Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Huntley Teachers' Union Gets Mild Rebuke from Daily Herald
In the Daily Herald's “Saturday Soapbox: Fox Valley,” the Huntley Education Association gets what seems to me to be a mild rebuke for not cooperating with the school board in issuing a contract negotiations' progress report to the public.
The mini-editorial, entitled, chides the teachers for not agreeing to “reasonable suggestions for the update.”
The editorial does note that by issuing the press release the school board broke the rules, so I guess an editorial could have been written from the exact opposite point of view, chiding the school board for not being patient enough.
The editorial writers themselves perhaps deserve the biggest rebuke.
They still cling to the falsehood that the teachers are asking for only a 10.6% salary hike.
Although they rightly call that request “ludicrous,” the Daily Herald has thus far neglected to notice that agreeing with the union request for the taxpayers to pay the 10.24% of salary now going to the Teachers Retirement Fund would more than double the take home pay of Huntley teachers.
I pointed that out almost a month ago.
The total take home pay requested is clearly well over 20%, when state and federal income tax implications are taken into account.
You see, the 10.24% taken from teachers' pay checks now is on money after taxes are withheld.
If the school board agreed to pay the 10.24% or any part thereof, the payment would not be taxable because it would be considered a tax exempt employee benefit.
Maybe I should not be so rough on the Daily Herald.
The Northwest Herald hasn't picked up on this union request either.
The mini-editorial, entitled,
“Teachers need to play by the rules,”
The editorial does note that by issuing the press release the school board broke the rules, so I guess an editorial could have been written from the exact opposite point of view, chiding the school board for not being patient enough.
The editorial writers themselves perhaps deserve the biggest rebuke.
They still cling to the falsehood that the teachers are asking for only a 10.6% salary hike.
Although they rightly call that request “ludicrous,” the Daily Herald has thus far neglected to notice that agreeing with the union request for the taxpayers to pay the 10.24% of salary now going to the Teachers Retirement Fund would more than double the take home pay of Huntley teachers.
I pointed that out almost a month ago.
The total take home pay requested is clearly well over 20%, when state and federal income tax implications are taken into account.
You see, the 10.24% taken from teachers' pay checks now is on money after taxes are withheld.
If the school board agreed to pay the 10.24% or any part thereof, the payment would not be taxable because it would be considered a tax exempt employee benefit.
Maybe I should not be so rough on the Daily Herald.
The Northwest Herald hasn't picked up on this union request either.
Labels: Daily Herald, HEA, Huntley Education Association, Huntley School District 158, Northwest Herad
