LETTER: Teacher bonuses a poor substitute for higher pay

In response to the Review-Journal’s recent editorial on teacher bonuses:

A bonus to a salaried employee is a turkey dinner. Once you eat it, it’s gone. The extra pay does not go on their pay schedule for the next month or the next year. It cannot be used for any revolving charge, nor can it be used for any reccurring payment. It does not go toward the retirement or health care of the employees. Salaried employees will see their investment decrease, as the employer gives more bonuses and less money on the salary schedule.

The idea of giving teachers individual bonuses absolutely does undermine the principle of collective bargaining. District officials know that if they can pick off a few employees so that membership drops below 50 percent, the union can be eliminated. If the district would like to pay the high-performing teachers more, then do it — only add it directly to their pay scale so that it helps them for their future.

If an employer went into a union shop and offered extra pay to a few employees and not the others, that would be a direct violation of collective bargaining. The district can add that incentive to the collective bargaining agreement. The union would gladly give district officials the right to add funds to the teacher pay schedule, but that is not what they want to do. The real issue here is the destruction of unions and reducing the power of teachers.