Evening star., 1945-06-27
Teachers Union
Hearing Told
House Subcommittee
Takes Pay Measure
Under Consideration

trict teachers pay bill under con.
sideration today after hearing
charges that the Teachers Union
had not Joined in drafting the
measure because principals try tc
intimidate" union teacher members
and to. tell them what to stand for.
Chairman Feighan of the Educa.
ton Subcommittee is expected tc
call the two committees into execu-
tive session shortly. He has indi-
Gated he will try to frame a report
to the full House District COMMITTEES
soon enough to enact legislation re-
placing that expiring Saturday
night. This provides a fiat $500
bonus for teachers.
The proposed bill provides raises
from 5000 to $4,000. Chairman Ran
dolph of the House District Com
mittee has suggested an amendment
assuring an immediate 500 raise
for all teachers, including those at
the top Of their grade.
Refuses to Give Unions Size.
Miss Selma Borchardt, legislative
chairman of the Washington Teach
ers Union, charged intimidation at
the final hearing today when Chair
man Murphy of the Fiscal Com
mittee asked how many members
her union has. .
THE elementary school teachers
beg me not to disclose that" Miss
Borchardt said. IF you taught ele-
mentary school and your principal
did not approve of the union and he
rated you-what would you do?"
Miss Borchardt said the union had
not Joined with other teachers in
preparing the bill, because it had
learned from past experience Its
proposals were never accepted.
The teachers, particularly the
elementary school teachers, were
told what to stand for" she said.
Recalls 1924 Threats.
Miss Borchardt said the union, in
1924, first began to find procedures
other than working with school off,
GERS more effective" At that time
the then president Of the Board OF
Education threatened union men,
bers with his fist, she charged. The
former superintendent of schools
tossed about" union proposals, she
added. The union felt that its sug-
gestions would be worked over" un-
til they became something quite diff
ferent by the time this bill had been
written, she said.
Miss Borschardt stressed, how:
ever, that Mrs. Henry Grattan
Doyle, now board president, and
Robert L. Haycock, present superin-
tendent, have been consistently
courteous" and willing to listen.
Thomas E. Babson, president OF
the colored teachers union, re-
spondeds to a question by Repre-
sentative Abernethy, Democrat, OF
Mississippi that the colored group
had approved Of the bill. The COL
ored union members had found 1t
easy and pleasant to work with the
other teachers drawing up the
measure, he declared.
Suggests One Salary Scale.
Miss Borchardt suggested the bill
be rewritten completely to include
a single salary scale for all teach
ers with similar educational quail
fications. The bill provides varying
salaries. Unless this is changed, she
said, the union favors "stop-gap"
legislation until such bill can be
written.
Miss Borchardt proposed begin
ming salary of $4,000 for teachers
with bachelor of art degrees. The
bill provides $1,000. She also asked
for beginning salary of $2,400 for
teachers with MA degrees. The bill
provides a salary of $2,100.
Miss Mary Louise Martin, repre-.
senting attendance officers, asked
that attendance officer salary max
imum be raised from 50 800 to 81, 800
Chairman Feighan asked why
teachers get annual increases OF
500 and executives of 5000. Mr.
Haycock testified this was done to
keep the salary of the supervising
officer in line with salaries sched-
uled in other cities and also to as
sure that executives always get more
than their subordinates.