Illinois Democrats are going after teachers' pensions, collective bargaining, tenure.

An education blogger lists the names of those Democrats who are voting against the right of teachers to have those things.

From May 14.

Here is the list of Illinois State Reps, Democrats from Chicago, who voted to take away Chicago teachers’ right to strike and Illinois teachers’ right to seniority.



And there is another post pointing out that the Illinois Democrats are going after pensions of teachers.

Democrats are going after teacher pensions in Illinois.



Here is a post from the comment section by the blogger about the possible path to passage.



This is education reform. It is education done in the cheapest way possible.

The worst part is that it is being done in a bipartisan way.

:thumbsup:

All those people will now have every Union gunning for them, and won't be reelected. Unions here in Illinois stand together.

IL politics has been stale for too long. We need some turnover.

The bill was designed in collaboration with teachers' unions (and although the CTA changed its mind at the last moment because of some language in the House bill that was added), they too supported it up until the last minute.

THe first Dem on that list, Susana Mendoza, is not a Rep anymore; she currently serves as City Clerk of Chicago.

This article states nothing but a headline, and doesn't explain a thing about this legislation, which is anything BUT like what occurred in WI and FL. Teachers' unions were a part of the discussions and bargaining on it from the beginning.

Before the actual members were aware of what happened. It happened in Fl also.

I mentioned tenure, collective bargaining, and pensions. What is your feeling on those issues?

It's what the educators and legislators agreed to. Here's what the IEA put out a month ago:



All I'm saying is:

(1) Don't put out a hit list of Democrats when virtually all of them voted for it, in collaboration with and with support from the unions.
(2) Reductive arguments like this are not helpful, and especially to people who live outside of the state and haven't been following the story. When such articles get posted here, it amounts to sloganeering only, meant to create "outrage."

Then my post is correct.

I have never been said to be "sloganeering". Hmmm.. that's a new one.

So what I really should have posted is that Illinois Democrats voted for what teachers wanted....getting rid of their pensions, collective bargaining, and tenure.

So you are saying the teachers wanted it and are happy?

I know the union heads probably are happy.

So if my list is correct, then please do not attribute motives.

If you read. I am nothing if not honest. But it wasn't over the whole deal, to which they agreed. Rather to some added language in the House bill.

Illinois education policy is very complicated, and I can't claim to have a good handle on it. But Chicago definitely gets the whack, because of the huge imbalance in its size and composition. The politics is very entrenched:



CPS has 655 schools, 408,600 students, and 44,417 employees ... about half its students fail to graduate. It's in pretty dire need of help: what help, I can't say. It's a hugely complex problem.

My union just didn't want to pay strike benefits anymore, so it crushed our strike. It never wanted us to strike in the first place, really. Part of the labor problems in this country are that our unions are often lead by lawyers and accountants who've never been workers OR on strike, and most union leaders spend more time in bed with the Democratic Party playing the politics of lesser evildom than actually standing by strikers. I've found that local union presidents are bad-ass, amazing people who are fighting hard to change the world, and that the higher-ups are bought off bureaucrats who barter with the Democrats after the Democrats have barted with the Republicans. It's a sorry state of affairs, really.

We need fighting unions, not lobbying or begging unions.

after the war.

which is why unionization now stands at around 7% of the workforce.

And quite a few recent books written on that --

they used many means of doing it ---

and this pension scheme isn't new -- been talk for 20 years now

of how they've all been underfunded and would collapse --

Evidently took a bit more than they had hoped for for it to happen!

But certainly involves more than votes -

TOOK COMPLICITY OF REGULATORS TO PERMIT THIS TO HAPPEN --

and foreknowledge of government and Congress and state governments!!

...making them golfing buddies, going on yacht cruises and then going into back rooms with the Suits and giving away rights so they can make a buck ~ who cares about the workers when you have money to make for yourself, right?

This is what CSA 929 did for their state workers in WA state where the workers had to take them to court to force them to allow a vote and a say when the CSA union president and her staff were going to secretly go in and GIVE AWAY civil service rights so they could force non-paying members to pay their dues. If you see civil service law in a law library, you see a whole wall of laws protecting the worker. Bargained away civil service reduces all that law down into a 50 page handbook. And they still try to claim they are "democratic". Yeah right.

My Granddaddy taught me that Civil Service was necessary because "If the government cannot be a fair and just employer, what makes you think they will uphold and enforce the labor laws for private industry workers as well?" And he was right because as unions bargained away civil service laws, they have created the situation we are seeing now where legislators can go in and reduce them to nothing.

Grandpa was a WOBBLY who was at the Everett Massacre where the feds went in and killed a bunch of organizers). If there were anyone who was union it was he. However nowadays many unions have been corrupted by being in bed with management and giving away rights while in "negotiation", spreading their legs for every management trick there is for short termed and not very wise giveaways. Now they are all surprised because the rights they already gave away is coming to back to haunt them since they KNOW from their own history that " When you give an inch, they will demand a mile ..."

I realize unions are about all we have for worker's rights. I support them ~ to a degree and for the ones who ARE actually doing things for worker's rights. I am saying these large uniolns (or what is left of them since they shot themselves in the foot), need to do some serious navel gazing and admit they have been wrong about labor needs in our times, that theese rights and needs are no different than at their birth 80 years ago. If they but did that, I believe they would have even more support from non-union workers and more people in their ranks ready to organize.

Just sayin'

Cat in Seattle

file step up. which they don't seem to be doing in any serious numbers.

meanwhile, they're being picked off one city, one country, one state at a time.


"If they but did that, I believe they would have even more support from non-union workers and more people in their ranks ready to organize."

yep.

...federal and state unions were doing this all over the country and they were the "lynchpins" for unions in private industry. This was a stooooooopid move.

Many of us who knew our union history TRIED to tell them when they were destroying Civil Service, that this was a mistake. But they just laughed and called us "union busters" when in fact we were trying to SAVE our rights. Many of these union presidents were all about THEMSELVES to hell with the workers. They were getting state funds to BE a union, but what was bugging them was, when they were "open" unions this funding meant they had to represent a worker whether or not they were paying dues. In their own greed, they just could not accept that funding alone, they felt they HAD to go after the non-paying union worker (which was allowed under Civil Service unless the workers voted the union to be a 'closed" shop, meaning all workers paid dues).

So the union move was to destroy Civil Service in order to force non-paying workers to pay union dues without having to convince the entire unit to vote them as a closed shop. If the unions would've been good and fierce advocates for their workers, I believe this would have been enough to inspire most workers to vote for closed shops. After all a few dollars a paycheck as insurance with hired bulldogs snapping against management tricks is worth it ~ if the union had not become so lazy and basically part of the management, which many of them were.

Many federal and state unions bought the crap that destroying Civil Service would bring them in more money ~ FOR THEMSELVES, they were not concerned about the impact on their workers for the rights they were giving away. This was their fault. If they had half a brain they would've realized that giving these rights away was going to reduce their forced-paid workforce and thus minimize them in the future. Now when legislatures are reducing them to nothing, it is their own fault. Reinstating civil service would be the best move ~ but once that has been given away, it is not easy to get back.

And it was not that they did not have people like me trying to tell them. They were just so greedy they refused to listen.

Thus they are screaming "collective bargaining" when that is all they have left. Because they themselves reduced their workers' rights from an entire wall of laws down to their 50 page booklet. While I hear this collective bargaining call and feel bad for the workers they sold down the river, it is kind of a sad shuedenfruede (sp?) to hear it as many of it saw this coming years ago and it is angering at the same time.

BTW it was DEMOCRATS who were going after this destruction that began in my state in 1992. Gary Locke who is now a trades appointee for Obama was key in the destruction of Civil Service in my state before he was governor and while he was a state legislator.

Just my take on some history I wish more people knew about ...

Cat in Seattle

While all three unions participated in the discussion, both the IFT and the CTU opposed the final bill. Only the IEA leadership supported it.
Susan Mendoza was not Clerk at the time of the vote. She was sworn in with Rahm last week. She voted for the bill.
My blog is more than a headline. I post every day.
It is different than WI and FL in that in IL, the Dems are in charge and passing bad anti-teacher legislation.

on less than an ounce of weed. i grew up in suburban cook county, elk grove village, and the cops would put you in the can for a roach (nearby dupage county was harsh too) but in chicago the cops have spotted me smoking weed in public more than once and let me slide, didnt ask, told me to put the joint out, but have never busted me for it, hell they have never even taken my weed off of me in the city.

for me growing up elk grove was a conservative hellhole and chicago was like an oaisis except that i was too ignorant about politics to understand that when i was 16.

what exactly does the bill do, or are we just supposed to take the word of a blogger that it somehow "ends teacher pensions"?

Although I just read, and re-posted an email from my Democratic State Senator which said this



First of all, the title is hooey. Nothing has been addressed, at least not in the sense of "taken care of". Although the dictionary tells me that "address" just means to "look at", but the title leads me to believe something was actually done. I think "studied" would be a more appropriate word in this context.

The other big trouble is "taking a serious look at our options" is with the "options" being mentioned. They all involve "getting more money from the workers". It is the STATE OF KANSAS that has created the shortfall by not paying in the EMPLOYER portion. Of course, how can they do that when they have spent the last three years trying to balance the budget without ever considering tax increases on the rich?

Here's an option that I would consider to be much more copacetic.

Option K - A 1% tax increase on people with incomes over $100,000 would generate $250 million or so in revenue. Use that money to make up the shortfall in Kansas contributions.

Is $250 million gonna cover a $7.7 billion shortfall? Maybe and maybe not. The "shortfall" is probably stretched over several years, maybe even a few decades. $250 million a year for 20 years would be $5 billion, so if you include some interest and some growth, that may just cover it. It could at least cover SOME of the gap, and it would have the added advantage of making Kansas state taxes a little bit less regressive.

And someone in this thread said the teachers wanted their pensions and collective bargaining and tenure gone....so hey who am I to say they are wrong.

If that is what they wanted, that is what they got.

and who is going to jail?

This is purposeful to undermine pensions --

Regulators have been complicit in this --

and certainly our Congress members knew what was going on --

Both Repugs and Dems!!

I guess you can tell that those of us who are sounding the alarm about what our party is doing are not exactly agreed with around here. We are supposed to support whatever our party does. I believe we are obligated to speak out when they are doing the wrong thing.

The ones who agree with me stay away from my posts in droves...just to keep from being attacked.

Anyway, thanks for all your good blogging. Keep it up.

:hi:

On edit: I am not saying that I will not vote Democratic. I would not say that. I just believe we need to be honest about things.

IIRC, Illinois is dead last in terms of how well its pension plans are funded (I remember reading recently that it has funded only 58% of what is needed to be considered sound. Sorry, I don't remember where I read that - the WSJ maybe.) Other than bankruptcy, I don't know what the state can do. As a political matter in this environment, I don't think raising taxes is an option.

Defined benefit pension have largely disappeared in the private sector - replaced by defined contribution and 401k plans. It's only a matter of time before it happens in the public sector because the states are not in a position to keep on assuming openended liabilities.

You just quoted the reformers' creed perfectly.

I too would like to avoid this. However, Illinois just increased all their income taxes across the board (by over 50%). I agree a HUGE part of this is because of the sins of the past. Now, we need to learn from that and ensure they do not happen again, but those are sunk costs. We HAVE to deal with the situation as it sits today. How would you fix it?

They have no choice but to go after working people rather than tax the rich and corporations.

You are so right. Those are the very words being heard from the right wing.

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I don't think people should defend Democrats who are leading cuts and anti-worker attacks by using the same arguments Republicans use to justify their attacks.

Property taxes have not. But as housing values plummet here, that is really not an option.

The teachers and unions knew this situation was dire, and that is why politicians and educators worked together to reach this general agreement.

their income taxes are still flat, making the entire state tax system non-progressive "Earlier this year, Illinois took a major step toward balancing its budget for the upcoming fiscal year by increasing its flat-rate income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent."

and they still have some regressive exemptions too

http://www.ctj.org/taxjusticedigest/archive/2011/04/what_next_for_illinois.php

"Keynote speaker and Illinois Senate President John Cullerton reiterated his previous public statement that he viewed the state's costly and regressive income tax exemption for retirement income as a tax break worth examining as part of this process. And a new ITEP report released to coincide with ITEP staff's participation in this symposium, "Should Illinois Tax Retirement Income?", confirms Cullerton's view. The report shows that this one tax break costs Illinois almost $1 billion a year -- roughly the size of the state's remaining fiscal shortfall."

because unregulated capitalism is merely organized crime which we can't survive --

There were many more deductions and tax shelters allowed, so few, if any rich people actually paid the top marginal rates. A better statistic, which I haven't seen, would be the actual percent of gross income paid in federal income tax. I would like to see that compared to the same statistic under today's tax code.

Perhaps Statistical will see this and weigh in - he's come up with excellent links to relevant information.

each year. This has been the norm for decades despite all the changes in tax rates. The rich find tax loopholes, and corporations pass on the increase to consumers. So, in the end, the revenue stream remains fairly constant.

when "raising taxes is not an option" especially when Illinois income taxes are so non-progressive http://www.ctj.org/taxjusticedigest/archive/state_tax_issues/illinois/

That's an opinion. I tend to look at facts and what is possible rather than ranting about what's not going to happen.

n/t

rob the teachers.

It is not the fault of the teachers that the state failed to live up to its obligation and did not fund the pension properly. But to take the pensions away from them is to literally rob them. Pensions are monies that workers do not take today in order to get money in the future. If you don't pay the pensions in the future you're robbing the worker. That is NOT the answer to the problem of being broke.

They could always raise taxes on the wealthy and raise some revenue but instead they try to squeeze blood from a stone.

hanky-panky even when times were flush, i.e. corruption.

once they break the union, you'll be surprised to find how the budget picture will change.

just like the auto companies are suddenly making billions in profit each quarter even during an economic downturn now that they have installed two-tier. do you think that's just because of "savings" from fucking their workers? no, it's from creative accounting.

You mean they balanced the budget?

Let's shift this trolley into reverse and make sure that taxes on elites

and corporations are only rising -- and quickly!!

let's try to make this a fact based discussion.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1160545

According to the article, they have a backlog of $8 Billion in unpaid bills. This sure sounds like they're "broke" to me.

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I don't think raising taxes,even on the wealthy, is politically achievable. That's an opinion. If you think they can, why hasn't it happened?

In the log run, I don't think taxpayers will accept higher taxes to pay public employees benefits that are generally unavailable to them. That is also an opinion. If you disagree, tell me why.

If I have Illinois' financial status wrong, then correct me.

What does attcking me personally accomplish?

Forget the fact that most polls show that the public is in favor of raising taxies on the rich.

As a political matter in this environment, it is possible. It's possible, but it's just not "centrist."

For one thing, even if taxes on the wealthy were raised, there is no assurance that the public would support spending the increased revenue on public employee benefits. I believe that few, if any, politicians, (Democratic or Republican), would try to sell the public on continuing to provide benefits to public employees that are unavailable in the private sector. You're naive if you don't see that as a tough sell.

You are also forgetting that the wealthy have political influence too. They don't make their political contributions out of pure altruism - one their "wants" is not getting hosed by taxes and politicians do listen to them. The wealthy vote too and sometimes they vote with their feet - there is a point at which high local and state taxes will drive the high income people to a more tax friendly state.

At the end of the day, it's a lot easier to rant on DU about taxing the rich than it is to actually do it. That is political reality as I see it.

None -- as long as we have elected officials who are working for corporations --

Who's to say that the Elites won't let our whole infrastructure collapse --

Or that they'll bother themselves about making sure our drinking water is clean --

Or that they won't completely dismantle not only the Dept of Education but the EPA --

What you're saying is we are at the mercy of corporations --

Corporate/fascism -- and I think most of us agree with you.


The answer isn't to ignore what should be getting done . . . like re-regulating capitalism

and taxing the rich -- overturning the trade agreements and passing MEDICARE FOR ALL

and ENDING THE WARS -- the answer is to do as much as we possibly can while we work on ending

corporate fascism.


The game-playing of one state out-bidding another state on tax cuts and breaks for elites/

corporations has to come to an end -- there should be penalities on states which engage

in those practices. It's a downward spiral that no one can be proud of -- and none of us

want for our children. Downward spirals offer no future for anyone -- except corporations.


Taxing the rich is a serious issue and it has to be taken seriously --

I can tell you that almost 20 years ago then Gov. Mario Cuomo of NY, commenting on the

situation of decreasing taxes on elites/corporations said -- and it was shown on C-span --

"that if we wanted to raise taxes on elites now we'd have to call out the national guard."


That's yet more proof that what we have in America is far from a democracy --

it's corporate fascism and it should concern all of us --

I still believe, however, that in this age of reduced employee benefits in the private sector, the taxpayers will come to resent public employees receiving substantially better benefits they can get. This would be particularly true for people whose lifestyles are being impacted by high property and income taxes. I was really talking about what the public will likely NOT want.

The lack of uniformity among state taxes is a difficult problem. High income people and businesses are going to shop for the best state tax and local deal they can get. Given our form of government, I don't believe there is an easy solution for that. It might require a constitutional amendment.

someone should be going to jail -- and how could we possibly suggest

that local and Federal government didn't know?

They've known for decades!!

The Democratic Party fully supports Capitalism. This 'charter movement' has little to do with education and everything to do with Capital's new cash cow.

Eng of story.

the first part of this --

you may not be familiar with the second part of it --

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1140921&mesg_id=1144829

The Capitalist Class is not a monolith but a bunch of individuals whose actions tend to converge in class interest. The Koch boys are just a current manifestation of the ruling classes tendency to put their money where their mouth is. Take for example this wiggy little tale:

http://www.thebellforum.com/content.php?r=14-Not-So-Spontaneous-Birth-of-the-Libertarian-Movement

Had to breeze thru it because I have to run out while the sun is shining here

for a change -- but saved it in my capitalism file!!



Thanks --

:)

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in this thread.

Let's show those union workers of all kinds how we really feel about them....about the groups that helped build a strong middle class in this country.

In fact...where are all the other unions who want support? Why are they not defending my post and defending teachers' unions?

So you just let all your anti-union feelings hang out right here and now.

I can take it. And it shows up what DU is becoming.

...unions are the only game in town.

Unions have been selling their workers down the river for several decades. They kept screaming "Union rights! Union rights!" While ignoring worker's rights.

Believe me I am for worker's rights. I would die for worker's rights. However many unions have spent the last few decades giving away their worker's rights.

In my state about the only union that had enough kahunas WAS the teacher's union who refused to do what so many other unions were doing.

I watched my (carpenter's) union go out golfing and yachting with the management all the time and then (sob) tell us that we would just have to accept all their BS because (sob)management was having a tough time. Why if they raised our pay, they might lose everything ~ and we would lose our jooooobs! (turn on the tears here ...)

Management eventually took everyone's pension (paid into by their worker's own wages) and spent it on themselves when they went under leaving long time workers who had been with them for decades no job, no pension, nothing.

The last time I saw the owner he was stepping off his yacht to go to a football game. My BIL? At 70, he is working as a security guard after recently leaving the hospital with injuries incurred from working for that bastard errrr (sob) "poor man". The union did not help a bit ~ but you can be certain they were standing there with their hand out for those hefty union dues (over $100.00 a month) from minimum wage paychecks ~ and probably lining their pockets with all that pension fund money as well.

Just saying that unions have not been representing workers, they have been representing themselves. While they are the only game in town as far as worker's rights, the truth is they shot themselves in the foot and left their workers to die. Now they are crying because they gave away the store and are now expected to give away the pavement and the fire hydrant too.

It is about learning what NOT to do. It is about learning that thanks to what was given away that workers DIED to get, we are now going to have to go back to square one and DIE again in order to regain what we lost. If we are not willing to do that, then unions will die and so will workers anyway with unsafe workplaces and unjust work conditions.

My 2 cents
Cat in Seattle <---from the stock of WOBBLYS who warned of this coming if the following generations got slack, who taught me their history and it was not pretty.

Did you know that corporations were behind it? Did you know that Bill Gates spent 2 million just to publicize it?

Or did you already realize that and just dropped in to express your anti-union feelings?

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So you want to give taxpayer money to corporate charters instead of teachers? And have no say over how it is spent.

When you are in a deep hole, stop digging.

You called teachers freeloaders????

I'll bet many teachers are finishing up their semesters doing the same thing.

Ah, another dingleberry added to ignore. Like Skittles says madfloridian, don't try to talk to the table leg. ;) The summer session of RW think-tank embeds must be coming online here on DU.

:hi:

I barely submitted semester grades when I had to turn right around and start feverishly planning a huge overload for summer. . .which, despite all of our "amazing" salary and benefits (sarcasm there) I HAVE to work in order to pay off the excess MEDICAL bills that my glorious state insurance doesn't cover.

I am getting sick and tired of legislators and Republicans telling me how wonderful my life is, when every year I work longer and longer hours and get no real vacation.

Really, really dislike Bill Gates and all his phoniness!!

Did you join DU (just last month) to add to the shrill cacaphony of anti-union, anti-teacher whinging? Are you being paid to post rebuttals by the corporatists whose agendas are well-documented by many on this site?

Your post hereinabove is disingenuous, and does nothing to further the cause of those who are relentlessly attacking unions and dismantling public education.

By the way, if you appreciate earning a decent wage, if you enjoy working in a safe environment, if you like having weekends off, getting vacation and sick days, and receiving benefits; thank a union.

Which is exactly why I refuse to support the Democratic Party any more. There is not a sliver of daylight between them and the Republicans.

n/t

Bipartisanship = one party rule

Howard Zinn

This will be my only comment on this thread. I am sick to death of these Republican Democrats.

for over ten years now.

My mom's pension(a thirty year veteran, a PT who worked in the school districts) was pretty much wiped out by the Enron collapse. I don't know how much these funds have been able to recover since then, but IL seems to have not invested those funds wisely, for the most part.

regulators, governments and elected officials have known what was going on for

decades -- and they are all complicit!

HA - HA Labor! Gotcha! :grr:

No pension bill today. Or tomorrow. A Madigan retreat?

"SB 512 was going to come out of committee yesterday.

That’s what Boss Madigan wanted.

It didn’t happen.

Then it was going to come out today.

It has been delayed.

Maybe next week.

I’m hearing that they are losing Democratic votes because the voice mail boxes are filled by noon each day and the emails are flooding the computers. Teachers are actually receiving prompt returns to their letters of outrage."

now.

:bounce:

at it's finest. the people on that list are THE most progressive legislators in the country. this sort of targeting those who are stepping up and making the hard choices for change is just wrong.
this administration was left with an enormous mess. they are doing their best to do the right thing financially as well as for the kids.
it is fine to point out what isn't right. but this is a pretty weak tea.
at least put some meat on those bones.

One of the things I have come to expect here at DU is the rush to judgment from posters who do not live in Illinois and who do not fully grasp the intricacies of our political scene. As you quite rightly point out, Mo, that list would be some of the best and brightest in our party. Additionally, those same legislators are the ones left to clean up the mess left by our very own Rod (The Hair) Blagojevich. He dedicated himself and his regime to raping Illinois of anything of value that was left when we finally got rid of the GOP stronghold on the Governor's mansion (just in case anybody has failed to remember that particular issue from Illinois history...)

Seems to me that if the Dems in Illinois sincerely WANT to clean up the mess, the most responsible thing would be to go to the folks who actually KNOW what is happening and where the solutions might be found. I realize it might sound pretty radical, but I trust the teachers' unions to stand up for the kids and for the schools. If they all signed off on this bill, then I'm having a really hard time seeing how this is some kind of "attack" or failure. In fact, if the IEA and the AFT are behind it, then I'm pretty sure it is gonna be good for Illinois and our schools.

:shrug:



Laura

CTU has come out against it. The national teachers' unions have helped to sell teachers out before teachers were really aware of the negotiations going on.

Really?

In my opinion, public education is being killed by all these progressive legislators.

Do you not question why they are voting to harm teachers rights and the unions? Or have you already accepted it as fact since it is Obama's policy?

Why are we so accepting of the destruction of public education?

we have one - the MONEY party. Call um the Democans - or Republicrats. Either way they lie, get elected, and screw us. In - what I believe - to be these end stages of capitalism in the USA, people should only expect things to get worse. They rule us now - they know they have the power and there ain't shit we can do about it. what can we do - vote 3rd party? yeah that rarely seems to work. things are so bad now on so many levels - thanks to the rich and the stupid.

be seen as the party of the worker and dems do this. And no only in Illinois. Where will they be when the Labor Unions desert them? The Koch Brothers won't take up the slack. Don't get me wrong. With votes like this who needs them?

Thanks for all you do. We had a wonderful rally in Lansing Michigan today. Several thousand teachers joined by the AFL-CIO, UAW and several other unions. Not seeing much online about it yet.

get rid of them-recall anyone? It really matters. & 'Wrong' Emmanuel is probably with them

Interesting comment when you consider that we are constantly bombarded with calls for compromise and bipartisanship.

Do you think that there is a possibility that they are right? Or do you believe that anyone who disagrees with you is an idiot?

I see harm in one party rule. Don't you?

I am amazed to see the support here at DU for privatizing public education. I always thought that was sacrosanct.

There is much anger directed at me in this thread for pointing out that our party is partnering with the GOP to kill public education and shame its teachers. Well, someone needs to speak out..and too many are afraid.

http://preaprez.wordpress.com/2011/05/20/stopping-sb512-and-what-shall-we-say-about-the-iea-leadership/

"All week we have been busting our butts to mobilize our members, their families and friends to stop what is now called Senate Bill 512. The bill would drastically change teacher pensions in the state and set the stage for doing away with public employee pensions as we know them.

Our work been effective. SB 512 has for the moment stalled in committee. There are 10 days left in the current session of the General Assembly. That is plenty of time for the bill to go forward. Any retreat from the massive pushback of rank-and-file teachers from across Illinois will give GOP leader Tom Cross and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan the opening they need.

This has primarily been a movement at the base of the IEA. Local leaders. Retired members. Region chairs. This has been where the action is....The real effective work has been done by one teacher to another. By activist retirees who have traveled on their own time, at their own expense, to meetings around the state.

At a Region 36 gathering Wednesday night, former IEA President Bob Haisman, not speaking officially for the IEA, fired up a room of 30 local leaders. It was like old times.

Something must be said about the message I received today from the IEA chief lobbyist Jim Reed.

The education reform bill, SB 7, has passed both chambers. We are still waiting on a trailer bill to catch up to the main bill which will resolve some technical issues that affect collective bargaining.

Technical issues?"

(I'm very pro-union BTW, having grown up in a union state but now living in Texas)

I perceive that teachers unions are desperately trying to play catch-up because they failed to acknowledge the gravity, or magnitude, of the attack coming their way, and they failed to mobilize their members early on.

I don't have concrete data to base this on, but here's the anecdotal:

I've an older brother, a veteran teacher with tons of cred, with whom I talk frequently. He is active in his union. In the last couple of years I've mentioned various education stories in the news (many from links provided by you and HannahBell & proud2blib), and he has had NO IDEA what I was talking about. Eva Moskowitz? Who's that? Michelle Rhee? Who's that? Massive teacher layoffs? He replied, Oh, that can't happen here, we have a strong union. (Ha ha, sadly, he lives in Michigan.) I knew what was Walker was proposing in WI before he did, even though we have another relative who teaches in WI, and she didn't know about it either.

How could the rank and file of teachers have been so clueless about the wolf at the door? Yes, they've been mobilized now, but the wolf has had pups and they're growing fast. I don't know whether it was union leadership failure, or AFT or state teachers associations failures, or what. But the current catch-up efforts appear to be too little too late.

Your thoughts?

And there is no major voice providing an opposing view. Since only a few bloggers have bothered, it is not surprising many had no idea.

The teachers here who are Republicans and who are just learning all the harm being done to them have a convenient person to blame...Obama.

One can not argue that point because the Democrats are on board.

The ones who voted for Rick Scott refuse to believe he would hurt teachers, one of them told me that unions had caused all the problems, and the bullet train would have been a burden. They will never change their minds.

I guess the answer to your question is that unless they follow certain bloggers they have no way of knowing. There was little or nothing on the news about WI. Just Rachel and Ed.

we would send blast emails to our members about bills introduced by nefarious Texas legislators, provide them with sample letters to customize and send to their senator or rep, and line up our members to attend and testify at early house or senate committee hearings, LONG BEFORE bills were up for a vote. That was our job. They didn't have to go wading through proposed legislation on their own, or look for bloggers to lay it out for them.

No one does this for teachers? O.M.G.

You would be amazed at the prevalence among educators of the view that making waves is dangerous...and it is. Our local union really was great about keeping us informed...but not that many are that way.

If there were they would have shut this country down....All it would take is to stop trucking.. It really doesn't matter if most are independents or not. If the Union wanted to stop it they would..It would bring the country to it's knees and get the attention that is required. The Unions have given up without a fight...Prevailing wage will become a thing of the past before Obama is out of office.

United Electricians. Those are the folks who led the Republic Windows action a few years back. They were thrown out of the AFL-CIO for refusing to comply with the red baiting bullshit of the 50's, have been hounded every which way but hang tough. Other unions can be revived if the membership finds the will and conditions favor that development.

How many times ya gotta get hit over the head?

it is what it is...Why do some people stubbornly cling to the delusion that it's otherwise??? Look at the effing list! It's as long as my arm:(

It's starting with the teachers. My neighbor is a police officer and they are starting to do the same to him.

Peace,
Mix