Public Employee Unions Must Be Crushed !

[mjmacky]

That last made it too easy - if (and this happens, there is no refuting it), teaching degree in hand, our young pilgrim discovers he or she isn't so suited to the profession as previously thought, and performance is less than absolutely sterling by performance standards...standards arrived at without the assistance of any teacher's union, by the way - they should be Gone, Gone, Gone, just like the song, and the public doesn't owe them a rehabilitative stint in another educational milieu.

All of these teachers find themselves overqualified to teach test prep, and feel it's a great disservice to the students. Who dreams to be a Kaplan employee? The teacher that produces the best FCAT score at a failing school is the one that tries to instill education the least, that's just the way it works. It really depends on where you work. Let's say you're working for a school that usually produces good scores (a function of location), you pretty much have the freedom to teach your curriculum, the students will do well on their tests with minimal test prep. If you don't work at those schools, you have administration and state directives setting aside your curriculum for, as I've said before, test prep. It's really a sad state of affairs.

[j2k4]

That last made it too easy - if (and this happens, there is no refuting it), teaching degree in hand, our young pilgrim discovers he or she isn't so suited to the profession as previously thought, and performance is less than absolutely sterling by performance standards...standards arrived at without the assistance of any teacher's union, by the way - they should be Gone, Gone, Gone, just like the song, and the public doesn't owe them a rehabilitative stint in another educational milieu.

All of these teachers find themselves overqualified to teach test prep, and feel it's a great disservice to the students. Who dreams to be a Kaplan employee? The teacher that produces the best FCAT score at a failing school is the one that tries to instill education the least, that's just the way it works. It really depends on where you work. Let's say you're working for a school that usually produces good scores (a function of location), you pretty much have the freedom to teach your curriculum, the students will do well on their tests with minimal test prep. If you don't work at those schools, you have administration and state directives setting aside your curriculum for, as I've said before, test prep. It's really a sad state of affairs.

"...that's just the way it works. It really depends on where you work..." is an unfortunate wording for an idea whose meaning you intend to be rigid, rather than flaccid.

Anyway, your problem is you keep referring to standards of "learning", "teaching" and "education" that are constructs arising from the teaching profession itself.

Teachers, like our military, should absolutely be subject to private and public review, and especially owing to their utter importance.

How could you object...I mean, it's the salvation of your profession we are talking about, here.

Btw-

It sure sounds like you'd be a lot happier at a charter facility, if you want unconditional freedom to educate, but of course we'll have to insist on looking over your shoulder - it's just the way we are.

Still wanna be a teacher? :wink:

[mjmacky]

"...that's just the way it works. It really depends on where you work..." is an unfortunate wording for an idea whose meaning you intend to be rigid, rather than flaccid.

Anyway, your problem is you keep referring to standards of "learning", "teaching" and "education" that are constructs arising from the teaching profession itself.

Teachers, like our military, should absolutely be subject to private and public review, and especially owing to their utter importance.

How could you object...I mean, it's the salvation of your profession we are talking about, here.

Btw-

It sure sounds like you'd be a lot happier at a charter facility, if you want unconditional freedom to educate, but of course we'll have to insist on looking over your shoulder - it's just the way we are.

Still wanna be a teacher? :wink:

That's why I said "at a failing school", so no real misfortune there. That next part was my segue to setup the opposing scenario.

Actually, editing will most likely be my primary position in the coming future. Naturally, I would only teach at the college level, and your performance is evaluated there. It's for different reasons of course, schools compete with each other, so it's sort of how a good free market works (public and private compete with each other and amongst themselves). I know what they want to do with evaluating teacher's performance, but teaching tests leads to miseducation. I should bring to the fore the difference when using my choice of words, in test-based school systems, a useless skill set is being taught instead of drawing out fundamental understanding of the different disciplines. The latter is true education since you can build on it. The former is stats friendly.

Charter schools are pretty good, and you'd find very few teachers complaining about having their shoulders looked over, rather having the involvement and interest of parents is reassuring. My wife teaches kids whose parents or grandparents do not give a shit what happens to their kid or if they're even at school (for the majority of them). A student whose parent has an interest in their education is someone we would all like to teach to, but what about everyone else?

[j2k4]

"...that's just the way it works. It really depends on where you work..." is an unfortunate wording for an idea whose meaning you intend to be rigid, rather than flaccid.

Anyway, your problem is you keep referring to standards of "learning", "teaching" and "education" that are constructs arising from the teaching profession itself.

Teachers, like our military, should absolutely be subject to private and public review, and especially owing to their utter importance.

How could you object...I mean, it's the salvation of your profession we are talking about, here.

Btw-

It sure sounds like you'd be a lot happier at a charter facility, if you want unconditional freedom to educate, but of course we'll have to insist on looking over your shoulder - it's just the way we are.

Still wanna be a teacher? :wink:

That's why I said "at a failing school", so no real misfortune there. That next part was my segue to setup the opposing scenario.

Actually, editing will most likely be my primary position in the coming future. Naturally, I would only teach at the college level, and your performance is evaluated there. It's for different reasons of course, schools compete with each other, so it's sort of how a good free market works (public and private compete with each other and amongst themselves). I know what they want to do with evaluating teacher's performance, but teaching tests leads to miseducation. I should bring to the fore the difference when using my choice of words, in test-based school systems, a useless skill set is being taught instead of drawing out fundamental understanding of the different disciplines. The latter is true education since you can build on it. The former is stats friendly.

Charter schools are pretty good, and you'd find very few teachers complaining about having their shoulders looked over, rather having the involvement and interest of parents is reassuring. My wife teaches kids whose parents or grandparents do not give a shit what happens to their kid or if they're even at school (for the majority of them). A student whose parent has an interest in their education is someone we would all like to teach to, but what about everyone else?

The rest will flip burgers, I suppose.

That's okay with me, as long as they do it well.

"Teaching to the test" is a concoction brewed-up by the unfortunate interface of the Union(s) and the government's perpetually meddlesome natures.

[999969999]

Take it another step forward.

Vouchers for private schools should be available so parents can choose where to send their children to school, and I would take it up a notch-- every taxpayer should be able to designate where their tax money goes, even if they don't have any children yet like me, or for older people this should be available even if their children have already left the nest. They get to choose which private or public school their tax money goes to and then the public schools would have to get their acts together right away or perish. Teachers unions would quickly disappear. Ineffective teachers would instantly be fired. Public schools could no longer afford to shield them from public scrutiny. They would finally have to earn their money for a change.

[999969999]

From the comments that Comrade Macky has made on this forum-- some of them actually saying he wanted to destroy our system, in essence destroy our country-- and now his admission that he is indeed a union member, I have one word to describe people like him: cancer.

Think about it.

What does cancer do?

It fools the immune system into thinking it is not a threat to the body, so the immune system doesn't initiate apoptosis in the defective cell, and it continues to live and grow out of control, eventually killing its host.

The liberals on this forum have all heard what Comrade Macky has had to say, many of them support him, others remain silent, but not a single one of them challenges him on his outrageous statements.

And the cancer grows.

The liberal media is the same way. Many of the people in the Obama administration and many people associated with the Obama administration have made outrageous statements, but yet the media ignores them. They certainly wouldn't ignore them if conservatives said the polar opposite of what they are saying.

[999969999]

This man has done more than anyone in Arizona to help expose and hopefully eventually destroy public employee unions. I consider him something of a hero:

"Follow me on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/DiCiccioSal
Follow me on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/PhxDistrict6


Union Demands Exposed: More Money/Power

What you are about to read will create a significant stir at city hall, and I need you to pass this information to others.

Phoenix is about to enter another round of union negotiations, and I am insisting the public see all the demands and be involved in the discussions.



You will be told that these negotiations should be done behind closed doors, away from your eyes. But they forgot an important point: You are the boss, and it is you who needs to approve the direction and final plan.

It was those backroom negotiations that got Phoenix into financial trouble, and it was that cozy relationship with the union heads that now needs to be fixed. I am your representative. My one and only job is to protect you.

In the past six years, you have heard that Phoenix had no money. The city made significant cuts to libraries, after-school programs and senior services — while raising taxes and fees on families and businesses. At the same time, behind closed doors, using that “good relationship with the unions,” Phoenix doled out more than $500 million in increased compensation. Now the unions are demanding more and more from you and your family — more money and more power. And some unions are demanding that the negotiations to spend your money continue to be kept secret.

While we still see our neighbors out of work, losing their homes and struggling to just get by, the government unions believe they are entitled to more. The private sector and private sector unions have seen cuts between 15-25% while government unions have seen an increase payout of 23%.

Today I am releasing the written demands from the unions along with a breakdown of what those demands mean to you in money and more power over your pocketbook. Have no doubt the information below will make quite a few insiders upset because it exposes each demand by each union.

I need your input, and I need your help in what you want done in these negotiations. I will forward all responses to management so that your voice will for the first time be heard in the negotiations.

Here are a few of the union demands we will be negotiating that total more than $100 million in more money for them:



Union demands

Unions demand continuation of pay raises.


Unions demand restoring the 3.2% cut (the cost over $100 millon). This was a onetime cut over a two-year budget. This amounted to about 1.6% and only about .5% per year coming from salary. Yes, a salary cut of less than 1%. At the same time, nearly half the staff received a 4.5% raise each year.


Unions demand veto power over changing job roles, over changing shifts to save overtime and limiting other scheduling options for city workers.


Unions demand Phoenix is prevented from saving money by contracting out any services.


Unions demand that all negotiation be kept secret.



Questions

Is it sustainable for 15,000 employees to average $100,000 per year in total compensation?


Is it fair to taxpayers that a first year employee receives 40.5 days off in the first year of service — which goes up year after year?


Should government staff be allowed to roll over sick leave and vacation days (one employee cashed out more than $144,000 last year)?


Should taxpayers continue to fund union activity, including paying city employed union leaders not to do their city jobs? This amounted to $3.9 million last year alone.


Is it ethical for Phoenix hand out more pay raises while citizens pay for a food tax? Is it really unreasonable to ask that pay raises stop for a two-year period?



Below are the union demands. Please make sure to pass this newsletter to all who want a voice at the table.

There will indeed be pressure to keep you from this information. I have requested a breakdown of each point and will present them to you when staff has completed the analysis.

Click here for a link to all the union demands.

My best to you and your family,



Sal DiCiccio





City of Phoenix

Councilman, District 6

602-262-7491

[email protected]



LiUNA 777 — Laborers International Union of North America

MONEY: Everything in the 3.2 percent “contribution” would be restored, in other words, a 3.2 percent raise in addition to the merit and longevity pay raises–which can amount to about a 7% overall pay raise.

POWER: No bargaining unit employees shall be laid off, demoted or suffer loss of pay or benefits as a result of contracting of unit work.

POWER: If anyone is displaced because of contracting out, the city would be required to give him or her another job represented by this union.

POWER: Meet-and-confer arbitration would have to be informal with no notes or records required to be made public.

MONEY: Cost of living raise for each year with 2 percent minimum and 4.5 percent maximum.

POWER: Holiday overtime would be based on seniority.

MONEY: Shift differential would be increased 25 cents per hour. ($520 per year raise – times the number of employees eligible.)

AFSCME 2384 — American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

MONEY: Everything in the 3.2 percent “contribution” would be restored, in other words, a 3.2 percent raise in addition to the merit and longevity pay raises — which can amount to about a 7% overall pay raise.

MONEY: Employees would get holiday pay on industrial leave

MONEY: 80 more hours of vacation time carryover could be accumulated in final three years (adds to pension spiking).

POWER: Old language requires city to notify union of significant changes in a worker’s responsibility, except in extraordinary situations. AFSCME 2384 wants to eliminate the “extraordinary situations” language.

MONEY: Helicopter mechanics would get provided uniforms. (How many and at what cost?)

MONEY: Demands another 750 hours to fund city employees doing union activities.

POWER: Standby time would be limited to one week a month.

POWER: Union wants veto power over using any temporary workers replacing permanent workers.

POWER; Seniority is the primary determinant of assignments, layoffs, vacations, etc. (Not only does this mean that merit doesn’t matter, giving seniority rights means more expensive overtime and is a prime tool for pension spiking).

POWER: Union wants veto power over non-consecutive days in work weeks.

MONEY: Workers would get to cash in carryover vacation hours over the maximum allowed.

MONEY: Employees required to have commercial driver’s license would get 50 cent/hour raise. ($1040 raise annually per employee (rolls into OT and pensions) – times the number of employees eligible.)

POWER: No bargaining unit employees could be laid off, demoted or suffer loss of pay or benefits as a result of contracting of unit work.

POWER: If anyone is displaced because of contracting out, the city would be required to give him or her another job represented by this union.

MONEY: Union wants $5 per employee per month ($60 per year) for AFLAC non-occupational accident plan – times the number of affected employees. (So there is no competitive bid; they’ve picked the company for this new benefit?)

POWER: Request would cut in half the time period where disciplinary records are kept in employee’s file (from 10 years to 5)

POWER MONEY: City couldn’t change workers’ schedule to avoid overtime, e.g. when the All-Star Game is in town.

MONEY: “When an employee is deprived out of overtime opportunities 2 times in a 12-month period, the employee shall be paid for the entire last missed overtime opportunity.” This would cost more money for overtime and could make scheduling and servicing more difficult.

AFSCME 2960 — American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

MONEY: Everything in the 3.2 percent “contribution” would be restored, in other words, a 3.2 percent raise in addition to the merit and longevity pay raises–which can amount to about a 7% overall pay raise.

POWER: Seniority is the primary determinant of assignments, layoffs, vacations, etc. (Not only does this mean that merit doesn’t matter, giving seniority rights means more expensive overtime and is a prime tool for pension spiking).

POWER: Union wants veto power over non-consecutive days in work weeks.

MONEY: Increase the number of union stewards from 5 to 14.

POWER: new full-time release position (paid all year for not working for city but for union); take this out of hours bank.

POWER : “The union will be allowed to use all City communications tools to disseminate information when necessary.” That could include city email, Channel 11, public meetings, newsletters – everything, with no restraint on content, frequency or volume.

POWER: Employees’ division files would be purged at every annual evaluation.

MONEY: If any other union gets a raise, 2960 would get the same raise.

MONEY Lower number of hours required for out-of-class pay.

MONEY: City would contribute 2% in matching deferred compensation contribution by employee, a $1,000/year raise for a $50,000 employee. (To demonstrate how these “little things” add up, if that were given to the entire city work force at the average salary (not including benefits) that would cost Phoenix an estimated $18.3 million.)

POWER: Seniority would be the primary determinant of assignments, layoffs, vacations, etc. (Not only does this mean that merit doesn’t matter, giving seniority expansive first-in-line rights means more expensive overtime and is a prime tool for pension spiking).

MONEY: Employees now get 4 hours off on Christmas Eve if it falls on a work day. This unit wants the four hours paid whether Christmas Even falls on a work day or not.

PLEA — Phoenix Law Enforcement Association

MONEY Everything in the 3.2 percent “contribution” would be restored, in other words, a 3.2 percent raise in addition to the merit and longevity pay raises–which can amount to about a 7% overall pay raise.

MONEY: PLEA also will ask for more raises and benefits not included in the proposals (the amount not revealed). (The unit received 9.1 % and 8.9% in pay raises in 2007-07 and 2009-10, respectively.)

POWER: The union wants to put union bumper stickers on all marked police cars (regardless of whether those inside belong to the union or not).

The department wants to prohibit processing process anonymous complaints unless they allege state statute violations. (This severely limits citizens’ ability to critique professionalism.)

POWER: Request a reduction from 10 years to 3 how long disciplinary actions can be kept in an employee’s file.

POWER: City would be prevented from doing breath, blood or urine test on a union member until an official Notice of Inquiry is drafted and delivered. (Giving more time for alcohol, et al, to dissipate).

POWER: All transfers that are subject to a grievance shall be put on hold until that is resolved. (So if someone doesn’t like a transfer, he/she could file a grievance and hold it up for month, regardless of the effect on personnel planning.)

MONEY: Members will be allowed to bank 50 more hours of comp time, up to 250.

MONEY: Increase in night shift differential of $1.40 per hour. (Raise per year of $2912 for straight time only, much more including overtime. If that’s a fourth of the force, that would be an estimated $2.2 million a year.)

MONEY Increase of $.75 per hour for other shift differential. (Raise per year of $1560 for straight time only, much more including overtime. If that’s a fourth of the force, that would be an estimated $1.17 million a year.)

MONEY: Restore 2% and add 2.82 percent city contribution to deferred compensation. The 2.82 increase by itself would be about a $2100 raise each and would cost the city an estimated $6.35 million spread over 3000 employees.

POWER: If a member’s work week is three 13-hour shifts, those will be consecutive. A 7-day notice will be required before changing shifts.

POWER: Officers not on patrol also get to work four 10-hour shifts. (Regardless of departmental efficiency.)

MONEY: Increases by $46 a month the city’s contribution to each employee’s post employment health benefits. ($552 annual raise per employee, or about $1.6 million for all 3000).

MONEY: More paid time off:

Add one more paid personal day off each (from two to three, but a total of 30 hours).

Add more vacation days: 24 hours a year for officers up to 10 years on the job; 36 more hours for those from 10-20 years, 60 more hours for 20-year veterans. (The equivalent of that for an 8-hour work would be three more vacation days, 4½ more and a week and a half more vacation days.

That’s on top of the 12 days, 15 days, 18 (average) days, and 22½ days they now get, respectively. All of these added days off average more than 50 hours a year each, which spread over the 3000 employees at $35 an hour would cost the city an estimated $5.25 million.)

PFFA — Phoenix Fire Fighters Association

MONEY: Everything in the 3.2 percent “contribution” would be restored, in other words, a 3.2 percent raise in addition to the merit and longevity pay raises–which can amount to about a 7% overall pay raise.

MONEY: More will be requested during negotiations; the amount is not listed.

POWER/MONEY: Demands another 500 hours to fund city employees doing union activities.

POWER/MONEY: More release positions.

MONEY: $100 more each per month for post employment health benefits (the city already contributes $150 a month per employee). That’s $1200 annual raise per employee and an estimated cost to the city of $1.5 million for all 1,500 fire employees.

MONEY: Members who maintain certification and hours in multiple disciplines get full compensation. They also get ladder certification assignment pay. (Isn’t the rationale for “step” increases that an employee becomes more valuable who learns more? If that’s the case, then why also pay them for learning more?)

MONEY: Paramedics who miss city-provided in-house training and have to get it elsewhere will be compensated for the expense of doing so.

MONEY: Lowers threshold for getting out-of-class pay. Also gives a person retroactive out-of-class pay for hours worked previous to satisfying the qualification requirements. (In other words, we’re going to train them to a higher level, and once they reach it, we’ll pay them retroactively for those hours when they were in training and therefore less effective at getting the job done, not to mention increasing the load on the trainers.)

POWER: Require the city to allow Union to have its own Deferred Compensation program funded by taxpayers.

MONEY: Increase dental coverage by $1,500 per year.

POWER: If Union sets up its own health and dental program, city would agree to give the union the current money collected.

POWER: The union wants to the city to commit to increase the opportunities for members to acquire leave time.

POWER: City will let union create a board to pick doctors who will determine the extent of members’ injuries, rehabilitation time, etc. (This could look like doctor shopping.)

MONEY: Union wants the city to match $50 per pay period of an employee’s $50 contribution to a post employment health plan. (That would be a $1200/year raise, or an estimated $1.8 million cost to taxpayers if all 1500 do it.)



Where your Phoenix tax dollars go:

$98,322 Average annual total compensation for Phoenix staff

14,999 Number of city employees

$17,975 Average compensation increase since 2005-06

$270 million Amount taxpayers pay more for same number of workers since 2005

$130 million Increases in Phoenix taxes/fees in past 18 months

15 Total number of city employees laid off because of the recession

40.5 Days off (sick, holiday, personal, vacation) for first-year clerk

$8,000 Education benefits per employee

$0 What staff pay for bus/rail (It?s free to them.)

50s Age at which Phoenix staff can retire with pension "

[manker]

<something about using left wing monikers as an insult in much the same way 'gay' is used as an insult by children> snip

The liberal media is the same way. Many of the people in the Obama administration and many people associated with the Obama administration have made outrageous statements, but yet the media ignores them. They certainly wouldn't ignore them if conservatives said the polar opposite of what they are saying.

Hold the front page.
Liberal media tacitly condones liberal statements yet openly condemns conservative viewpoints.


I literally only read that post because I noticed something about Mary but I read a little more and I can't make up my mind whether this is a well thought out political parody or if you're actually the precocious 12 year old son of Geert Wilders.

[mjmacky]

The rest will flip burgers, I suppose.

That's okay with me, as long as they do it well.

"Teaching to the test" is a concoction brewed-up by the unfortunate interface of the Union(s) and the government's perpetually meddlesome natures.

To be specific, it was the No Child Left Behind Act (Law) that placed standardized testing as a dogma for school administrations. It was comprehensive in its nature and well intended in its goal, but poorly designed with some of its major facets, especially standardized tests being the evaluation tool. Florida's teacher union (FEA) started losing their effectiveness due to legislative measures (Rep. majority) made under Gov. Jeb Bush (1999-2007).

I don't know how all of this can be of a meddlesome nature, since primary/secondary education is a government institution. I believe you meant to label it as bureaucratic, which it is.

P.S. The guys who serve your fries, scan and bag your groceries, mow your lawns, construct your buildings, etc., all vote. I'd rather have more educated rather than less educated people making those choices, but there's a debilitating retardation in the learning process, and that's why I have no faith in our current "democracy". You don't have to be intelligent to be political, and therein resides the fuel for successfully financed campaign propaganda.

[mjmacky]

Take it another step forward.

Vouchers for private schools should be available so parents can choose where to send their children to school, and I would take it up a notch-- every taxpayer should be able to designate where their tax money goes, even if they don't have any children yet like me, or for older people this should be available even if their children have already left the nest. They get to choose which private or public school their tax money goes to and then the public schools would have to get their acts together right away or perish. Teachers unions would quickly disappear. Ineffective teachers would instantly be fired. Public schools could no longer afford to shield them from public scrutiny. They would finally have to earn their money for a change.

You are basically proposing the school system they have in China. You might only come across the more intelligent Chinese people that go abroad, but they're mostly morons.