Man, this thread is really bumming me out. I have worked in the education field for 30 years now. I don’t have a college degree, so of course I make a very low wage. I agreed to this so many years ago because I had a trustworthy boss (superintendent) who believed in the compensation system for educators: if you are paid from taxpayer monies, you should never require a high salary. I agreed with this concept and still do. But now that I am nearing the retirement age, there is no money left. I was actually thinking about taking my retirement and, hopefully, getting another job within a school system on a part-time basis. Not anymore with this exposure! I never get a break! I stood by listening to other colleages talk about retiring and coming back to work within the system. Now, their health benefits are not paid and I believe that there is a ceiling to the number of hours you can work, yada, yada, yada. So, here I am. An old lady. My salary is now considered close to poverty level. My work experience has been in a small nucleus because I have been told before that I did not work in ‘the real world.’ Looks like I’m in a Catch-22.
I’m so sorry....greedy people s*ck don’t they. That’s how I see the unions. There used to be a place for unions...when employees were abused....but, now it’s the unions abusing the taxpayer.