The Education Wars: Detroit Teachers

I posted an article yesterday which noted the newly approved contract between the Detroit Public Schools and the union was perhaps the worst ever negotiated by any union in the history of American education.

It appears not every teacher is taking the news lying down.

A group of Detroit Public Schools teachers is heading to court in an effort to block a provision of their newly approved teachers' contract that permits the district to withhold $250 from their paychecks.

The teachers' attorney, George Washington, said he's filed a class action lawsuit and a complaint to the state's labor department against Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb, claiming the deductions are unlawful.

Under the contract Detroit Federation of Teachers members approved in December, salaried teachers will lend the district $10,000 each over a period of 40 paychecks. It's called a Termination Incentive Plan, because the teachers will receive the money back without interest when they leave.


Washington claims the loan violates Michigan's Payment of Wages and Fringe Benefits Act, which forbids an employer from demanding a gift from an employee as a condition of employment.