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This is too vague. Those days are gone; I don't know of any company that offers this now. What companies offer 5 weeks vacation, unlimited sick days, and an extra week off for Christmas?
Healthcare benefits are far worse than they were in years past. My insurance "benefit" doesn't pay for anything until I spend $2,000.00 up front.
i don't know, most of my friends get the 10 holidays (some get 8), and 3-4 weeks of vacation. 5 weeks is the high end, and usually people with 3+ years of service. sick days i've seen both sides - some companies give 3 or 5, some just use the honor system. the extra week is the one that's most rare, but i think amongst my friends i happen to know an unusually high amount that get it. some friends get 2 days for 4th of july and labor day too.
healthcare has gotten a lot worse though. 100% with you there!
Everyone needs to shut the hell up. Ok we get it teachers are horrible overpaid bums. The private sector is greedy and useless. Now what? Talk about divide and conquer. These (all) politicians have everyday "joes" fighting amongst themselves for a smaller and smaller piece of the "American Dream". Its sad that all we do here is bash each other when in reality most people in this country work dam hard and earn everything they get.
good point! very true. we focus way too much bashing each other within the middle class.
good point! very true. we focus way too much bashing each other within the middle class.
the public sector "middlet class" is not the same as the private sector middle class. the public sector's benefits/pay come from the private sector. so if they are overpaid, the private sector middle class is hurt by it. this is a private vs public sector issue, not a middle class vs middle class issue.
quality of life has declined for many in the U.S. with many households needing to be dual-income, and continous increases in "productivity" - that means people working more hours typically. and even with that, when many take a day off, they have remote access, blackberrys, etc.
when were people not concerned with benefits at a job? this isn't new.
Good point. I am expected to monitor my BB on off-hours and weekends and on days off. People have been told to take their laptops along on vacation when something is going on.
In the private sector now often the only way to get a decent salary hike is to leave and go someplace else. Which means starting over with the minimum number of vacation days.
Liberal disinformation campaigns trumpet that income tax rates as a percentage of GDP are lower than other countries, and lower than at other times in the past.
Income taxes as a percentage of GDP? Who cares??? What matters to me is income taxes as a percentage of _income_, and that's sure not at an all time low.
Try being a teacher in Florida. My husband has 10 years of experience and only makes $38,600 (same as last year). Family insurance is $800 a month (NOT including dental, vision, or disability - those are extra), and that just increased by $50 a month here. The plan is terrible - thousands out of pocket for even the most routine stuff)
He has no planning periods due to mandatory meetings most days.
Tenure was banned this year, so he will be on annual contract forever. (we moved away and came back - huge mistake!)
It's a JOKE here and we are looking to leave the state asap. We would kill to get a teaching job in NJ (he grew up there). I actually know 2 teachers up there; one was a former co-worker of mine when I used to teach here. Christie has made some radical changes according to my sister-in-law who teaches there, but the protections she has a unreal. Unions are a joke here, so we have never even joined.
Good luck to you. At least you have a job. We are talking about going to a 4-day school week here, and when we lived in GA, 150 teachers were laid off, then everyone else took 10 furlough days AND a 2.8% pay cut on top of that. Student school days were cancelled for some of the furloughs.
Education is suffering death by a thousand cuts and we are going to lose the new crop of teachers who decide to change majors and go into healthcare or some other field.
MovedfromFl, Thank you for this post. The scenario you described echoes what is also happening in CA, where my sister teaches. CA used to be envied as the best state for education. Prop.13, passed years ago, slashed property taxes but ruined California's educational system. My sister now teaches HS English classes of 50 in a suburban, middle class town in LA county. Unpaid furlough days, slashed salaries-just like in GA add to this race to the bottom. Yes, NJ is better than FL and CA but not for long. I'm sorry to say this but the education reform, or should I say "deform"" Christie is fighting for(in a state that ranks #4 in education in the country) is part of a concerted effort to destroy unions and to privatize public schools-a cash cow for the wealthy. Christie is also out to dissolve tenure and institute merit pay-just like FL.
MovedfromFl, Thank you for this post. The scenario you described echoes what is also happening in CA, where my sister teaches. CA used to be envied as the best state for education. Prop.13, passed years ago, slashed property taxes but ruined California's educational system. My sister now teaches HS English classes of 50 in a suburban, middle class town in LA county. Unpaid furlough days, slashed salaries-just like in GA add to this race to the bottom. Yes, NJ is better than FL and CA but not for long. I'm sorry to say this but the education reform, or should I say "deform"" Christie is fighting for(in a state that ranks #4 in education in the country) is part of a concerted effort to destroy unions and to privatize public schools-a cash cow for the wealthy. Christie is also out to dissolve tenure and institute merit pay-just like FL.
One point of correction... California had the best system until Serrano became law.
Serrano made the State responsible for education instead of the local community... Many strongly supported funding their local schools pre Serrano...
Prop 13 came about to re-establish some local control and even with Prop 13... revenue increased for nearly 30 years...
California also still has some outstanding public schools and districts...
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