Apple users are famously loyal, many teachers among them. So Steve Jobs's sudden bout of teacher-union bashing deserves at least brief notice. At a recent conference in Austin, the Apple CEO called teacher unions and the influence they wield "off-the-charts crazy." "What kind of person," he asked rhetorically about school principals, "could you get to run a small business if you told them that when they came in they couldn't get rid of people that they thought weren't any good?" Apple fans may not forgive him but Jobs is a shrewd observer. There's no way Apple would be so successful as a company if it had to negotiate the same type of contracts that schools do.
"Apple CEO Jobs attacks teachers unions," by April Castro, Associated Press, February 18, 2007