Anyone who has been paying attention should know about the current teachers strike up in Wisconsin. The teachers union in the state has a bunch of it's members crying bloody murder because of legislation to end collective bargaining (In fact, some of the teachers have gone so far as to bring in their students so they can hide behind them, students that have no clue why they are there.). Anyone with half a brain knows this will cripple the unions in that state and if it can be passed there, it can potentially pass anywhere in the US. That makes it a threat to unions everywhere.
Obviously, you can't expect the unions to sit back and just take this. They are, when you think about it, fighting for their continued existence as they currently are. In fact, the unions are so afraid of this passing that they have started shipping in people from other states to build numbers. If this law passes the union powerhouses will be a thing of the past, at least in Wisconsin. This much is true, but there is a lot of misinformation out there trying to cover the truth of what is happening.
The unions claim that if this law passes, union workers (teachers being the main target here) will start being fired left and right, that they will have their pension plans stripped from them and that they will lose all the benefits they have worked to earn.
Take this into consideration, IF the law passes and the state starts firing teachers without regard to their service or abilities, the state will just cripple itself. For this reason, the only teachers that should have anything to fear are the ones that are just crappy teachers. My personal opinion is that all the teachers that lied about being sick just so they could go on strike and protest at the capital are the bottom of the dung pile. They are the ones that must realize they are such horrible teachers that they feel the only way to keep their jobs is to try to bully the state government. These are the one hiding behind the kids they teach (mean while these days that the teachers are on strike count as snow days. Poor kids, don't realize this is just going to make the school year last longer and longer.).
Also, if all the teachers were to have their pension plans stripped away, how would the state be able to bring in bright new teachers to educate the children? Wisconsin would have no way to stay competitive in the field of education if they were to do this. Anyone who really believes the state would hurt itself like this is an idiot. All the state wants to do is require the teachers to pay 5.8% into their pensions so that the state can devote the difference in tax money to the hole the state is in. For that matter, it is only a less then 1% change to the take home pay of the teachers. I realize that that will be a little pinch in the pocket, but if it allows the state (provided they do what they say they want to with the money) to dig it's way out of the financial hole it is in, it will be worth it in the long run. I'll go so far as to say, it will help the students that these teachers claim to care about so much.
On top of all this idiocy, the state Democrats have fled the state in order prevent having to sit down and make a decision on where they stand on the law. By fleeing they have locked up the process they claim they strive to respect. They are making a mockery of the legislative process by doing this and I think the next law that needs to be implemented after this one passes is one that requires by law, senators to show up to votes they have been informed about. If they don't show to vote, then they should not get a vote. It's that simple. They are still getting paid to do their job, yet like these teachers, they are refusing to do what they are getting paid to do. If I were to do this I know what would happen to me.... I would be fired faster then I could blink.
While I think Governor Walker is doing a superb job not backing down, in fact, I think he should go one step further. I think he should do what President Reagan did when PATCO went on strike in 1981. Governor Walker should give the teachers 48 hours to return to work, if they refuse then they should be fired. The state should not waste anymore money on people who aren't willing to do the job they agreed to do when hired. There is an overabundance of teachers out there looking for work so it wouldn't be hard to find replacement teachers.
Think about what the children are learning from this strike. This strike (if it succeeds) will teach these kids that if they complain loud enough they can get away with anything. This warped sense of reality will cripple them when it comes to the professional world. They will grow up thinking they should be given hand outs for nothing and there should be no repercussions. This line of thinking will lead to a whole generation of losers who don't have a clue and will destroy themselves.
Also any of the children that are affected by this strike, have something to hold over their teachers heads. After all, how can these teachers expect to punish these kids for anything. They have set an example for these children that says you should be rewarded for acting out. This is the wrong message to be sending such impressionable minds.
Lastly, Mr. Obama.... I hate having to single you out..... again. This is what is referred to as internal state politics. You have no business in them. Learn your place, because apparently you don't know it. Stay out of states rights, you have no place there. If asked your opinion, that is one thing, but you weren't. You jumped right in and started to chastise the Governor for sticking to his guns even though he is in the right. You offered support to the people who are are trying to break the system, which as far as I'm considered that is like the equivalency of you coming out in support of Al-Qaeda. You might want to think about where you stand, because it sure looks like you want to destroy the system that makes this country great. Stop aiding this heist of our education system.
I'm not sure about saying that Pres. Obama is siding with Al-Qaeda but I do understand the point you're making.
ReplyDeleteYou made some good points, however: 1)states have typically paid for retirement and health care for teachers in order to help offset lower salaries, but I'm sure that Wisconsin teachers would gladly accept a pay hike as an exchange. 2)While unions throughout history have sometimes had negative impacts, overall they have benefited many more people. 3) While I do feel that there are better ways for the teachers union in Wisconsin to have handled this situation, I think it shows the students that people need to stand up and fight for what they believe in, and I am sure that an ultra conservative like you would agree with that idea.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good postings.
“You made some good points, however: 1)states have typically paid for retirement and health care for teachers in order to help offset lower salaries, but I'm sure that Wisconsin teachers would gladly accept a pay hike as an exchange. 2)While unions throughout history have sometimes had negative impacts, overall they have benefited many more people. 3) While I do feel that there are better ways for the teachers union in Wisconsin to have handled this situation, I think it shows the students that people need to stand up and fight for what they believe in, and I am sure that an ultra conservative like you would agree with that idea.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good postings.”
To address the points that you made.... 1) The teachers in Wisconsin are among the top paid (when taking into consideration the full benefits package they get) in the US. They paid 0% into their benefits until this bill goes into effect. 2) While unions were good when they first came to be (protecting the rights for workers to have a safe work environment and equal compensation for the work that was done). The unions have become a bully that prohibits growth in many businesses with their ridiculous demands, while never actually helping the little people they are supposed to protect. Now the unions in the non-right to work states, unions force people to join against whether they want to or not. This amounts to theft. They are stealing the workers wages because they don't give people a choice besides “If you don't want it, go somewhere else”. 3) I agree, the Wisconsin teachers could have handled this a lot better. As for what they are showing their students they are showing them that lawlessness is the only way to get ahead. These teachers pulled their students out of their classes to take them down to the capital to participate in protests that got violent in some cases. Violence on any level is not acceptable and here are these teachers, teaching their students that violence will solve any perceived wrongs. Also these teachers had doctors forge excuses for them so that they could get out of doing their job. The teachers wasted almost a whole month of time these students were supposed to be in school learning but were instead participating in illegal activity. The Governor should have fired any teacher that didn't go to work and do their job. By the way, the doctors that forged those excuses lost their licenses, there by losing their jobs... the teaches shouldn't be an exception. Fire them and hire people that actually want to teach.
Now that I have addressed your points, I must tell you in case you missed it all that wasn't the point of this post. The main point of this post was that the Dems in the state weren't doing the job that they were elected to do. They were supposed to stand against this because that is one of the principles they were elected on, instead they ran away and insisted that that was their job. Also, as a side note to that point was the fact that Obama over stepped his bounds and tried to interfere with a states right issue. The only reason I can think of that he did this was because the members of his own party in that state refused to do their jobs. If they did their jobs, this whole quagmire that hurt students (by teaching them lawlessness is good) may have been avoided.