Clark County teachers should turn down latest contract proposal

The proposed agreement between the Clark County School District and the Clark County Education Association is a joke (Friday Review-Journal). The district is offering to pay only the salaries and benefits that an arbitrator and judge have already both ruled it is obligated to pay.

The most egregious part is that the teachers do not even know what is in the proposed three-year contract. They won’t be shown the contents until they show up for the ratification vote next week. They do not get a chance to share it with their spouses, run it past legal counsel, search it on the internet, discuss it with their peers or even let it percolate in their own thoughts. They will be forced to accept a contract about which they can’t possibly make an informed decision or to turn it down and appear greedy.

They are teachers, and they are smart. They should turn it down and just take the step raises and benefit increases they have already won and that the judiciary has upheld. Then they should demand more of their union representatives when they present the next proposal.