Michael1942's Blog

The Springfield Urban League has been waging a war against it’s Head Start Employees since June of 2010. The first volley was the “termination” of 200 employees which was explained away as a normal occurrence very year (this is not true). The reality is that each school year the employees of Head Start were “laid off” for the summer, this new tactic was to avoid paying the COBRA payments as required by the Health Care bill. Rather than address this with the employees the League has continued in their usual high handed fashion and done just what as they wanted. The employees organized and voted a Union in to protect their rights as people and the league in true despotic fashion started a foot dragging and terminating campaign to demoralize and gut the Union. To date over 30 employees have been terminated for reasons that are suspect. The League has and is spending thousands of dollars on legal fees to derail the Union’s effort to negotiate a contract. The League was unwilling to spend this kind of money on the Head Start program and upgrading or obtaining better facilities for the program. The League in the fashion of any despot has spent funds (possibly Head Starts) on other programs that did not directly benefit Head Start or its clients. The benefit appears to be localized in the pockets of upper management, et al. There have been health issues that were not addressed for 2 or more years until now and those issues were at last resolved with a wave of a well manicured hand after the effects were felt by the teachers and the children who were in those building daily.