Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote in
:

On 8/11/2011 1:07 PM, Han wrote:
wrote in
:

On Aug 11, 12:21 pm, wrote:

Since NJ was interjected into into conversation, can someone verify
that apparently the police union negotiated that police in NJ pay
1.5% of their salary for health insurance?

For the median income ($90k+) mentioned earlier, that is less than
$150/m
o.

My wife and daughters is $800+/mo, and that is a bare bones policy
with a huge deductible.

Pardon me while I sob a few tears ... for all of us.

IIRC, this is EXACTLY what the issue in WI was about ... union
choke hold on public purse strings, bought and paid for by bought
and paid for politicians.


Swingman, I can tell you this: the teachers in the school district I
live in went out on strike last year for six weeks. The labor
dispute was never settled. The teachers are looking to strike again
this year. One thing the school board asked for was an increase in
the healthcare insurance from 0.5% to 0.9% and the teachers were
really up in arms about that. They were also asked to teach six out
of nine periods instead of only five out of nine. I know some
things like Calculus and Physics and English composition papers are
not the easiest things to grade but it seems to me that t he
teachers are being given ample time to get a lot of that work done
during the school day. Sure, they need to bring work home. Many,
many of us white collar workers come in early; stay late; and work
at home on evenings, weekends, holidays, and vacations. That is
EXPECTED of us. Why not the teachers, too?

Teaching 6 periods rather than 5 is a 20% increase in teaching load,
right? I'd be upset about that too, if my take home pay was cut on
top of that. And as an "exempt" employee at a university, I know a
little about staying late, and working weekends etc.



But teaching 5 out of 9 periods is only 55% of the time you are
there.
I don't see that as an increase, I see that as being more productive
during the time that you are at work.

Sure you have to do more work as opposed to what you were told you
would have do. Join the crowd. Economic times are tough. If every
one does not pitch in an do more the cream is going to rise to the top
and they are going to be the ones that keep their jobs. Those that
complain and or do the least will be replaced, simple economics.

The teachers do not always have to be there first or last period. And
teaching a class is really more work than supervising cafeteria or some
such. Basically, if the school can make teachers 20% more productive,
they need to pay 20% fewer teachers.

Yes, times are tough, for everyone. That's when you want teaching to be
done well, and you should be willing to pay for that.

--
Best regards
Han
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