Teachers unions seem to have Baker's number

IF YOU’RE KEEPING score at home, Gov. Charlie Baker lost another battle on Wednesday in his long-running war with the state’s teachers unions.

Baker for months had resisted the call by the unions to speed up the COVID-19 vaccination of their members. The governor insisted schools were already safe and teachers could wait their turn along with other essential workers, even after he moved those 65 and older ahead of them in the vaccination line.

But the teacher unions kept at it. They didn’t want to be perceived as jumping the line, so they initially argued that Baker needed to give them more clarity about when they would be vaccinated. But as Baker pressed schools to resume in-person learning, the unions said the vaccination of educators was needed to make that happen.

Baker initially balked at that claim, saying existing safety measures and a new pooled testing program were enough. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seemed to be on his side.

Read more: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/education/teachers-unions-seem-to-have-bakers-number/