A few months ago, I attended a retirement dinner for a longtime teacher friend of my wife. I knew most everyone there, and, let me indicate from the outset that I like all of these people, in spite of their awful, hard-leftist politics which I normally characterize as "commie." Due to demographics around here, these folks are all fortunate to have parents of their students who are highly involved, concerned, and supportive of their kid's educations. I've taught in my wife's classroom, and observed others. This is a special environment of excellent teachers and students alike. So we're dining at one of those big round tables that sit about 8 or 10 people and I was chatting with one longtime friend of my wife who's been a school principal now for a few years. She was relating a recent experience to us where she negotiated with the school district on behalf of the union in order to secure a new contract (that presumably included higher pay and benefits, combined with fewer responsibilities). I offered her the bait: "So, is the end result of your negotiations that every teacher at the various seniority levels receives exactly the same pay and benefits?"...