Wisconsin

[TWCToday]

I personally am just so disturbed by this. The situation in Wisconsin is a DISGRACE! The people voted for a republican in a fair electoral process. Now the democrats in their state senate have fled the state and are hiding just to avoid voting on a bill that will save the state from bankruptcy. What is this world coming to?! If these representatives disagree with the bill they should vote against it and state their opinion, not throw a tantrum like a little child and run away.

I am also disgusted that the teachers in this state would sacrifice the education of students to go around chanting and partying in the streets.  Every last one of them should be fired in my opinion. I am sure there are plenty of teachers looking for jobs in this country.

Am I the only one who feels like this? We have the right to voice our opinions but we must do so in a civilized manor.

[toxictwister00]

I personally am just so disturbed by this. The situation in Wisconsin is a DISGRACE! The people voted for a republican in a fair electoral process. Now the democrats in their state senate have fled the state and are hiding just to avoid voting on a bill that will save the state from bankruptcy. What is this world coming to?! If these representatives disagree with the bill they should vote against it and state their opinion, not throw a tantrum like a little child and run away.

I am also disgusted that the teachers in this state would sacrifice the education of students to go around chanting and partying in the streets.  Every last one of them should be fired in my opinion. I am sure there are plenty of teachers looking for jobs in this country.

Am I the only one who feels like this? We have the right to voice our opinions but we must do so in a civilized manor.

Is this the bill you're refering to? I haven't heard anything about this until today.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110217/ts_yblog_thelookout/why-the-wisconsin-labor-bill-is-a-big-deal

[twcclassics]

I agree 100% with your analysis, Martin. However, I am not merely disturbed by this story, I'm down-right pissed. I can't believe these "teachers" are b******* and moaning about having to contribute part of their paycheck to fund their benefits. The state is broke and almost all private-sector employees in America have to do the same. Get over it! As NJ governor Chris Christie said the other day, "if you wanna be mad at someone, be made at the succession of governors that came before me, lied to you, and said you could have these benefits without having a way to pay for them."

I was listening to Mark Levin last night on my way home. He was playing audio clips of some of the protesters. One woman had the audacity to compare their "fight" to the protesters in Egypt. Are you freaking kidding me!? You're being asked to partially pay for your health care and pension, and you think there's no difference between you and people living under a brutal dictator!? Wow. She really needs to read the book "Lori's Song." Although the woman in the book lived in Iran, it would give her a good idea of how lucky she is to be living in America.

The bottom line is that teachers should teach because they love teaching. Anyone that's in it for the money should find another line of work. Period.

[Mike M]

The bottom line is that teachers should teach because they love teaching.

And the vast majority of teachers nowadays don't teach for that reason. Choose a job that you want to do, not just one that would make you a millionaire.

[toxictwister00]

The bottom line is that teachers should teach because they love teaching.

And the vast majority of teachers nowadays don't teach for that reason. Choose a job that you want to do, not just one that would make you a millionaire.

But that makes even less sense to want to be a teacher for money, a lot of teachers don't make that much money not to be a millionaire anyway. There was a somewhat similar problem here in my state the past few years when it came to raises for teachers where our former Republican gov. was going to give teachers here a 10% raise, the 8 years he was in office I don't believe teachers got more than about 2%.

[TWCC_DJK5555]

But that makes even less sense to want to be a teacher for money, a lot of teachers don't make that much money not to be a millionaire anyway. There was a somewhat similar problem here in my state the past few years when it came to raises for teachers where our former Republican gov. was going to give teachers here a 10% raise, the 8 years he was in office I don't believe teachers got more than about 2%.

Teachers in Wisconsin make $89,500 a year (salary + benefits).  The national average is $61,000.

And remember, most teachers only work 9 months a year.

http://www.papatodd.com/?p=10288

They're whining because they don't want to have to pay 5.8% of their pension.  TRANSLATION: 94.2% of their pensions will still be paid for them.

This whole Unionization thing doesn't make sense to me.  As it is in Wisconsin, if you work for the State, you are forced to join the Union.  What is so wrong about giving individuals the right to choose?  If you want to join the Union, go ahead;  if you don't... then don't. 

[twcclassics]

This whole Unionization thing doesn't make sense to me.  As it is in Wisconsin, if you work for the State, you are forced to join the Union.  What is so wrong about giving individuals the right to choose?  If you want to join the Union, go ahead;  if you don't... then don't. 

Public employees shouldn't be allowed to join a union at all. They're working for the people, not a corporation. The whole idea of a union is to give employees their fair share of a company's profits, but the government doesn't have that.

[Bryan]

I can't understand how these people think that the money they will have to dish will effect their lifestyle?  I'd be very happy if I made $89,000 a year.  I don't even make half that.  Think of all the people that are flat out broke.  5.8% if hardly nothing out of $89,000.  What a bunch of 

[toxictwister00]

But that makes even less sense to want to be a teacher for money, a lot of teachers don't make that much money not to be a millionaire anyway. There was a somewhat similar problem here in my state the past few years when it came to raises for teachers where our former Republican gov. was going to give teachers here a 10% raise, the 8 years he was in office I don't believe teachers got more than about 2%.

Teachers in Wisconsin make $89,500 a year (salary + benefits).  The national average is $61,000.

And remember, most teachers only work 9 months a year.

http://www.papatodd.com/?p=10288

They're whining because they don't want to have to pay 5.8% of their pension.  TRANSLATION: 94.2% of their pensions will still be paid for them.

This whole Unionization thing doesn't make sense to me.  As it is in Wisconsin, if you work for the State, you are forced to join the Union.  What is so wrong about giving individuals the right to choose?  If you want to join the Union, go ahead;  if you don't... then don't.

Hmm, if that's the case then I don't understand why they have to be so tightfisted about a cut that if I understood correctly is supposed to go towards funding their benefits. IMO that should be worth taking a cut for at least they make a pretty good amount of money that it shouldn't be this big of a deal or cripple them financially. I could see if they were making under 20,000 or something and they had to take a big cut.

[TWCToday]

The bottom line is that teachers should teach because they love teaching.

And the vast majority of teachers nowadays don't teach for that reason. Choose a job that you want to do, not just one that would make you a millionaire.

So the majority of teachers only teach for the money? I am sorry but from my experience I think thats a bit off. The vast majority of my teachers cared for their students and tried really hard to help students. The average salary is probably around 45K in my area. Everyone has different experiences so it might be different in your location.

[TWCC_DJK5555]

Public employees shouldn't be allowed to join a union at all. They're working for the people, not a corporation.

George Meany (longtime President of the AFL-CIO) agreed with that.  Government doesn't make money, they take money.  And where do they get their money?  As you said, the taxpayers.  Hence, these Public employees are really "bargaining" with the good citizens of America's Dairyland.

I wouldn't go so far as to prohibit Unionization of Public employees, but the rules need massive changes.  Tenured teachers presently cannot be fired no matter how inept they may be.  That's BS.  Incompetent teachers = ill-educated children.  Secondly, if a teacher walks off the job to "strike," they should get a pink slip.

[twcclassics]

I wouldn't go so far as to prohibit Unionization of Public employees...

I would. There's no reason to have them in the public sector.

[TWCC_DJK5555]

I would. There's no reason to have them in the public sector.

I can't argue with that.

There was a recent op-ed in my local paper that is very interesting...

Teacher unions challenged to back arguments with data

[TWCC_DJK5555]

I recently heard about something very interesting.

As a direct result of Gov. Walker's reforms, this one particular school district (Kaukauna) immediately turns from a $400,000 budget deficit to a $1.5 million surplus.  They plan to hire more teachers.

So let's see...
A.) No jobs were lost
B.) Several new jobs will be created
C.) More teachers = smaller class sizes, better student/teacher ratio, better classroom environment for students

Yet the unions fought this tooth and nail.   

Who does the NEA really care about?  Think about it for a while, it obviously isn't the students.

District swings from deficit to surplus with newly enacted employee contributions

[twcclassics]

Who does the NEA really care about?  Think about it for a while, it obviously isn't the students.

Nope. They only care about their members. In fact, a former union president (at least I think he was a president) said "I'll start putting the needs of students ahead of the teachers when they start paying dues." Wow.