Absolute Gov't Failure (by Critically Pissed)

Sad day.  Angry day.  Scott Walker and his Republican senate just passed a bill tonight stripping most of all the collective bargaining rights of public employees.

Link: Wis. GOP bypasses Dems, cuts collective bargaining

It doesn't matter if you are Democrat or Republican - you should be pissed.  Why?  Because they completely circumvented democracy.  Whether you love unions, hate unions, or are somewhere in-between, with all of the hoopla going on precisely regarding collective bargaining rights, the last thing anyone should do is ram through a bill destroying all those rights without talking/negotiating with all parties.  How could anyone regard that as the right, responsible thing to do?  Democracy means that one must deal with the messy business of people relations (gasp!).

The Republicans took out the collective bargaining bits from the Budget Repair Bill and made it into a stand alone anti-union bill (which then didn't require the fourteen Dem senators to come back for the vote to happen because it is not a budget bill).  This should also cause some pause since Walker kept insisting that getting rid of collective bargaining WAS a budget issue.  Making it a stand alone bill means that it is not budget-related.  Why the 180-degree turn?  Answer: because getting rid of collective bargaining rights was never about the budget.  It was simply to get rid of unions.  At least Walker is now admitting the transparency.

Sad day.  Angry day.  Our Gov't is failing at governance.

Are UWW faculty just whiny babies over this Walker crap?? (by anon)

This comment is too juicy not to post.

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Call me crazy but is this thing not being a little too hyped up? People are acting like it's the end of the fucking world, over dramatizing, running around like they make $5/hour to bust their ass for 20 hours a day scraping shit off of floors, having to eat cat food for a living, and now, NOW, this evil man named Walker wants to take MORE from them! I really don't get it. It's not like that. What is everyone afraid of? I understand that collective bargaining rights are huge for state workers. But without them, would the state workers not just be forced to become like every other hard working citizen who is NOT part of a union? My father does not work for a union, he has not had a raise in 3 years, pays 80% of his health care, pays for his own 401k, and does not get to negotiate his benefits, paid sick days, paid vacation, etc. Teachers, what exactly IS the average salary at Whitewater? What exactly DOES get taken out of your paychecks for your benefits? How many days a year do you already get off for holidays, plus sick days, vacation days? Are things really that bad? Do you believe they will suddenly turn into the scenario I described at the beginning of this? WHAT'S THE BIG FUCKING DEAL???? Senators left the state! What the hell is everyone so afraid of????????

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (by anon)

I can't help it.  Please post this.  My brain is exploding about this Walker and his fucking supporters.  This shit has got to stop!!!!!

Tea Party shits are saying "The gravy train is over" and airhead Palin says that we, the people getting screwed by Walker, must be "willing to make sacrifices." OOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!  Did she really say that?  The buffoon who quit her job to make gagillions in speaking engagements and the like is telling me, a hard working underpaid teacher, to make sacrifices.  WTF

"Gravy train"???  What gravy train?  Was there one and I missed it?  No.  There was no gravy train for us teachers.  There isn't one now.  How the hell does this misinformation get out there?

Walker says that the state is in a fiscal crisis.  He says that we are "broke."  WE'RE NOT.  Read the studies that say we have been getting much better.  He didn't need to do anything.  Oh, but he did decide to give businesses 140 million in tax breaks this January.  And now we, the teachers and the nurses and others, have to shoulder the cost.

And what really gets me is that the vast majority of the teachers and nurses in Wisconsin are WOMEN!!  Yes, Walker is doing nothing short than shitting on women to get big tax breaks for all his business buddies.  Oh, but he'll give some concessions to the fire and police departments - and their mostly men!!  How is this not backdoor sexism?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!???

Sorry.  I had to get that out somewhere.

Frustrated-Beyond-Belief

UWW Faculty Union. Yea or Nay?

Alright folks, weigh in.  As comments in the last post indicate, there's talk of a faculty union here at UWW.  Care to give an argument in favor of it?  Care to give a rant against it?  For all of us sitting on the fence (faculty or students), convince us to go one way or the other.

The Teacher's Union, Doing More Harm Than Good (by anon)

The Teacher's Union right now is completely useless.  The only thing that the Union is doing is protecting the teachers who have been teaching for far too long and lost their spirit.  Teaching is a profession where passion is incredibly important.  There is nothing worse than sitting in a classroom where the teacher or professor doesn't have the passion for what they are doing anymore and are just doing it for the paycheck.  When a teacher doesn't enjoy what they are doing it shows in the way they teach.  In my opinion the best teachers have always been the one that love their subject and what they are doing.  This then get put back into the classroom and makes learning easier and more enjoyable.  It reminds me of one of my high school math teachers.  She was a teacher there when my brother and sister went to high school, even when one of my friends parents went to high school.  She was well past retirement age, not saying that that is a reason to retire, but it was clear that she couldn't connect to the students anymore.  Once you lose that, you lose the students attention and it is almost impossible to get anything out of the class.

The other problem I have is that the union is making it almost impossible for new teachers to find a job.  The Union Protects the teachers who have been at a school for a long time and does nothing for ones who have been teaching for a year or two.  I saw this first hand when my sister lost her job as a K4 teacher at a Milwaukee Public School.  The school told her she may not have a job at the start of the next year, then they change their mind.  The next year then the same thing happen, she was told she may not have a job next year.  After months go by, they tell her she has her job back in August...only problem is she already accepted another job after be concerned she may be out of a job all summer.  She talked to the union about it, which she had been paying dues to be a part of over these 2 years and they did nothing.  It is terrible how many new, passionate, teachers are out there and can't find jobs.  It is to the point where I myself am considering changing majors over this problem since I concerned I will not be able to find a job when I graduate.

Just wondering what other people think about the issue...