Opinion

An outburst of honesty from a NY union leader

Far be it from us to get involved in a spat between labor groups, but police-union boss Pat Lynch made several noteworthy points in The Post on Sunday in a rare, public slap at teachers-union boss Mike Mulgrew.

Lynch, understandably, was livid over Mulgrew’s decision to have the United Federation of Teachers co-sponsor the Rev. Al Sharpton’s anti-police rally this Saturday, prompted by the death of Eric Garner while resisting arrest.

“How would [Mulgrew] like it if police officers lined up with the activists who oppose his efforts to shield bad teachers and undermine effective charter schools?” wrote Lynch in an open letter to The Post. “He should try standing up for . . . the children.”

Whom the unions line up with is their business, though the rally itself, which will blame the NYPD for Garner’s death even before the facts come out, is surely ill-advised.

But Lynch is dead right that the UFT has fought (successfully) to ensure that poor-performing teachers can’t be fired and to undermine highly successful (mostly nonunion) charter schools. He’s also right that all this comes at the expense of children, who wind up being cheated out of a decent education.

Union bosses don’t often bash each other publicly, helpful as it might be at times like this. All the more reason to see the truth in Lynch’s words.