HAMMOND, Ind. – An Indiana teachers union is suing Griffith Public Schools for allegedly replacing older, higher paid teachers with younger, lower paid educators.

The case centers on the district’s application for a federal grant program that required Griffith schools to terminate its collective bargaining agreement with the Griffith Federation of Teachers before the contract’s 2015 expiration date, NWITimes.com reports.

The lawsuit alleges the district applied for the grant money without approval from the union to terminate the contract, and was required to return the money when the union refused to endorse the deal. Since that time, the union lawsuit alleges, district officials have engaged in a “systematic pattern of conduct” to terminate, transfer or force older employees to retire, according to the news site.

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School officials deny any discrimination against older teachers.

“We don’t believe there is any basis for the allegations in the lawsuit,” Griffith school attorney Rhett Tauber told the news site. “We are defending it to the fullest extent.”

The most obvious question in the case: Why wouldn’t the teachers union simply agree to terminate its contract with the district to secure grant money that likely would have made staff layoffs unnecessary?

From the limited information on the case, it appears the GFT shot itself in the foot by stubbornly refusing to work with the district to secure much-needed grant funding.

It seems like common sense that district officials, minus the grant money, would try to eliminate older teachers during layoffs precipitated by the contract dispute, since older teachers are paid more under the union seniority system. Eliminating teachers with higher salaries means fewer positions would be cut to accomplish the needed savings.

Now, because of the union’s nonsensical lawsuit, Griffith school officials will be forced to waste even more tax dollars on attorney fees and court costs.

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Bravo, GFT.

If union leaders were truly concerned about their members and the financial and academic health of Griffith schools, then they would have agreed to cooperate in the effort to secure additional grant funding for the school district.

Their cooperation probably would have provided enough money to keep the older teachers on board.

The fact that they refused, and then filed a lawsuit over the layoffs that resulted from their decision, is the perfect illustration of why labor unions are nothing but an impediment to public education.