To the Editor:

I recently read about the Pennsylvania State Education Association union and its constant diatribe involving Betsy DeVos and Pat Toomey and it brought back memories from the time I served as a federal mediator in Ohio where that state, at that time, did not have their own mediation service so we feds did it for them.

I dealt with the educators and the National Education Association/American Federation of Teachers unions and thought I would review some of the Pennsylvania’s standards. Because of the massive organization, I am limited so will hit the “high spots.”

In 2012, PSEA’s 275 employees made over $106,000 on average, not including benefits; teacher’s $61,670. PSEA picked up $23.5 million in benefits for its workers; life insurance, parking, health care, retirements, dental and vision insurance and other programs that amounted to an additional $85,000 per worker.

Of Pennsylvania’s unionized public school teachers, about 148,000 are represented by PSEA. Calculations of the PSEA payouts did not include the salaries of, at that time, President Michael Crossey ($257,000), Vice President Jerry Oleksiak ($196,582) nor 55 PSEA board members who split nearly $1 million ($991,829) for an average of $18,033 each.

PSEA is the most powerful public employee union in the state.

All of the above I found in my computer because of curiosity and all they had was information from 2012. After this, I feel I may have chosen the wrong career path.

Oh well, if you are curious, check out the latest information via Google. I guess Jerry Oleksiak got promoted to the presidency.

Frank Ballo

Emmaus