Friday, February 25, 2011

The Thuggery of Unions



As a parent with over a ten year spread between my children, I spent a lot of time in schools and experiencing the fruit of the teachers union.

Most teachers are dedicated to their mission and zealously carry out a vocation of collaborating in the development of the minds and souls of our children.

There are a number of teachers however, who are bitter, burned out, putting little to no effort into preparing lessons, creatively working with the different learning styles of children, encouraging, supporting - and quite frankly doing the job they are getting paid to do. And, they are guaranteed jobs!

Tenure has destroyed public schools.

The absurdity of this situation is compounded here in Massachusetts where they implemented testing benchmarks (MCAS) for graduation. This changed education into limited and grueling lessons on how to pass the test.

Why not test the teachers, you ask?

Because they can't fire them, that's why.

The onus to learn in this lousy environment is put on the children. In towns and cities where our country's poor live, the education of children is compromised almost to the point of being worthless. If you are black or hispanic, you are given the opportunity to be bused out of the system, which is wonderful - but our lilly-white skinned poor are suffering and I am not edified by this fix. The moral compass of our teachers unions points all students in the public school system into promiscuity. Low-self esteem develops, leading to depression, drug and alcohol abuse and crime.

Teachers unions are packed with people who have agendas that poison this well. They are in bed with the politicians. We are all forced into paying for these sweetheart deals being made in exchange for a promise to use their influence to get the pols elected in the future.

Let us face it. It's a failed experiment.

Unions are now scrambling all over the country to preserve their fiefdoms.

All eyes are on Wisconsin to see if the tyranny will finally go down.


I believe good policeman, firefighters, teachers are being demoralized by the slugs unions protect. An employer who gives everyone the same money no matter how terrible or spectacular a worker they are, breeds a lousy environment.

Earlier this week, I overheard a local politician whining about the proposal to end collective bargaining rights. It's frightening, he said, to think of a country where workers will have to take whatever employers want to give them.

Really?

Because that's what the rest of us do in the private sector.

There are job offers out there and the best qualified get them. We work at our credentials and qualifications. We study in school, we bust our tails, we build our reputation, we advance our way through based upon ethics and the quality of our work product. Employers give raises to people based upon merit. The employer's clients are served by employees who put effort into that servitude.

This kind of a system grooms quality.

Of course, employees who have a bottle stashed in their desks and drinking on the job get fired. Workers who do not return the phone calls of customers, who are rude, lazy, abusive to colleagues or put little to no effort into the job also get fired.

There is no collective entitlement where poor performers are riding on the tails of the ethical and hard-working employees.

Unions have been taxing us for years without representation. State workers pay little to nothing for their health insurance and all kinds of outlandish benefits Americans are, quite frankly, sick and tired of paying for given the lousy quality collective bargaining gives us in return.

You had a good run but it's time to earn a salary, benefits and job security like the rest of us.

***UPDATE

As I'm sure you all know by now, Republicans finally took advantage of the laziness of the democrats and moved the bill forward around 1pm. Not everyone who wants to bust a tyranny goes into the public square with billy clubs. Some of us are still using the old democracy built upon a legal system where the politicians vote the way the majority of people tell them to vote.

Having to send state troopers out looking for the democrats to bring them to work to do their job is the monument to the regime they are defending with their thuggery.

In 2010, many tyrants were ushered out of office. It doesn't take a soothsayer to figure out that many more are ushered out in 2012.

If you haven't seen the brutality of the thuggery, check out the youtube:









What a spectacle. Whatever will these people do if they have to earn their reputation and advance individually on the merits of their performance like the rest of us?

3 comments:

Kelly said...

I agree. I don't if this should be a guilty admission or not, but I listen to public radio during the day,( a local college station) to hear classical music. The news spots are NPR. As I was making dinner, the reporter was so clearly biased against the Wisconsin Gov.--the way she read the story about local rally here in Philly (btw-my high schoolers go to a magnet school that has a music emphasis, and were about to be dragged to a press conference to be the musical background--God spared us by having them both have previous commitments--but I can tell you what would have been the topic and the slant--but I digress)! the reporter--yes, she said, "many rallies across Philadelphia in support of those POOR people in Wisconsin"...Wow, just wow. As is every listener, of course, thought this. O-kay. I pray the Gov. holds on, and prevails, and the other cities that are on the cusp of this same thing gain strength from his victory. The schools need to be freed from being held hostage.

Kelly said...

*know, I don't KNOW*...sigh. typo.

Maria said...

While all eyes are on Wisconsin, we have somethig for which we can be gratefu" we now have our first gay social secretart in the White House. Charming.