Do you Think Teachers Unions should be disbanded?

“Tempers explode as Assembly passes controversial budget repair bill.” “Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly took the first significant action on their plan to strip collective bargaining rights from most public workers, abruptly passing the measure early Friday morning before sleep-deprived Democrats realized what was happening. The vote ended three straight days of punishing debate in the Assembly that made it the longest continuous session in Assembly history.” Now, it heads to the Senate.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/25/6130372-badger-state-showdown-assembly-passes-controversial-bill
Yea!

The house in Wisconsin passed the thug busting bill early this morning - as all the union thugs were dreaming of a socialist workplace for all - and sugar plums danced in their heads. Now it goes on to the Senate - if they can ever get those democrats to show up for work!

Then it goes to the Governor for his consideration. I wonder if he will sign it?

Yes, they simply must protect the poor Koch brothers and their fortunes. Never mind that the state pissed away the money on Wall Street while Bush and Paulson payed the bankers who lost the money for their trouble (with tax money that we didn't have) and Obama continued the theft. It's just brilliant that you people are so upset about teachers wanting to continue to get a living wage for their advanced degrees while you don't even mention the greatest theft in the history of the world that was just committed against us!

Would someone please explain to me how this bill would prevent teachers, or any other public employees, from continuing to get a living wage?

The unions can still collectively bargain for and receive wage increases, up to the Consumer Price Index increase. Beyond that point it has to be approved by a vote of those who will be paying for it.

What is so unAmerican about that?

Without unions we wouldn't have the standard of living we now have: less than 12 hour work days, less than 7 day work weeks, not indebted to the company who made workers buy from them and live in company-provided housing, health insurance - sure, save up and pay that $1M for all your heart problems.

Every time there is deregulation, everyone below the top 1% income get screwed.

I don't understand how people continue to keep their heads up their arses. They are the ones who keep the rest of us keep on giving to that 1%.

2wlady wrote: Without unions we wouldn't have the standard of living we now have: less than 12 hour work days, less than 7 day work weeks, not indebted to the company who made workers buy from them and live in company-provided housing, health insurance - sure, save up and pay that $1M for all your heart problems.

Every time there is deregulation, everyone below the top 1% income get screwed.

I don't understand how people continue to keep their heads up their arses. They are the ones who keep the rest of us keep on giving to that 1%.

But your argument has nothing to do with the question of public employees shutting down the government with strikes.

But everything to do with the topic of the thread...

2wlady wrote: Without unions we wouldn't have the standard of living we now have: less than 12 hour work days, less than 7 day work weeks, not indebted to the company who made workers buy from them and live in company-provided housing, health insurance - sure, save up and pay that $1M for all your heart problems.

Every time there is deregulation, everyone below the top 1% income get screwed.

I don't understand how people continue to keep their heads up their arses. They are the ones who keep the rest of us keep on giving to that 1%.

But now goverments make those guarantees, not unions.

And what does it matter if American workers get all these benefits but there are no jobs for them? It isn't the 1950's anymore where our competition was rebuilding from a world war, now we have Asia and others undercutting our prices but you only want to make it tougher for American business to compete.

Bright side? Unions are starting to see the light. Today in the Post there was an article saying the American Federation of Teachers is going to make it much easier to fire bad teachers. The AFT proposal would give the teacher a year to improve their teaching before being fired.

2wlady wrote: Without unions we wouldn't have the standard of living we now have: less than 12 hour work days, less than 7 day work weeks, not indebted to the company who made workers buy from them and live in company-provided housing, health insurance - sure, save up and pay that $1M for all your heart problems.

Every time there is deregulation, everyone below the top 1% income get screwed.

I don't understand how people continue to keep their heads up their arses. They are the ones who keep the rest of us keep on giving to that 1%.

I have no problem with government workers forming unions, nor does Governor Walker. The problem arises when that union collectively bargaining for wages, benefits and working conditions with the government that employs their members. There is an inherent conflict of interest that occurs when monopolies are subject to collective bargaining agreements. When the collective bargaining is done in conjunction with the people that the union helped to place at the other end of the negotiating table, the conflict of interest only gets larger. If you can't see that for what it is, I don't know what else to tell you.

Education is one of the, if not the, largest expense of most state governments. Public teacher salaries in Colorado have gone up 25% in the last decade, and that is only their wages, that doesn't include the defined benefit public pensions that are based upon a formula that will return between 50% (20 years service retiring at age 60) and 87.5% (30 years service retiring at age 60) of the average of their last 3 years wages as an annual pension for the retiree. You think Social Security is in trouble now, try to imagine how decimated it would be if it had to pay benefits under a similarly structured arrangement. Imagine what the bill to the taxpayers would be if I retired at age 60 with an average salary of $40K a year at the time of my retirement after having worked and contributed to SS for 40 years. I would be getting back 87% of that wage, $35K a year, or $2900 a month (plus the COLA adjustment) for the next 25 years if I lived to average life expectancy. Think that would be sustainable? I don't either. If it isn't sustainable for SS, why would you think it would be for PERA? I can tell you why they think it is sustainable, because they can, and will, raise the taxes to make it sustainable since the pension is guaranteed to the teacher by the full faith and credit of the state.

2wlady wrote: Without unions we wouldn't have the standard of living we now have: less than 12 hour work days, less than 7 day work weeks, not indebted to the company who made workers buy from them and live in company-provided housing, health insurance - sure, save up and pay that $1M for all your heart problems.

Every time there is deregulation, everyone below the top 1% income get screwed.

I don't understand how people continue to keep their heads up their arses. They are the ones who keep the rest of us keep on giving to that 1%.

I...I think I love you 2wlady

They just don't know any better..They don't know history...... because we've been to the world they want to create, the one were 12 guys had ALL THE MONEY and we had nothing...They're completely ignorant 2wlady, and their is no use in trying to educate them.

PrintSmith wrote:

2wlady wrote: Without unions we wouldn't have the standard of living we now have: less than 12 hour work days, less than 7 day work weeks, not indebted to the company who made workers buy from them and live in company-provided housing, health insurance - sure, save up and pay that $1M for all your heart problems.

Every time there is deregulation, everyone below the top 1% income get screwed.

I don't understand how people continue to keep their heads up their arses. They are the ones who keep the rest of us keep on giving to that 1%.

I have no problem with government workers forming unions, nor does Governor Walker. The problem arises when that union collectively bargaining for wages, benefits and working conditions

OMG!!!! See what I mean!?

"Yeah..I don't mind if you kids form a baseball team as long as you never play baseball"..WTF do you think Unions are PrintSmith!? Bowling teams and bake sales!...

I'm done with the retardation here..I swear..We gotta have a basic level of knowledge to be able to discuss anything and you rightwingnuts just don't have it...