Unrest in Wisconsin

[wisco]

Don't know how many of you have been following the news over the past 2 days, but our fine state up has been having it's own version of Egypt.

It's basically like this: Our state is $3.6 Billion in the hole. Our newly elected governor, Scott Walker (R), has gone after the public sector - as he promised and campaigned that he would. This is no shock to those of us who weren't asleep the past 2 years.

He's taking away collective bargaining and forcing public employees to pay more into their pensions and health care. He is not targeting police, fire, or the state patrol as he says those are essential services.

I myself am 100% for what he is doing. Those that work in the education sector are going absolutely batsh!t. We had a 25,000 person protest in Madison today, with I believe 12 different police departments keeping the peace and the National Guard on alert. Dozens if not hundreds of schools closed, angering a lot of parents.

Walker wishes to force educators contribute 5.8% to their pension, up from .2% (that's not a typo); and 12.6% to their healthcare, up from an average of 5%. As for the unions, quote: "Unions still could represent workers, but could not seek pay increases above those pegged to the Consumer Price Index unless approved by a public referendum. Unions also could not force employees to pay dues and would have to hold annual votes to stay organized."

Our Democratic Senators literally fled the state to avoid having a quorum to vote on this bill, as they cannot beat it. Our state patrol was out searching for them for a better part of the day until they were found and chased out of Rockford, Illinois by the Tea Party.

It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings, but I have to say with what's going on around the world and here locally, this is a fascinating time to be alive.

[SANE-A30]

how can you be expected to pay more into your pensions and healthcare when you don't even have a pension or healthcare to begin with.... ( the case for so many people)....* I * personally believe they can attempt to * try* every which way to fix this but you can't fix what is destined to be broken... I honestly fear what tomorrow will bring...but just my 2 cent...this is coming from someone that has a christian world view though...

[Piggy]

Unions have their time and place, but I'm getting really tired of their BS. They organize protests and have pre-printed signs that do nothing to solve the problem. They are only intent on causing problems. Obviously something needs to be done to correct the situation. To see a bunch of people out there with pre-printed signs and t-shirts, tells me that it is nothing more than a reason to get out of work. Same with the kids that are there. If anyone believe the students are there to support the teachers, they are out of their minds. When I was in high school, we did anything to get out of class. Police Officers and Firefighters cannot strike. I think it's total BS that the unions are not only organizing the teachers to strike, but encouraging them to leave work.

[retdetsgt]

The problem isn't the unions themselves so much as the people who negotiate contracts with them. They're government workers too who have the attitude, "It's not our money so who cares?" The same as when they're blowing it on every other useless project. And when they were flush with tax dollars, they gave them anything and everything they wanted because it was easier. Now that it's tight, they're looking for someone to blame. The government is a lousy steward of our money in anything they do, including dealing with unions.

It's like giving your kid everything he wants, not discipling him and then blaming him for throwing a temper tantrum in a store.

Police and fire in Oregon can't strike either, but we have binding arbitration on contract disputes. I'd like to see that with all public unions.

[wisco]

Same with the kids that are there. If anyone believe the students are there to support the teachers, they are out of their minds.

My thoughts exactly.

[wisco]

Today has resulted in many more school closings, with the President of the teachers union in Milwaukee telling teachers to join the protests in Madison.

Capitol Chaos: Union Asks Teachers To Go To Madison | Today's TMJ4 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin News, Weather, Sports, WTMJ | Local News


The funny thing is, this bill is set to affect nearly ALL state workers... but it only seems to be the teachers union that's having fits. IMO, these teachers need to get their asses back to work and stop boo-hooing over the paltry increases they're going to have to pay on their benefits. Even after Walkers bill passes these folks benefits package will still be golden in comparison to the average private sector worker.

Edit: Oh yeah... and the wussy Democrat Senators are still hiding in Illinois.

[Outshined]

As a Pollice Officer, I pay 23% of my healthcare and 11% to my pension. The teachers here pay more than a third less than that, and they still complain.

[retdetsgt]

Teachers in Oregon have pretty much the same benefits and pay the same for health insurance as other public employees. And they don't really make all that much money considering the mandatory educational requirements they have. They recently started requiring a master's to teach in the public school system.

What's really killing Oregon governments and schools is the retirement system. It was unbelievable before they reformed it the first time and a lot of people are retiring from the old system and will for a long time. It's not uncommon for people to retire making more money than they did working. A friend of mine, an OSP Sgt. retired at 103% of what he made on the job. There's just something wrong with that. It'll take years yet until the people under that system are gone and not milking it anymore and in the meantime, schools, state and local agencies are having to foot the bill.

[JeffW]

I am part of the Teachers Retirement system here in Texas. We contribute 6.4% towards our pension plus another 6% towards Social Security. We pay for our medical some fairly hefty amounts. I pay about 380 a month for a PPO. This is just for the wife and I. When I actually get to retire, medical will cost about 800 a month.

No sweetheart deals here.

[dadyswat]

As a retired LEO we pay about 60% of our medical. I'd have to do the exact math but that should be close. For myself and my wife about $800.00/mo.

[retdetsgt]

I am part of the Teachers Retirement system here in Texas. We contribute 6.4% towards our pension plus another 6% towards Social Security. We pay for our medical some fairly hefty amounts. I pay about 380 a month for a PPO. This is just for the wife and I. When I actually get to retire, medical will cost about 800 a month.

No sweetheart deals here.

Wow, that's a lot for a PPO!

When my wife retired from the state, it was about 5 months before I could put her on my insurance through the city. We were paying over $800 a month just for hers. Mine is a lot cheaper because the police and fire worked a deal with the city years ago. We showed that we were healthier than the average city employee and used the insurance a lot less so we got cheaper premiums. Fortunately, that carried over to retirees. Before I went on Medicare in August, I paid just over $700 for both of us.

Most public employees in Oregon don't pay into the pension system. Back in the late 80's, we all made agreement so forgo raises for three years to make up for it. Since that lowered salaries and the cost of employers' social security payments, they went for it.

[wisco]

Great... just heard Jesse Jackson is attending the rally and making a speech @ 5:00 PM.

[retdetsgt]

Great... just heard Jesse Jackson is attending the rally and making a speech @ 5:00 PM.

Imagine my surprise.....

[wisco]

*waiting for the race card to be played*

[Switchback]

Card? He'll play the whole deck!