Work To Rule. Stop Working Overtime for Free.

Work to Rule is a labor technique that is actually just what ordinary workers do at their regular jobs every ordinary working day.

Work to Rule means working only for the actual time you are paid. No more the extra free two or three hours the district gets from teachers each day. Instead of those hours of UNPAID work that every teacher in the district gives every day, teachers just stop work finished or not and go home. Our elementary colleagues have been especially impacted by extra hours as a result of No Child Left Behind and Joyce Bales mandates for ever more tests and reporting to the district office.

Why is it controversial to go home when the seven and a half hour work day is done? Well because teachers traditionally work until the job is done. This was a good system when teacher were in control of what they did in the classroom, what was assigned and how to grade it. This was in that halcyon time before the creation of Bales Busy Work. Prior to Bales there were some extras that district admin required of teachers but teachers were often given extra pay or time off from class work to do the district admin busy work. No more. In fact, not only no pay or even talk of comp time as payment, far worse has been the incredible expansion under Bales of the number of extra duties, forms, email checks, scantron running, district admin informing crapola. Bales Busy Work has increased beyond reason. It is time for the teachers to stop politely accepting ever more jobs that cannot be finished in their working day. It is time to just say no to Bales. It is time for Work To Rule.

When teachers Work To Rule, they simply stop working at the end of the day and go home. Teachers work hard and diligently during the time for which they are paid. However when they are not being paid, they do not work. Does this seem controversial? Well I am sure the North County Times will find a way to condemn teachers for not working when they are not being paid, but for reasonable folks this is a no brainer. Workers at any other job are incredulous when they find out how much UNPAID free time the teachers give in the service of Bales.

There is talk of starting Work To Rule in the next week or so. Spring break is coming soon so maybe after Spring Break I am not sure. The talk is for two days a week to start with. Perhaps a Tuesday and Thursday with everyone wearing black on those days. Also talk of synchronizing watches and clocks so that every teacher leaves together at the same time at the end of the teaching day. Perhaps also sitting in the parking lot in their cars until exactly the moment school starts and walking in together.

Local site leaders probably should begin talking about Work To Rule with their fellow members ASAP.