From today's Wilmington News Journal:
A new study ranks Delaware the top state for workers. Researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia on average pay, adjusted for cost of living; the proportion of workers receiving health insurance and retirement benefits; and the ability of workers to unionize.Anecdotally, I've always been pleased working in the First State. Before I got into teaching, I worked in banking, and the pay and bennies were pretty darn good. As a teacher, I enjoy some of the finest benefits in the entire country based on many conversations I've had with teachers from other states. Some DE teachers bemoan their lower pay compared to our surrounding states (PA, NJ and Maryland all rank higher than DE in teacher pay), but out of the 50 states Delaware ranks 11th. But one surely has to take into account benefits, and from what I've seen, DE teacher bennies surpass those of the surrounding states. This is why I tend to cringe when I hear DE teachers bemoan their "low" pay. But that's just me.
I thought the bit about unions was interesting, though. DE must have one of the weaker teacher "unions" (it's actually dubbed just an "association" here), but I certainly don't have much knowledge of other DE unions. Striking (for teachers) is illegal, and that's a component I always figured essential for an effective union. (Not that I personally advocate striking, but does a union really have much leverage without the ability to strike?) When DE teachers went on strike back in 1978 (due to uneven pay upon the onset of desegregation -- the county-wide district wanted to keep old district pay scales even though the entire county now was one big district), it affected the retirement dates of all those involved. I'm not entirely certain of the specifics, but I believe if you were a striking teacher, you had to extend your term of service (before retirement) to include the number of days on strike. And I remember that that strike went on into November.
Posted by Hube at October 26, 2005 04:34 PM | TrackBack