Reform will only be possible by breaking the teacher union hierarchy's special privileges that empower them to corrupt our politics and crush local and state budgets.

First, teachers -- and other civil servants -- should have Right to Work protections.

A Right to Work law would protect teachers who don't want to abandon their students and don't support the teacher union hierarchy's radical political agenda.

Second, the government-sector monopoly bargaining powers that drive this madness ought to be curtailed.

Just like in Wisconsin -- where teacher union militants staged a "sick-out" to protest these very reforms.

We're seeing again in Illinois what happens when the union tyrants are in charge. It's time to fight back.

I hope you'll chip in with a contribution of $10 or more to help these efforts.

Our future is at stake, and we must take a stand against the union moguls protecting their power at the expense of our children.

Sincerely,
 
Mark Mix

P.S. The National Right to Work Committee relies on your voluntary contributions to fund its programs. Please chip in with a contribution of $10 or more today.