Chicago teachers asking for 30% raises over next 2 years

My first reaction was: HOLY SMOKES!

Until I thought about it for a little...

The elementary school teachers are going to be asked to work +1h30m/day longer.

They need to be compensated for that, no matter what. People in the private sector don't work for free either.

So, that is +30h/month they will need to work longer...

They now work 160h/month -- so +30h/month divided by 1,6 brings us to about +19% increase in working time, so the wage increase needs to be the same.

If we take into account, that wages in the USA are not automatically inflation-adjusted, my question is when is the lest they got a raise and how large it was?

Anyways, on rough numbers it seems to me that a wage increase of around +25% seems very appropiate.

 

Teachers are salaried workers. Salaried workers in the private sector do not get paid overtime for working over 8 hours a day, 40 hours per week or 5 days per week. Most jobs require salaried workers to work more hours per week than hourly workers.
I made $32 per hour and worked 20 hours per pay period OT until I 'climbed the ladder' into salaried mid management. My 20 hours immediately transformed to 35 hours..no OT. I ended up making less per hour than the people "under me". (not to mention the aspirin and Maalox I had to buy)

 

You have to pay grudging respect to these teachers' unions, actually. They were smart enough to ally themselves with the winning faction to get what they want. Oh, in terms of what they do versus how well they are compensated, teachers, as a class of workers, are very well paid, with lots of vacation time, superior retirement, health care, etc. But instead of hating them for it, we poor, stupid worker-bee schlubs, who pay sickeningly high taxes to support this "public service" gravy train, should start demanding it for ourselves.

Slowly but surely, we American citizen taxpayers should learn to kick back and take it easy, get all the "goody" we can, and make some other dumb sonofabich pay for it all....

 

The taxpayers average out significantly less college educated and experienced people. Of course teachers are paid more than a McDonalds employees or Grocery Store worker. It's a COLLEGE level career almost entirely. Whereas the taxpayers are not nearly as experienced or educated on average.

You pay more for people with higher educations and experience... It's capitalism.

 

If the teachers were underpaid they would quit their job tomorrow and go work someplace else.

But they stay because they're already getting a better deal than they can get anywhere else.

 

...and they know (mistakenly believe) they will always have the laughably corrupt, incestuous Union/Democrat Party relationship to rely on to "collectively bargain" (extort) more meritless compensation/benefits/pensions from the private sector/taxpayers.

Thanks to both, "Your Friendly Public Servant" has been gradually redefined to mean "Your Authoritarian Government Slave Master"

 

The forum DB is running fast for me, maybe you need to change your underware or something.

 

Both my neighbors are teachers..one teaches 3rd grade one teaches at a small community college. What a great life they have. One or the other is home a great deal of the time (unlike other neighbors that are 9 to 5 er's.) This last summer they spent a month and a half in Tibet. By all evidence, they seem to be living on an above average scale.

 

Normally, primary school teacher work from 8h30-16h(30) -- and then they still have to do all the meetings, come up with teaching methods, ideas, etc.

What you describe above, is just a regular middle-class lifestyle. It is not their fault that unlike them, the rest of America has chosen to be screwed by their employers

 

Woot! The Greece, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese model that bankrupts the country! I love it. I get to chill out, kick back, and let others pay for my existence. It's the "Progressive" thing to do. Being a parasite must steal one's soul, but who cares when you have it so good?

 

Considering the amount of education it takes to teach in American schools and colleges, a middle class lifestyle doesn't seem all that undeserving.

So educating the youth of society is "parasitic"?

 

ROFL! No... the deals that they demanded through their BIG corrupt unions is parasitic.

In fact, I could fix the entire education profession quickly.

It's all about power and money to you "Progressives" and not about the children.

Just watch the movie "Waiting for Superman" and you will see the massive destruction the unions have brought to our children. We are losing generations because of these selfish parasites.

 

A voucher program wouldn't work. Mainly because the parents wouldn't spend it on educating their kids, they'd simply use it for other things. This is especially true of people who are poor or working class. Also, you can't place every child into a private institution or a charter school, because those facilities will (and have) openly reject certain children for a variety of reasons.

The reason the American education system is so expensive is because of our massive population, and because our education system teaches EVERY student. Other countries won't educate children with down syndrome, or a crack baby, but American public schools will.

Finally, the teacher's union is in place for a reason; Before it was instituted, teachers were paid poorly, and could be fired at the drop of a hat. The union protects teachers from a host of charges and problems, and allows them to negotiate their salaries without fear of getting fired for political reasons.

 

On the OP, one thing I noticed is the comment:

These negotiations should absolutely be completely public and in full view of the taxpayers who will be footing the bill for whatever comes of them. Taxpayers should be able to see this whole process and every step of negotiation.

 

You're not an American and you have no idea what is proper or fair for teachers in this country.

 

A simple rule. If something you are doing isn't working, do something else. High salaries and guaranteed permenent employment obviously isn't working.

 

If the people paying the teachers make less then the teachers, it is call bankruptcy not capitalism

That is why so many states are broke due to the insane costsimposed on the taxpayers by the unions

 

Gov Christie told a whiney teacher the same thing


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