I’ve been dehumanized – I have virtually no job protection…random quote I heard on a newscast this morning.
Welcome to my world, sistah. There is no such thing as job protection in the real world.
I awoke this morning to hear that Racine Unified School District was closed today. Nope – no snow. Not a power outage or a water main break. It’s so the teachers could go to Madison and protest.
I’m sure most of you have heard what’s going on here in Wisconsin. In fact, it’s gone national – Michelle Malkin was talking about it this morning on Fox News Channel. For those of you who don’t, many public employees are protesting Governor Scott Walker’s plan to try to fix our budget crisis. A crisis which was made in large part by former Governor Doyle’s policies of illegally raiding set aside funds and kowtowing to those same said public employees, namely the teachers unions. They OWNED him. The difficulty now is that these folks have been coddled for so long they no longer live in the real world. The sense of entitlement is breathtaking. Let’s just peek into it a bit, shall we?
They will have to contribute 5% of their pay to their pension. And the problem with that is??? Friends, in these difficult economic times, most of us can’t even contribute to our own retirement funds. In fact, some of us are actually using the funds we so carefully set aside for our future in order to pay our bills today. Yet these people are whining because they might have to actually contribute a minimal amount of their own money to their pensions? Seriously??? Why the HELL should I have to pay for their retirement?
They would be required to bay 12% of their health care costs. NOT 12% of their salary, mind you, but 12% of the cost of their Cadillac health plans. I don’t know about you, but I pay WELL over 12% of my health insurance, a plan that is nowhere NEAR as comprehensive as the plans that they have, and I’m damned glad to do it. Too many businesses, as a part of cutting costs, have cut out benefits all together. Though my costs have gone through the roof, at least I still HAVE health insurance. Yet they cry and whine because they might have to actually contribute a token amount in order to have better coverage than most of the rest of us. Get real!!!
Folks, whatever happened to caring about the children? Racine Unified is consistently one of the worst school districts in the state, yet we continue to pour more and more money into this broken system. Time for a little personal disclosure here. I pay over $13,000 – yep, you read that right – thirteen THOUSAND dollars a year in property taxes, most of which goes to this inept school district. And what do I get in return? Teachers walking off the job because they refuse to live in the same world as most of the rest of us.
I'm so glad to see that they have the children's best interests at heart.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
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I agree with every word you wrote, but one of my teacher friends say it's more about their right to negotiate for their benefits and working conditions. Again, many, if not most, people work for much less then these people make and with absolutely no right to bargain for their salary or anything else. And you are so correct to point out that the TAXPAYERS (many of whom have much less) are the ones providing their benefits. Bravo, and keep blogging.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many of those who are neglecting the very students they were hired to 'teach' have actually READ the bill?
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for my summer off! 3 months of paid time to have fun & soak up the sun! Wahoooooo!
ReplyDeleteOh wait. That's right. My business doesn't stop nor would I get paid if I took 3 months off. Oh....and my health insurance? I pay for it 100% so yeah. There's that.
Damn it! :(
Anon
ReplyDeleteCollective bargaining is a privilege, not a right and it can be changed by legislation. The majority of public unions in other states around the country don't have the privilege of collective bargaining for benefits and they seem to operate just fine.