NYS unions (Rochester, Albany: 2009, for rent, home)

[cheese9988]

700 NYC teachers are paid to do nothing - Yahoo! News

This is exactly the type of thing the UAW used to do. If you were laid off, you received a pay check for the next year even though you were not working.

The mayor was on the radio the other day he gave the union one of two choices, either don't take raises this year, or we will have to cut jobs. Rochester lost 200 teachers, how does this benefit our children? I'm all for making good money, but at some point don't you say, maybe we have enough?

Comments?

[jblake78728]

In general I support labor unions but this is just ridiculous. I understand that some of these teachers may be falsely accused but they need to put something in place where they have their hearings within 90 days or so, then get the bad ones out of the system & put the others back to work. Would it not be cheaper to hire more arbitrators to preside over these hearings than to pay a teacher their full salary for 5 years (in some cases) while waiting for their hearing?

[cheese9988]

I would have supported labor unions, when they were needed. Today we have things like OSHA, workers rights, equal opportunity etc. Especially today when we are in a recession, when everyone is loosing their jobs and taking pay cuts, the teachers unions still want the same benefits and raises? Companies and governments need to be able to grow and expand, wouldn't unemployment and a small severance pay be good enough?

[Mercator Projection]

Originally Posted by jblake78728

In general I support labor unions but this is just ridiculous. I understand that some of these teachers may be falsely accused but they need to put something in place where they have their hearings within 90 days or so, then get the bad ones out of the system & put the others back to work. Would it not be cheaper to hire more arbitrators to preside over these hearings than to pay a teacher their full salary for 5 years (in some cases) while waiting for their hearing?

Exactly.

It sounds like the hearing process is broken. Whose fault is it that there are only "23 arbitrators who work only five days a month?"

Hire more/full-time arbitrators. Give these teachers the hearing they deserve and get them back to their job or out of the system.

[garmin239]

public employee unions are a cancer. The leaders and politicans that are in their pockets should all be hung. The public employee unions are partly to blame for our taxes and decline of the state. They take up budget room with insane benefits and unfair pay raises. In the private sector, do what you want. But when tax money is being spent on union propaganda, trying to sway budgets and elections, I get mad.
Thanks to the education unions, both administrative and teachers, we have a system where crappy teachers keep jobs over the good ones(a friend of mine was laid off today but apathetic teachers with tenure kept their jobs). The unions the administrators belong to rob the public blind. Why do we need so many administrators? When backed into a corner they threaten to cut teachers while keeping their usless high paid jobs.

[Mercator Projection]

Originally Posted by cheese9988

The mayor was on the radio the other day he gave the union one of two choices, either don't take raises this year, or we will have to cut jobs. Rochester lost 200 teachers, how does this benefit our children? I'm all for making good money, but at some point don't you say, maybe we have enough?

Comments?

Does that apply on April 15th as well? Say that out loud at your accountant's office and you'll go home wearing your tongue as a necktie.

[cheese9988]

Originally Posted by Mercator Projection

Does that apply on April 15th as well? Say that out loud at your accountant's office and you'll go home wearing your tongue as a necktie.

I do not know what accountant's make, I do not know their benefits, I do not know if there is a local union and I did not say that this applies to everyone. Isn't April their only busy time though? I am weighing the effects of the union on the state economy and the welfare of the students.

[VA Yankee]

I'm amazed, no shocked! That reviews could take so long and the accused is receiving full pay during this time. As written above 90 days is a fair window to review and dispose of the incident, if it takes longer than that then perhaps criminal charges need to be filed.

I am no fan of the union from my school days and I remember vividly teachers that should have been terminated but couldn't be due to the union.

[bmd69]

Another reason why the state of F-up!

[Rumblebelly]

Originally Posted by cheese9988

I would have supported labor unions, when they were needed. Today we have things like OSHA, workers rights, equal opportunity etc. Especially today when we are in a recession, when everyone is loosing their jobs and taking pay cuts, the teachers unions still want the same benefits and raises? Companies and governments need to be able to grow and expand, wouldn't unemployment and a small severance pay be good enough?

Well said. I don't understand why unions are needed these days.

I recently moved to NY from out west and I'm shocked how so many aspects of this state is unionized. I was helping someone get a commercial building ready for rent and I was replacing ceiling tiles. The property manager joked about how I'd better keep a lookout for the ceiling tile union because I was stealing their work.

My wife, who worked for a tiny commercial development company north of Albany, told me about how these union guys came into the office...trying to be all intimidating about getting the first bid in on a big project in downtown Albany.

And then...I learned that state workers are unionized. WTF? Why do state workers need a freaking union? There are soooooo many layers in this state that just make it so easy for people to take advantage of tax payers.