psuedo political speak...

I'm not sure how I feel about the Wisconsin dealie. I mean, I dislike greatly when elected officials try to do far-reaching legislation, like gutting collective bargaining. And people who talk about teacher compensation with the whole "9 months a year" don't know what the fuck they're talking about. Teaching is more like the old saw, The 9 months I was pregnant was the longest year of my life. But...
Maybe the time for unions is past? I don't love how the teachers walked out of class because it opened them up for criticism by stupid pundits. And they're supposed to be "professionals" but what other "professionals" --white collar, I mean, have unions?  There might be some, I just don't know.

And, btw, where were all these people during the election? Why did they ever vote this guy in? So they feel a bit late to the party for me. There're all sorts of articles claiming the governor is a big douche, including tax breaks for the wealthy, but more importantly,  that he's doing exactly what he campaigned on.  I greatly dislike how he's ground his heels in and refuses to negotiate. Feels a bit monarchistic to me, like I have the power, I have the legislature, so you thousands of people can go fuck yourselves.

Economics is beyond me. Ditto politics. The only thing I have, crystal clear, is that most politicians, no matter the aisle, think they know best, while it seems they  so rarely do.

What I DO love is how somebody in Egypt bought the protesters pizzas. THAT friggin rocks.


And Wisconsin has good cheese. That is all.

5 comments:

Travis Erwin said...

I'm a union guy. Vice President of American Postal Workers Union Local #114

Do I agree with every thing the union does. No, but then again I don't agree with everything my wife does either and I love her.

Here's my take, Unions are there to NEGOTIATE better working conditions for their member.

Negotiate being the operative word. Union do not simply decide the pay, benefits, working hour that they want. They bargain for them. They lobby for them. They fight for them.

This Gov' nuh wants to cut spending, fine, take a hard linen at the next contract talks. Draw a line in the sand. Maybe he can bully these union into caving to his demands. If not both sides can settle matters via the arbitration process. Basically arbitration works like a court case only each side has a hand in choosing the judge.

The arbitrator will listen to both sides, delve into the facts of the business, and settle the dispute. Sort of like a parent does when their kids are fighting.

Right now the Wisconsin governor is the big brother left in charge. he's trying to lock the union members out of the house where it is cold and dark. He is promising to let them in if they will cower to his demands.

A good strong union can use the power of numbers to even the fight. A big bully of a brother is not nearly as tough when all three of his younger siblings team up to come at him at once.

Beth Partin said...

Just read an interesting description of the Wisconsin budget "crisis" the governor is trying to "fix." Turns out Wisconsin has a two-year budget cycle, and the Dems were in power for the last budget cycle, which ends this summer. They had a $6 billion shortfall, which they closed with the help of $1 billion stimulus money and furloughs and other cuts. The project shortfall for the next two-year cycle is about $3 billion, and some of it was caused by this governor granting tax breaks as soon as he got into office.

I think some form of organization is necessary to counter the growth of corporations and the governments that have been bought by them. Unions have never been particularly relevant to white-collar workers. I think the most important union these days is the service workers union--and maids and janitors and such definitely need someone to bargain for them.

ssas said...

Thanks, guys. I get the whole collective bargaining thing. I'm shocked that people are lamblasting teachers for making, GASP, 50K a year plus benefits, when no one in their right mind would go to college, often graduate school, and work like they do and expect less.

And then I hear, er, someone close to me, talk about unions at his work and it seems they are out to stick it to the management sometimes. And I'm sorry, if someone bothered to go to school, educate themselves at great expense, etc, then they DESERVE more than the kid who hits the manufacturing line at 18.

But I don't know enough to have a qualified opinion. I've read a lot of stuff, but as typical, everyone's spending more time on sarcasm than facts. So I'm finding it tough to sort out.

I like when people come tell me their views, as you guys did, without trying to really convince anyone. I'd love it if someone from the other side did the same.

Rose said...

Certainly union management can be corrupt, greedy and shortsighted ... a lot like business management and government, in other words. When you say perhaps the time for unions is past, though, I just shake my head. Unions are still desperately needed in many areas, though those areas may not now be unionized. From all I've read, the public worker unions in Wisconsin AGREED to all the budget-cutting measures Walker demanded on wages, putting more into the pension fund, etc. That's not enough for him--he wants to gut the unions' ability to negotiate on anything other than wages (and restrict that drastically). So the ability to do anything collectively about working conditions, including safety, discrimination, etc., would be off the table. That's rolling back what workers organized, fought and died for, and unfortunately I believe that this will be used as precedent to go after other unions in other states under the guise of cutting the deficit. Yet Walker gave big tax cuts as soon as he got in office. What's up with that if he's such a deficit hawk?

ssas said...

Good points, Rose. I have no idea on unions; never really studied the issue. It makes sense that they need collective bargaining.

I read the same thing about the unions agreeing to the cuts and I also heard about the tax cuts. So I wonder if really Walker has some explaining to do.

Except WI voted him in... that's a bit of a hitch. Hmm.