The Knuckleheads of the Day award

Today's winners are the Detroit Federation of Teachers and 800 of its members. A sick out was staged today in Detroit Michigan that forced the closing of over 50 of its schools. The union members are unhappy with a contract agreement between their union and the local school system.

This kind of reminds me of the recent New York City strike. Public employees staging a strike, they may call it a sick out but it's really a strike and probably illegal if Michigan is like most states. The ones who will suffer from this action are Detroit's school students. Ones who are already in need of much help, since the Detroit school system is one of the worst in the nation. Great work teachers, you just failed the young people of Michigan again.

For penalizing those in need, the Detroit Federation of Teachers and 800 of its members are today's Knuckleheads of the day.

Hat tip- Betsy's Page,
Open Post- Don Surber, Jo's Cafe, Basil's Blog, TMH's Bacon Bits, Right Wing Nation, Blue Star, Customer Servant, Bright & Early, Cao's Blog, Is it just me?, Outside the Beltway,

DETROIT -- Some 53 Detroit elementary schools were closed this morning after nearly 800 teachers called in sick for classes.

The closings were announced about 15 minutes after the 7:30 a.m. start time at Pasteur, Dixon, Carleton and Barbara Jordan schools. While some children were loaded back on school buses for a trip back home, others had to wait at school for parents or guardians to pick them up.

School officials had estimated Tuesday that as many as 1,500 teachers planned to protest because they are lending the district five days' pay at the same time principals could see their salaries rise from 4.7 percent to 10.6 percent.

On Tuesday, Detroit teachers lent the first of those five days' pay, a part of a one-year contract it reached with the financially struggling district.

Principals argue their increase isn't a raise because they took a 10 percent pay cut in the last school year, and administrators say they need the pay boost to keep and attract principals.

At Dixon Elementary School on the city's west side, Henry McDuffy was frustrated as he picked up his grandchildren.

"The kids are in the middle of it," said McDuffy, who was late for work "There has got to be another way to deal with it rather than keep kids out of shool. It's an ugly situation."

District officials said about 300 of the district's 10,000 teachers and similar staffers call in sick on a typical day.

"We are confident that our teachers who care very deeply about our children will show up," school spokesman Lekan Oguntoyinbo said Tuesday.

Detroit Federation of Teachers officials said they urged staffers to show up. They said they risk disciplinary measures if teachers can't explain their absence. "We are urging our members to go to work," said union spokeswoman Michelle Price.

Cross posted to Bullwinkle Blog