By Rob Lorei
On Radioactivity Wednesday we first looked at the local fight for a livable, $15 an hour wage that took two fast food workers to McDonalds’ headquarters to protest at the company’s annual shareholder meeting. Our Guests Bleu Rainer and Gail Rogers, who respectively work for Checkers and McDonalds’ in Tampa, joined home care, child care and other low-wage workers who are demanding a $15 an hour minimum wage and a union.
Then we looked at the looming teacher shortage that is facing Florida. For this upcoming school year, Hillsborough County is looking to fill 800 new teaching while Sarasota is looking for 250 new teachers; and Pasco 185. Our next guest Wendy Bradshaw, a former Polk County teacher, said that a slew of teachers leaving the profession for retirement or because they are unhappy with their salary and working conditions. In the resignation letter to the Polk County School district that went viral after Bradshaw posted it on Facebook, she wrote that teachers are forced to teach material for standardized testing that is beyond students capabilities.
