Posted on 02/17/2011 12:15:39 AM PST by tcrlaf
The state's largest teachers union Wednesday night called on all 98,000 of its members to attend rallies in Madison on Thursday and Friday, which led school districts — including Madison — to cancel classes for Thursday.
"This is not about protecting our pay and our benefits," Wisconsin Education Association Council President Mary Bell said at a press conference on the Capitol Square. "It is about protecting our right to collectively bargain."
In an interview, Bell said her message stopped short of endorsing the kind of coordinated action that closed Madison schools Wednesday. She asked teachers who "could" come to the rally to come.
As of press deadline, several Madison-area districts had canceled Thursday's classes. Middleton-Cross Plains union president Chris Bauman said she was encouraging all members to come to the Capitol at
8 a.m. Thursday.
Schools and teachers were a central focus at a third day of protests at the Capitol on Wednesday as Madison teachers and students joined thousands of public union workers to blast a plan to strip them of collective bargaining rights. Madison canceled school Wednesday after about 1,100 union teachers — almost half of its staff — called in sick by late Tuesday.
"This is the scariest thing I've ever seen," Betsy Barnard, a physics teacher at West High School, said of the Walker proposal. "This is going to change Wisconsin forever."
(Excerpt) Read more at host.madison.com ...
It's OBVIOUS they could care less about the students, or learning. Under what conditions can a union be decertified in Wisconsin?
Fire them if they don’t show up.
Freeloading teachers want to negotiate higher pay to offset the tax increases that those of us in the private sector pay for.
It’s a simple argument to defeat, at least in economic principle. Does the Wisconsin GOP have the brains to actually spell it out to the voters? You can’t allow moochers to negotiate pay increases to offset the higher taxes they desire the private sector pay for to sustain the public retirement Ponzi Scheme.
Conspiracy theory time. Now, I’m not good at these, so I’ll need a little help...
Ayers and his ilk have been active in US for a while, causing all kinds of irritations. Recently he and his people were in Egypt for some unstated purpose.
All over the Middle East these “days of rage” are cropping up, sharing tactics, symbolism and the name of previous activity from this crew.
And now there is a union strike in Wisconsin, shutting down the school district(s), getting very vocal against their government, and rumors are spreading of the involvement of the National Guard. On top of that, these people are trying to compare THEIR activity to what happened in Egypt, and I have seen things such as “think we’re mad now, just wait” being bandied about.
So there are some observations I have made. Anyone who wants to chime in is encouraged, as I would love to know what you savvy folks think about all this.
I don’t believe in coincidences.
This is a REAL FIGHT, and it’s one the major media is missing, at the moment.
From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
Madison and 5 other area school districts closing Thursday. Madison public schools and at least five other school districts in Dane County are closing Thursday in anticipation of teacher walkouts or absences related to the Legislature taking up a bill that reduces public employee bargaining rights and benefits.
Class cancelations announced on district websites include DeForest, Oregon, Verona and Waunakee.
Classes in the Madison Metropolitan School District, along with the Monona Grove and DeForest Area school districts, also will close, according to WISC-TV in Madison (Channel 3000) website.
UPDATE, even more districts have announced closures tomorrow:
Since about 8:45 pm tonight, school districts in Dane County and near Dane County have begun cancelling school for tomorrow. As of about 10 pm, at least these are closed:
DeForest Schools
Edgerton Schools
Juda Schools
Lodi Schools
Madison Schools
Marshall Schools
Middleton & Cross Plains Schools
Monona Grove Schools
Mount Horeb Schools
Oregon - Brooklyn Schools
River Valley Schools
Sauk Prairie Schools
Stoughton Schools
Verona Schools
Waunakee Schools
There are a lot of kids out there wishing they lived in Madison right now... Parents, not so much.
We have winter break next week, does Madison? Teachers looking for an extended vacation?
Maybe the taxpayers ought to converge on Madison and show these crybabies that they are sick of being tax slaves to these nonproductive union slugs. There’s a heck of a lot more taxpayers in Wisconsin than there are union members.
If I lived there I would stop paying taxes... those a**holes are committing fraud.
Why we even have public sector unions is beyond me.
“It’s OBVIOUS they could care less about the students, or learning.”
Why should they care about students, they’re not paid by the students (or parents), they are paid by the GOVERNMENT.
Why should they care about learning, when it seems that the best way to make even more money is to fail at teaching.
Today’s public schools...
“The state’s largest teachers union Wednesday night called on all 98,000 of its members to attend rallies in Madison on Thursday and Friday,”
I would suspect that there are 98,000 well-qualified people out of work (or underemployed) that would gladly accept the governor’s terms of employment.
...and who knows, the kids might even start learning, once the RADICALS (i.e., today’s teachers) are out of their lives.
“Fire them if they don’t show up.”
Fire them if do show up too.
“I don’t believe in coincidences.”
Neither do I, but I think in Wisconsin’s case, these RADICALS (i.e., schoolteachers) don’t need outside help.
In the Middle East, that’s a different story, and I suspect you’re on to something there. The US agitators figure that we’re weak enough militarily (and getting weaker) to start taking down our friends now.
So administrators canceled classes for a protest. That alone sounds like solid grounds for termination.
“So administrators canceled classes for a protest. That alone sounds like solid grounds for termination.”
Good point. While public sector unions are bad enough, generally the admins (i.e., their ‘bosses’) are on their side against the parents and the public. In this case, with classes canceled, the RADICALS (i.e. teachers) probably will NOT be subjected to any type of discipline.
So, I agree, TERMINATE the admins.
Makes sense to me. This is nothing more than an illegal strike. Period.
From a new story: (note the lawmakers on the line need law enforcement protection)
".....In a sign of the national attention the proposal is drawing, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has scheduled a telephone call with Walker for Thursday, said Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the federal agency. The Associated Press reported Duncan said Wednesday at a Denver conference of teacher unions and school administrators that the move in Wisconsin and other states to strip teachers of bargaining rights worries him.
In an interview with WTMJ-TV (Channel 4), President Barack Obama said public workers have to be prepared to make concessions but that he thought Walker's plan was unduly harsh on unions.
Walker offered the bill to help shore up the state's finances in advance of a budget to be delivered Tuesday that is expected to include major cuts in areas like aid to local schools and governments.
He first wants the budget repair bill passed to help clear up a $137 million budget shortfall for the fiscal year ending June 30 and ease solving a deficit of more than $3 billion over the next two years. The cuts to benefits would save taxpayers nearly $330 million through mid-2013.
Major elements of the budget-repair bill remain in place. It would require most public workers to pay half their pension costs - typically 5.8% of pay for state workers - and at least 12% of their health care costs. It applies to most state and local employees but does not apply to police, firefighters and state troopers, who would continue to bargain for their benefits.
Except for police, firefighters and troopers, raises would be limited to inflation unless a bigger increase was approved in a referendum. The non-law enforcement unions would lose their rights to bargain over anything but wages, would have to hold annual elections to keep their organizations intact and would lose the ability to have union dues deducted from state paychecks.
The most significant change the Joint Finance Committee approved would require local governments that don't have civil-service systems to create an employee grievance system within months. Those local civil-service systems would have to address grievances for employee termination, employee discipline and workplace safety.
The bill also gives Walker's Department of Health Services the power to write rules that would change state laws dealing with medical care for children, parents and childless adults; prescription drug plans for seniors; nursing home care for the elderly; and long-term care for the elderly and disabled outside of nursing homes.
The programs that could see changes under the proposal would include the BadgerCare Plus and BadgerCare Core plans, Family Care and SeniorCare.
Lawmakers planned to modify the bill so that the Walker administration could drop people from BadgerCare Plus because of having too high an income temporarily, but not permanently. Current income eligibility standards would be restored on Jan. 1, 2015, under the changes the committee adopted.
The bill was also amended to allow the Walker administration to sell or lease state-owned heating plants but first require a review of any deals by the Joint Finance Committee.
Separate from the committee's action, individual lawmakers are hoping to make other changes to the bill.
Two GOP sources familiar with internal talks said Sens. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) and Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) were backing a plan to put at least some union bargaining rights back into the bill. One source said the plan would make use of devices such as sunset clause to bring back certain bargaining rights in future years.
Schultz acknowledged he was working on alternatives, though he said he couldn't comment on any details. He said he was headed to his home and expected to find both protesters and law enforcement protection there.
"Everything is a work in progress and everything is fluid and there are no lines drawn in the sand," Schultz said. "Obviously, it's a very emotional time for us." .....
>> Article: “It would require most public workers to pay half their pension costs”
Everything is relative to compensation. So for example, if teachers were paid minimum wage, full pension benefits might make sense. But minimum wage is not a factor, and as such their cause is insufferable.
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