Protests In Wisconsin

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

I forgot which thread I was in. I saw that response and the pink text and let out a "What, WTF!?"

/carry on

I know, you're used to us calling YOU the slut.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

I know, you're used to us calling YOU the slut.

EXACTLY

[ThetaDancer]

Shit hit the fan tonight. I don't even think I can put the mood in Wisconsin into words right now. If you're interested in seeing how the initial meeting of the special committee went down, you can watch it here. The video really helps show the process and it's less than 5 minutes because that's how quickly things went. Nobody saw this coming.

[AGDee]

Since I can't sleep anyway, I started looking up some things about collective bargaining and found this excellent FAQ. http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/CB-FAQ.html#Q1

Frankly, I don't see how what they've done is legal. The National Labor Relations Act seems pretty clear to me. The only "gotcha" could be the line at the end.. that it applies to members of unions in the private sector and members of unions that represent both public and private employees. It looks like AFSCME is the *the* public employee union for federal, state and city employees. So... they take ONE private employee group in and they become a union that represents both, right? I know, probably not that simple, but it seems they can get around this somehow.

[Ghostwriter]

^^^I think you are correct in that the wording is "public" versus "private". My understanding is that the public sector does not have the same options under Unionization as the private sector. This is not particular to our times and has been the case as with the Air Traffic Controllers etc. The public sector is allowed options to bargain at the behest of the states. There are several states that absolutely do not allow collective bargaining on the part of the public unions. My state being one.

General Statute (GS) 95-98, the North Carolina law prohibiting collective bargaining for public workers

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Since I can't sleep anyway, I started looking up some things about collective bargaining and found this excellent FAQ. http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/CB-FAQ.html#Q1

Frankly, I don't see how what they've done is legal. The National Labor Relations Act seems pretty clear to me. The only "gotcha" could be the line at the end.. that it applies to members of unions in the private sector and members of unions that represent both public and private employees. It looks like AFSCME is the *the* public employee union for federal, state and city employees. So... they take ONE private employee group in and they become a union that represents both, right? I know, probably not that simple, but it seems they can get around this somehow.

There is some other piece that was referenced, that suggested there's a federal prohibition on removing union rights from the point at which some law was passed. I believe it referenced employees who would be covered under Depts of Transportation. Something about losing federal money if they removed union rights that had existed when that law was passed. I'll look into it and see if I can find the reference.

ETA:
Found it referenced from the HuffPo

Under an obscure provision of federal labor law, states risk losing federal funds should they eliminate "collective bargaining rights" that existed at the time when federal assistance was first granted. The provision, known as "protective arrangements" or "Section 13C arrangements," is meant as a means of cushioning union (and even some non-union) members who, while working on local projects, are affected by federal grants....

Moreover, in an a nearly unnoticed report filed by the state's Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the non-partisan budget scorekeeper, the stakes are laid fairly bare.

"According to information from the U.S. Department of Labor, the proposed changes in collective bargaining rights included under SS SB 11 could impact the ability of unionized transit systems in the state to receive existing federal transit aid, unless actions are taken to protect the collective bargaining rights of their employees," the memo reads. "If the federal Department of Labor makes the determination that the changes under SS SB 11 affect the continuation of collective bargaining rights, and protections of transit employee's wages, working conditions, pension benefits, seniority, vacation, sick and personal leave, travel passes, and other conditions of employment, the Federal Transit Authority could not provide federal transit funding under there provisions." (See the full document below.)

Source

This said, the Assembly exempted transit unions at some point but I'm not 100% sure that it passed there or if it was included in the senate's bill.

[AGDee]

You thought Wisconsin was out of control. Our new Governor's plan now:
The governor or his administration can declare any city or school district to be in financial emergency and can then dissolve or disincorporate them and appoint people to be in charge of them. The emergency person can strip the town of union rights unilaterally AND suspend or dismiss elected officials. There are two different versions of this bill .. one in the House, one in the Senate. So we would lose our right to elect local government. In the meantime, he is cutting state funding to cities and school districts drastically, putting them in dire financial straits.

A YouTube video explaining it all, from MSNBC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUpO1QFMDtM

This is absolutely unbelievable.

And, in the interest of fairness.. his defense. We have to trust that he will only use these powers in a dire emergency. http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/nationa...l-manager-bill

[KSUViolet06]

An Ohio state legislator (and SB 5 supporter) recently said teachers "only work part-time" because they get summers off.

WTF?

[ThetaDancer]

Originally Posted by AGDee

You thought Wisconsin was out of control. Our new Governor's plan now:
The governor or his administration can declare any city or school district to be in financial emergency and can then dissolve or disincorporate them and appoint people to be in charge of them. The emergency person can strip the town of union rights unilaterally AND suspend or dismiss elected officials. There are two different versions of this bill .. one in the House, one in the Senate. So we would lose our right to elect local government. In the meantime, he is cutting state funding to cities and school districts drastically, putting them in dire financial straits.

I've been trying to learn more about this...thanks for the info! Will you keep us updated?

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

An Ohio state legislator (and SB 5 supporter) recently said teachers "only work part-time" because they get summers off.

WTF?

I saw that! That seemed like straight out of The Onion...except, it wasn't.

[sanjiyan69]

Originally Posted by AGDee

You thought Wisconsin was out of control. Our new Governor's plan now:
The governor or his administration can declare any city or school district to be in financial emergency and can then dissolve or disincorporate them and appoint people to be in charge of them. The emergency person can strip the town of union rights unilaterally AND suspend or dismiss elected officials. There are two different versions of this bill .. one in the House, one in the Senate. So we would lose our right to elect local government. In the meantime, he is cutting state funding to cities and school districts drastically, putting them in dire financial straits.

A YouTube video explaining it all, from MSNBC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUpO1QFMDtM

This is absolutely unbelievable.

And, in the interest of fairness.. his defense. We have to trust that he will only use these powers in a dire emergency. http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/nationa...l-manager-bill

dictatorship?

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

An Ohio state legislator (and SB 5 supporter) recently said teachers "only work part-time" because they get summers off.

WTF?

Put them in the shoes of a teacher for a few days...then they will understand.

[sanjiyan69]

just posted that MSNBC clip on my facebook. I wonder what kind of response I'm going to get.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by ThetaDancer

I've been trying to learn more about this...thanks for the info! Will you keep us updated?

You bet. I am very riled up about this one.

Originally Posted by sanjiyan69

just posted that MSNBC clip on my facebook. I wonder what kind of response I'm going to get.

A teacher friend of mine had posted it on hers and I shared it.. three more of my friends have shared it since. The staunch Republicans have been very quiet, even those who usually issue rebuttals pretty quickly. I think this goes too far, even for them

As appealing as a businessman with no political experience sounds when we're hating "politics as usual", said businessman needs to at least understand that he is not the CEO of the state and government is NOT the same as a business.

He did promise to re-invent Michigan. I didn't know he would re-invent Democracy.

[LaneSig]

School districts in Texas are laying off teachers in huge numbers. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, districts are being forced to let go of anywhere from 200+ (Irving schools are not renewing 1st year teachers) to 3000 (Dallas school district, Fort Worth is only letting go of 1000). Yes, some positions maybe redudant or teachers who teach smaller classrooms.

We've been told that our classroom numbers will increase by 10-20 students.

The districts are begging the Texas governor to release funds from the state's Rainy Day Fund. It's a $9 billion fund for emergencies.

Gov. Rick Perry's (aka, Gov. Goodhair) response: "The school districts need to solve their own problems and not run to the state to solve them." He is refusing to release any funds.

Meanwhile, Gov. Goodhair has pushed through a bill that requires any woman seeking an abortion to have her doctor give her a mandatory sonogram, discuss what is seen, and to sign a paper that they discussed the sonogram and exactly what they saw.

I thought Republicans were all about government not interfering in people's lives.

And, yesterday after school, I found out that I may lose my job. 15 years of teaching. A Master's. Department Head. 5 areas of certification (meaning I have licenses to teach in 5 areas). And I was told that my department will be one of the first ones affected along with Special Education.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

And, yesterday after school, I found out that I may lose my job. 15 years of teaching. A Master's. Department Head. 5 areas of certification (meaning I have licenses to teach in 5 areas). And I was told that my department will be one of the first ones affected along with Special Education.

That's awful

A few days ago, I read that PWSH was preparing to increase enrollment by ~50%. Is the district planning on closing down schools too, or is the focus on releasing administration/teachers?

[agzg]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

And, yesterday after school, I found out that I may lose my job. 15 years of teaching. A Master's. Department Head. 5 areas of certification (meaning I have licenses to teach in 5 areas). And I was told that my department will be one of the first ones affected along with Special Education.

This is terrible. I'm so sorry.