Wisconsin teachers and public service unions found out the hard way that they could not trust Obama. When push came to shove, Obama was no where to be found. Imagine the pain of being left waiting at the altar ! Twisting In The Wind while Obama flew Air Force One around the country and partied with his fat cat buddies in fundraisers all over the country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBKSsP72R7U
And now Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel is persecuting teachers in Chicago. Who will dare report on the Democrat's WAR ON TEACHERS?
You're so ignorant! Where are the comments about the President and Democrats coming from. This IS an education situation, not an armed forces situation. Maybe if you had more respect for education you'd know and understand that. The issues of concern actually began during the Bush administration. If you check the issues on your candidates, it's pretty clear which political parties are in support of a strong education foundation. It's not even in the typical legal jargon. It's in layman's terms! Read and check it for yourself, unless you're illiterate!
Our jobs as teachers are annual. The administrators could let us go from one yr to the next...and they usually do. Name one other job that's on an annual contract regardless of how long you've been there!!! If it wasn't for teachers, you wouldn't even have the knowledge to have a job!
Unions have NO BUSINESS controlling government jobs.
The mayor should have the guts (and brains) to announce that the city no longer deals with unions and that all these teachers are fired and may reapply as non-union employees if they desire to.
I am sick of greedy Mafia-run unions destroying our nation.
These teachers work 36 weeks a year at over $2,000 a week for a 6 hr work day! If they don't like the pay for this PART TIME JOB they should get a job in a factory!
"I'm fed up with teachers and their hefty salary guides. What we need here is a little perspective. If I had my way, I'd pay these teachers myself...I'd pay them babysitting wages.
That's right...instead of paying these out-rageous taxes, I'd give them $3.00 an hour out of my own pocket. And, I'm only going to pay them for five hours, not coffee breaks. That would be $15.00 a day. Each parent should pay $15.00 a day for these teachers to babysit their children. Even if they have more than one child, it's still cheaper than private daycare.
Now how many children do they teach a day - maybe twenty? That's $15.00 X 20 = $300.00 a day.
But remember, they only work 180 days a year! I'm not going to pay them for all those vacations.
$300 X 180 = $54,000. (Just a minute, I think my calculator needs batteries.)
I know you teachers will say what about those who have ten years of experience and a master's degree? Well, maybe (just to be fair) they could get the minimum wage, and instead of just babysitting, they could read the kids a story. We can round that off to about $5.00 an hour, times five hours, times twenty children. $5.00 X 5 X 20.
That's $500 a day times 180 days. That's $90,000.
HUH???? Wait a minute. Let's get a little perspective here.
Babysitting wages are too good for those teachers. Did anyone see a salary guide around here???!"
BTW, the Koch brothers who wish to eliminate the unions because they are inconvenient to their greed could buy and sell the mafia 20 times over. I think we have found our nation's prime problem.
Don't even try to judge my job until you've walked in my shoes!!! Factory work is hard. I'll grant you that. But you have no idea what it takes to teach, to be disrespected, cursed at daily, to have serious medical and health problems from the intense amount of stress, to have your administrators yell at you because some lazy kid won't even bring a pencil or paper to class, to have 17 minutes for a lunch break, to have every planning period filled with meetings on how to make someone learn who does not even care about their own life. You have NO IDEA what you are talking about until you've been a teacher yourself. So stop being judgmental about what you don't know.
What ever happened to moderation in the United States? Seriously, you are either, pro teacher, or anti-union. This is not the way it should be. First, let's look at unions and why people hate them. I am and have always been a strong believer in unions and worker's rights to organize. Unions are the only check and balance between the employer and the employee. Employers should be held accountable as they are not just in their profession to make their own living. Employers must realize that they are being given a great responsibility and trust. These kinds of responsibilities run almost the same in both private and public sector employment areas. Because of this, are we to tell employees of certain job sectors that they are not allowed to have the same rights as those of other work sectors? This cannot be allowed to be so in the United States. Outlawing certain work force unions because of the nature of the employer is called employment/employer discrimination. Workers in public sector jobs, because they are just the same as workers in private sector jobs, should be allowed to organize. Additionally, the state or municipality should not be allowed to stiffen such rights and therefore discriminate the entire public work force. I see quite a bit of comparisons between this and what happened in Wisconsin two years ago. It should be made clear, and I believe history will prove it, that Gov. Walker's anti-union bill was a very bad and discriminatory public policy decision. What Gov. Walker did to the rights of the public employees in Wisconsin had nothing to do with state budget problems (a point made by the fact that public unions in the state were in complete agreement with the budget cut proposals), it was about busting unions. I will say this again; Gov. Walker was not at all thinking about state budget issues, it was all about stifling workers' rights. Since he was being enormously supported by the Koch brothers, he had a campaign financial reason to break apart those rights that are inconvenient to absolute insurmountable greed. When one examines the whole issue, it is clear that greed is the only enemy of unions. There are obviously problems with ALL unions that must be addressed. Union employees must know that they have to make some compromises and sacrifices. I do believe that many of the demands by the Chicago Teachers Union are quite a stretch and do more damage than good, but the answer is not to bust the union. That would be like curing the disease by killing the patient. Unions have been on the defensive for over 20 years now, and union membership is at or near record lows. I do believe that unions have been responding to this drop in their influence by fighting a bit too tough rather than organizing more strategically. Proper organizing would mean that they would have to recognize that unions are supposed to stand up for the best in the workforce and be the advocate when an employer severely challenges good solid work ethic and results. So, I do believe that unions need a lot of reforming, but to have them dismantled would mean not having a major check and balance between employer and employee. ALL workers in the United States, regardless of field or industry, should be able to freely organize without punishment from employers. Those who wish to not be involved in work place organization should be free to not participate without punishment from the unions. Remember, it is the unions that are responsible for all the work place ethics that made this country great. Unions gave us weekends, sick leave, safe working conditions, honest pay for honest work, holidays, and many more benefits we enjoy today. For teachers, their unions made it possible for many people to become teachers. Before the teachers unions, teachers could only be celibate females without children. The teachers unions removed discrimination from the profession of teaching. A union is one of the most American of ideas, and made the middle class and the economy the envy of the world. Now is not the time to be destroying this important right. Let's fix the unions and make them institutions to be proud of.
It's important to remember that unions brought down socialism. Without solidarnosch, we would have no free Poland today. The right to unionize, to organize, and to strike, was not recognized in any socialist society. You want to fight socialism, stand up for the unions!!!
Without a doubt, unions when they were first formed in this country were instrumental in improving the work conditions of the average working stiff. Since those days, they have become evil corrupted organizations that leach off the average working stiff. In this case, the teachers will go on strike pay, something less than their normal salary. But you can bet Ms Karen Lewis isn't going to lose a dime. If somehow the school district were to find some money to meet the union demands and everyone gets a raise. You can bet Ms Karen Lewis will announce shortly after dues increases that will take close to half of the raises received by the rank and file. What needs to happen here is the teachers need to be fired and new hires brought in under a realistic contract.
js, I think that unions would not be so aggressive today if it had not been for massive deregulation on corporations. Union membership in this country is way down compared to 30 years ago. It is a double edged sword, but I would say that lawless corporations and greed is largely to blame. We need to return corporations to rule of law. I do agree that these teachers are asking way too much, but to just fire them without further negotiations might be more counter productive. There is always room for diplomacy. If I were in charge, I would hire replacement teachers if this strike goes beyond two weeks and continue to try to come up with a reasonable contract with the union. One thing I should have included in my original post is that the city and the union should really put the needs of the students first. If they approached the negotiations with that mindset, it might actually put some perspective on the situation.
Chicago politics does not work at the national level, and it doesn't work at the local level either. Chicago is the most dysfunctional city in America, and it produces the most dysfunctional political leaders.
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Imagine the pain of being left waiting at the altar ! Twisting In The Wind while Obama flew Air Force One around the country and partied with his fat cat buddies in fundraisers all over the country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBKSsP72R7U
And now Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel is persecuting teachers in Chicago. Who will dare report on the Democrat's WAR ON TEACHERS?
The mayor should have the guts (and brains) to announce that the city no longer deals with unions and that all these teachers are fired and may reapply as non-union employees if they desire to.
I am sick of greedy Mafia-run unions destroying our nation.
These teachers work 36 weeks a year at over $2,000 a week for a 6 hr work day! If they don't like the pay for this PART TIME JOB they should get a job in a factory!
That's right...instead of paying these out-rageous taxes, I'd give them $3.00 an hour out of my own pocket. And, I'm only going to pay them for five hours, not coffee breaks. That would be $15.00 a day. Each parent should pay $15.00 a day for these teachers to babysit their children. Even if they have more than one child, it's still cheaper than private daycare.
Now how many children do they teach a day - maybe twenty? That's $15.00 X 20 = $300.00 a day.
But remember, they only work 180 days a year! I'm not going to pay them for all those vacations.
$300 X 180 = $54,000. (Just a minute, I think my calculator needs batteries.)
I know you teachers will say what about those who have ten years of experience and a master's degree? Well, maybe (just to be fair) they could get the minimum wage, and instead of just babysitting, they could read the kids a story. We can round that off to about $5.00 an hour, times five hours, times twenty children. $5.00 X 5 X 20.
That's $500 a day times 180 days. That's $90,000.
HUH???? Wait a minute. Let's get a little perspective here.
Babysitting wages are too good for those teachers. Did anyone see a salary guide around here???!"
So, it's not the teacher's fault, it's the districts? Are you getting your information from Fox News which has no news.
First, let's look at unions and why people hate them. I am and have always been a strong believer in unions and worker's rights to organize. Unions are the only check and balance between the employer and the employee. Employers should be held accountable as they are not just in their profession to make their own living. Employers must realize that they are being given a great responsibility and trust. These kinds of responsibilities run almost the same in both private and public sector employment areas.
Because of this, are we to tell employees of certain job sectors that they are not allowed to have the same rights as those of other work sectors? This cannot be allowed to be so in the United States. Outlawing certain work force unions because of the nature of the employer is called employment/employer discrimination. Workers in public sector jobs, because they are just the same as workers in private sector jobs, should be allowed to organize. Additionally, the state or municipality should not be allowed to stiffen such rights and therefore discriminate the entire public work force.
I see quite a bit of comparisons between this and what happened in Wisconsin two years ago. It should be made clear, and I believe history will prove it, that Gov. Walker's anti-union bill was a very bad and discriminatory public policy decision. What Gov. Walker did to the rights of the public employees in Wisconsin had nothing to do with state budget problems (a point made by the fact that public unions in the state were in complete agreement with the budget cut proposals), it was about busting unions. I will say this again; Gov. Walker was not at all thinking about state budget issues, it was all about stifling workers' rights. Since he was being enormously supported by the Koch brothers, he had a campaign financial reason to break apart those rights that are inconvenient to absolute insurmountable greed. When one examines the whole issue, it is clear that greed is the only enemy of unions.
There are obviously problems with ALL unions that must be addressed. Union employees must know that they have to make some compromises and sacrifices. I do believe that many of the demands by the Chicago Teachers Union are quite a stretch and do more damage than good, but the answer is not to bust the union. That would be like curing the disease by killing the patient. Unions have been on the defensive for over 20 years now, and union membership is at or near record lows. I do believe that unions have been responding to this drop in their influence by fighting a bit too tough rather than organizing more strategically. Proper organizing would mean that they would have to recognize that unions are supposed to stand up for the best in the workforce and be the advocate when an employer severely challenges good solid work ethic and results.
So, I do believe that unions need a lot of reforming, but to have them dismantled would mean not having a major check and balance between employer and employee. ALL workers in the United States, regardless of field or industry, should be able to freely organize without punishment from employers. Those who wish to not be involved in work place organization should be free to not participate without punishment from the unions.
Remember, it is the unions that are responsible for all the work place ethics that made this country great. Unions gave us weekends, sick leave, safe working conditions, honest pay for honest work, holidays, and many more benefits we enjoy today. For teachers, their unions made it possible for many people to become teachers. Before the teachers unions, teachers could only be celibate females without children. The teachers unions removed discrimination from the profession of teaching. A union is one of the most American of ideas, and made the middle class and the economy the envy of the world. Now is not the time to be destroying this important right. Let's fix the unions and make them institutions to be proud of.
What needs to happen here is the teachers need to be fired and new hires brought in under a realistic contract.
We need to return corporations to rule of law. I do agree that these teachers are asking way too much, but to just fire them without further negotiations might be more counter productive. There is always room for diplomacy.
If I were in charge, I would hire replacement teachers if this strike goes beyond two weeks and continue to try to come up with a reasonable contract with the union.
One thing I should have included in my original post is that the city and the union should really put the needs of the students first. If they approached the negotiations with that mindset, it might actually put some perspective on the situation.
Chicago politics does not work at the national level, and it doesn't work at the local level either. Chicago is the most dysfunctional city in America, and it produces the most dysfunctional political leaders.