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a REAL union sticking up for its teachers:

The Rogue River School District has formally declared an impasse in mediations with its teachers' union after 20 months of contentious negotiations.

"We've continued to work toward a solution and haven't been able to reach it," said Rogue River schools Superintendent Harry Vanikiotis.

The declaration opens up the possibility of a strike by the 56 teachers in the union after a 30-day cooling off period required by law. Before that, the two parties have to conduct and swap cost analyses for their latest proposals.

Bargaining began June 19, 2008, and no agreement has been reached. Vanikiotis said this is the longest period of union negotiations he's experienced in his 25 years as a school administrator, but there is still hope that the two parties could ink an agreement during the cooling off period.

with a "union" that's merely a subsidiary of a school district:

Last week, five employee groups agreed to salary concessions and taking furlough days to help the Washoe County School District bridge a $33 million deficit. Their actions, announced in a press conference on Friday, will fulfill $11 million of that deficit.

Today, Washoe County schools Superintendent Heath Morrison will discuss with the district’s Board of Trustees the details of his plan to help satisfy the remaining $22 million.

According to a district press release sent to the media Monday, Morrison also is announcing a $2.5 million reduction to central services, which includes the district’s top administrators and executive cabinet.

The release states many positions are vacant and will either be eliminated or consolidated with other support roles to help lessen the number of job losses. The release states Morrison’s senior cabinet will take five unpaid furlough days and forgo salary increases. The new superintendent also will take 10 unpaid furlough days and is waiving a salary increase.

ALL of these "senior cabinet" types are making well over $100,000 a year and most likely have working spouses. Morrison could take a ten-percent cut in pay--more than what a teacher aide or assistant makes in a year--and he wouldn't feel it at all.