Union blues

In response to the commentary last Sunday by John Vellardita, executive director of the Clark County Education Association: I must say, he should spend more time caring about and working for his teachers than trying to run the district from the Legislature on down.

As a past teacher who quit his union after it became apparent that power and not the best welfare of teachers were his goal, I believe he should stop telling board members, administrators and the superintendent what to do. Instead, he should look at the poor and exorbitant health care his teachers are now experiencing, and the difficult job it has become to be in the classroom.

He says that bills are being paid, and teachers are being taken care of. But many doctors will not even see teachers anymore because they won’t get paid and the cost of everything has skyrocketed. Before I could get an MRI, I had to pay $500 out of pocket and, as a diabetic, they wanted me to pay $100 per insulin pen. We got a little raise, but all of it goes to the cost of health care.

Most of my friends who are still in the district have quit the union because of its weakness and because the money saved by not paying dues can help cover medical costs. What good is a union that doesn’t have the best interests of its members best at heart? Or what good is a union that has no heart?

Celia Rasmussen

Henderson