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Maybe Americans cheer because they are smart. Maybe they realize that unions, when taken to an extreme, are harmful to employment and stagnate the economy.
Look at what is happening in France! The unions there are allowed to kidnap management and renegotiate their severance package!! It's nuts. Unions served their purpose in the 20's through 50's to help the common guy get a break. Then they morphed into exactly what they were fighting...they became their own BIG BULLY full of self-interest and rich packages.
Look, I just wish cops and their families would just be honest about this. Two of my cousins are in the NCPD. They know they hit the lottery. They joke about it. Deep down they KNOW. It's just pure self interest on their part to keep this system going. I can't blame them. I'd do the same thing if I were in their shoes.
But, that doesn't make it right.
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NYUGRAD--You're right. It is getting really bad out there in the mean streets of East Williston and Manhasset. I really hope every NCPD is fitted with a Kevlar jacket and have the special weapons training.
If I vote "NO" to my upcoming GC school budget, one of the positions at risk is probably going to be the FILM STUDIES teacher. Do we really need one in High School...I mean....really?
They're actually going to put a teacher's job at risk? You must have misread something because that NEVER happens. The administration and the teachers are EXEMPT from the budget the public is allowed to vote on. They get theirs first, while the kids get the scraps. I am sure the teacher will not actually lose their job, but will still be on the payroll with one less subject to teach.
People like Bill Gates are worthless. All they do is create those computer and software thingies. Bill doesn't have to deal with a knife fight in Searingtown or a drive by in Great Neck. He doesn't have to diffuse bombs in Muttingtown or fight off gangs in Lloyd Harbor.
Bottom line...he's doesn't risk his life and save lives. NCPD and SCPD deserve a compensation package in line with Microsoft's top gun.
They're actually going to put a teacher's job at risk? You must have misread something because that NEVER happens. The administration and the teachers are EXEMPT from the budget the public is allowed to vote on. They get theirs first, while the kids get the scraps.
Well, the film studies course was at risk, but perhaps that teacher will be shifted to another area.
Either way, Long Island kids are NOT getting SCRAPS. As someone who grew up in Western PA, LI kids are among the most privileged bunch of youth I have ever seen. The facilities available to them are beyond our wildest dreams.
Voting NO is the best thing you can do come budget time. Why? Because if the administrators don't cut the real fct, you will have EXPOSED them for what they are...blood sucking leeches. If you keep Voting YES...nothing will CHANGE!!
The "poor kids" argument simply doesn't fly here in LI.
They're actually going to put a teacher's job at risk? You must have misread something because that NEVER happens. The administration and the teachers are EXEMPT from the budget the public is allowed to vote on. They get theirs first, while the kids get the scraps. I am sure the teacher will not actually lose their job, but will still be on the payroll with one less subject to teach.
Not true. If the budget is voted down, teachers are inevitably laid off, elective type classes are cut, etc. The teachers with less seniority are let go. I know that half the people on LI want to have the ability to vote for specific teachers to be fired because they make too much, but let's have just a wee bit of non-emotional common sense here.
You do have power over how much teachers are compensated..the school board negotiates the teachers contracts. Vote in school board members whose main goal is to cut teachers pay, and you'll get what you want. People don't really expect to be able to go somewhere once every year just to stick it to the teachers? Let's get serious. Do we have the power to do that with any other item that we pay taxes towards? Police? Fire? Highway dept? No, we live in a representative democracy people, not one where there is a plebiscite for every item in the budget.
"I'm Joe the Plumber, and I don't like that some teacher is making 100K, so I want to be able to go to the school...once per year.and say sianora to Mr or Mrs. 100K!! Good riddance!!"
Well, the film studies course was at risk, but perhaps that teacher will be shifted to another area.
Either way, Long Island kids are NOT getting SCRAPS. As someone who grew up in Western PA, LI kids are among the most privileged bunch of youth I have ever seen. The facilities available to them are beyond our wildest dreams.
Voting NO is the best thing you can do come budget time. Why? Because if the administrators don't cut the real fct, you will have EXPOSED them for what they are...blood sucking leeches. If you keep Voting YES...nothing will CHANGE!!
The "poor kids" argument simply doesn't fly here in LI.
What I mean by "the scraps" is NOT that they are receiving an inferior education. I mean that the vast majority of the money FIRST goes directly to PERSONNEL COSTS IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS and the taxpayers are not allowed to vote on it, and then after that the spending is allocated for the kids. So they are getting the "scraps" but, due to our high taxes, the scraps in our districts are still porterhouse steaks compared to the cruddy schools in Florida, for example.
Here is a fact recently published by Newsday:
School spending accounts for 66 percent of the Island's property taxes, with 70 percent of that spending on school payrolls and fringe benefits.
So that means out of every $1000 we pay in property taxes, $462 goes directly to payroll and benefits of school district employees (we are not even talking all the other costs of keeping a school district running like buildings, supplies, computers, maintenance, etc.)
What I mean by "the scraps" is NOT that they are receiving an inferior education. I mean that the vast majority of the money FIRST goes directly to PERSONNEL COSTS IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS and the taxpayers are not allowed to vote on it, and then after that the spending is allocated for the kids. So they are getting the "scraps" but, due to our high taxes, the scraps in our districts are still porterhouse steaks compared to the cruddy schools in Florida, for example.
Here is a fact recently published by Newsday:
School spending accounts for 66 percent of the Island's property taxes, with 70 percent of that spending on school payrolls and fringe benefits.
So that means out of every $1000 we pay in property taxes, $462 goes directly to payroll and benefits of school district employees (we are not even talking all the other costs of keeping a school district running like buildings, supplies, computers, maintenance, etc.)
Where the hell else would you expect it to go? 20% to tackling dummies for the Football team? Teachers teach kids, not books.
Not true. If the budget is voted down, teachers are inevitably laid off, elective type classes are cut, etc. The teachers with less seniority are let go. I know that half the people on LI want to have the ability to vote for specific teachers to be fired because they make too much, but let's have just a wee bit of non-emotional common sense here.
You do have power over how much teachers are compensated..the school board negotiates the teachers contracts. Vote in school board members whose main goal is to cut teachers pay, and you'll get what you want. People don't really expect to be able to go somewhere once every year just to stick it to the teachers? Let's get serious. Do we have the power to do that with any other item that we pay taxes towards? Police? Fire? Highway dept? No, we live in a representative democracy people, not one where there is a plebiscite for every item in the budget.
"I'm Joe the Plumber, and I don't like that some teacher is making 100K, so I want to be able to go to the school...once per year.and say sianora to Mr or Mrs. 100K!! Good riddance!!"
Get a grip folks.
There are no teachers at risk in my SD budget. The things that are being threatened will not affect any teacher's job.
I do not want the power to "fire" individual teachers, administrators, or any other school district worker by vote. However, I do think the 21st century wages and the 1950s cradle-to-grave benefits package their unions shove down our throats is getting kind of old, ESPECIALLY considering how it takes almost half the budgets. Something's got to give and we should have more control over these costs and the unions need to get real. I know some are making small concessions. At least that is a start.
PS: I can't believe this is a "police are overpaid" thread and we have sidetracked it to teachers! ***sigh***
Where the hell else would you expect it to go? 20% to tackling dummies for the Football team? Teachers teach kids, not books.
Wow.
Unreal. That level of pay and benefits for the teachers and administrators IS A LOT HIGHER THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY. Head and shoulders above anywhere else in the country. (I am sure the staff may get the 1950s cradle to grave benefits but are woefully underpaid because they aren't in a union like the teachers and don't have the power like the administrators.)
Well, if teachers are the only things necessary, perhaps we should just have the teachers and students meet on the street somewhere ... no school buildings, no computers, no supplies, no nothing ... and of course, have the administrators and other personnel (secretaries, janitors, etc.) standing by ... and we can save a lot of money if we get rid of everything else. Is that the way to do it? The payroll and benefits are the only thing that matters, nothing else?
After all, arrangements like this were good enough for Socrates, Plato, etc.
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