A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry
Unions
Posted: Feb 18, 2011
For decades, union negotiators have steered dollars toward such things as political campaigns and generous pay and benefit packages, rather than responsibly funding retiree pension obligations. Now, with pension obligations climbing and fund assets dwindling, union executives realize that they can’t satisfy the years of promises that they irresponsibly made.
Their solution? Dump union benefit obligations onto taxpayers. That way, union leaders could continue to fight declining membership with promises of unsustainable pay and benefits, while shifting pension responsibility to others. Otherwise, according to a Wall Street Journal reference to a legal group formed on labor organizations’ behalf, unions would face “increased pressure at the bargaining table to decrease contributions and cut benefits.”
Labor unions once served to safeguard individual employees who had little or no bargaining power with employers. Today, however, they increasingly seem to care more about well-paid union executives and liberal political candidates to whom millions of union campaign dollars are directed.
The SEIU and AFL-CIO spent approximately $100 million dollars on the Nov. mid-term elections and the AFSCME spend approximately $50 million dollars.
With that money, these three powerhouse unions could make 150 of their members instant millionaires. Or, if they preferred to “spread the wealth around” in accord with the President they did so much to elect in 2008, they could give $10,000 to 15,000 to suffering members, or give 150,000 members $1,000 apiece.
So who is the bad guy here...a governor trying to save his state OR unions who waste money that could go to help union workers instead of spending all that money on politicians. Hmm..
;
Amen! Also, I just heard them list the cut and - percentages asked of the teachers,
[ In Reply To ..]and it is not even close to sacrifices the private sector endures during these times. SHAME ON THESE TEACHERS!! I have always defended teachers, but this is ridiculous! Shutting down the schools, encouraging students to stand out there and support them when the students are ignorant and clueless to the true problems... its sickening!
Wisconsin Protests are getting out of hand - Backwards Typist
[ In Reply To ..]1. You've got to be kidding!!!!!The dems fled the state to keep from voting on it????? How ridiculous. What gives them the right to shirk their duty? Can you imagine that happening in D.C.? I hope WI voters remember this next election. They are dragging this out while the students suffer. Are they being paid while they are gone? What about the budget? If they fail to pass the budget, there will probably be a shutdown, which will hurt WI people to suffer even more. The governore wants to sit down and talk to the dems but the dems aren't budging yet. You would think the lawmakers would act like adults and not children.
From the Guardian.UK:
The legislation was due to be passed on Thursday but was delayed by a technicality. In an almost comic move,14 Democratic senators fled to neighbouring Illinois, where they checked into a modest hotel for the night. Their flight meant the 19 Republican senators were one short of the quorum of 20 needed for passage of the bill. If they had remained in Wisconsin, the police could have rounded them up and forced them to the chamber.
Walker, speaking yesterday on CBS, urged the senators to return. "The state senators who are hiding out down in Illinois should show up for work, have their say, have their vote, add their amendments, but in the end, we've got a $3.6bn budget deficit we've got to balance," Walker said.One of the Democratic senators, in an interview with ABC, said: "We left the state so we were out of the reach of the Wisconsin state patrol, which has the authority to round us up and bring us back to the legislature."
Also from LaCrosse News:
1:45 p.m. update: MADISON, Wis. - Democrats on the run in Wisconsin avoided state troopers Friday and threatened to stay in hiding for weeks, potentially paralyzing a state government they no longer control.
2. The teachers are very caring, aren't they? They don't care that the kids of that state will have to make up those school days in the summer. I don't know what's in their contracts, but aren't they breaking that contract by calling in sick, when they're really at this protest?
La Crosse teachers’ contracts are set to expire June 30, and the district and union are in the process of negotiating a new contract.
The superintendent said the decision to cancel classes was made late Wednesday when it became clear the district would not have enough substitute teachers to cover the absences.
“All our tracking systems are online,” he said. “They report their absence and the system turns around and tries to hire a sub. There were so many positions we were trying to fill. We were only going to be able to fill 30 percent. We didn’t feel we could conduct a good school day.”
There is no school today because of a previously scheduled conference in La Crosse.
Amid all of this, La Crosse teachers and the school district are in the middle of contract negotiations with contracts up June 30.
3. Jesse Jackson heading to WI? He should keep his nose out of this too. All he likes to do is rile people up (from the liberal Huffington Post)..
5. Lastly, I am absolutely speechless about this report on ABC News:
...the latest are being fomented by the national political establishment -- including President Obama and the Democratic National Committee -- who have directly interjected themselves into the state-level debates.
Organizing for America, Obama's campaign arm now under the umbrella of the DNC, has been mobilizing union members and supporters to rally against a proposed Wisconsin budget measure that would strip workers of collective bargaining rights and force them to contribute more for benefits.
Leaders have initiated phone banks and on-the-ground canvassing, and relied on a social media blitz on Facebook and Twitter to build turnout.
DNC Chairman Tim Kaine also reportedly spoke with Wisconsin union leaders and state legislators ahead of the protests, the Huffington Post reported, signaling his direct involvement in coordinating the effort.
"Organizing for America is mobilizing on the ground in Wisconsin to defend the rights of public employees from an attempt by the governor [Republican Scott Walker] to take away their right to organize," wrote Mary Hough on the OFA blog.
I guess Wisconsin Senate does not have the fillibuster - like Republicans in US Senate
[ In Reply To ..]I am sure you were are just as outraged about that?
Excellent point. Tables have been turned - sm
[ In Reply To ..]and suddenly outrage abounds over legislative obstructionism. Guess SP is the only one allowed to go rogue.
So you have nothing to add - sm
[ In Reply To ..]about how unions have spent all that money on political campaigns when that money could have been used to help union workers? Instead...you just wanna bash republicans and blame for eveything?
Please share with me your feelings about the actual topic and try to stay focused.
Dems look like immature children. -pathetic.. fire them!.nm - Pam
[ In Reply To ..]nm
Waaaah. Obstrutionists. Waaaah. Off with their heads! - Waaaah.
[ In Reply To ..]Wah-Wah-Waaaah.
I used to work in a car - sm
[ In Reply To ..]dealership and I've pulled credit and taken apps for several teachers. They make good money and get the summer off and nice vacations during the school year. They have no reason to complain, IMO. I'm disgusted that these teachers are calling in sick and obviously aren't. That is grounds for firing!!!
PE teacher in WI makes $98,000 PT from her chair - WI MI
[ In Reply To ..]No joke. She is so overweight that she can hardly walk so she teaches PE from a chair. She does not work 40 hours a week and gets 98K plus benefits. No weekends, no evenings, gets summers and holidays off. Meanwhile half the kids in our school district are on free lunches/reduced lunches due to the parents making so little money. These teachers DEMANDED a 4% pay raise every year and finally we voted down the referendum this last week. Enough is enough.
huh? - dnh
[ In Reply To ..]You cannot possibly expect anyone to believe this 98K business. This is a fantasy.
1 year away from retirement- just got salaries at our referendum mtg - WI MT
[ In Reply To ..]Fantasy on the part of the teachers who think the taxpayers are going to keep paying these outrageous salaries.
An effective strategy - SueD
[ In Reply To ..]They're not shirking their duty! It's an effective strategy. Workers' rights and unions are sorely needed. Look at what we have as MTs without unions - sweatshop wages, unreasonable production demands, lousy dictators and unintelligible accents, and NO benefits. I just found out the SEIU represents medical transcriptionists and i'm thrilled to see that. Unions strengthening workers rights and conditions have a beneficial effect on all of us.
MTs in the SEIU - SueD
[ In Reply To ..]Does anyone know how much the MTs in the SEIU make? Do they get benefits? I'm an IC MT, doing this for 20+ years, barely making a living with no benefits. Having a union sure sounds nice to me.
I was in a union when I was an in-house MT. - sm
[ In Reply To ..]We were lumped in a group with the housekeepers and the nurses. Union membership was mandatory for employment and dues were taken directly out of our paychecks. Our local reps said they could only negotiate for 1 group a year out of our 3 departments, but every time our turn came around the nurses weren't happy and the union would negotiate for them again. Of course this was 10 years ago, but we made from $8.10 per hour to a max of $12.39 per hour, but we did only have to pay $50 a month for our insurance.
I worked in-house for 5 years before going home to work because I could triple my income working on production, but we never saw a raise in our department in that 5 years - always the nurses. The only thing the union really did was protect the workers with seniority who would be sleeping at their desks and keep them making the top end of the pay scale to do nothing.
The IDEA of unions is ideal, BUT if you don't have good local reps it's just as worthless, if not more so, than not having one at all. In fact, the hospital could have fired all those lazy old women who cared more about making sure they each had their own coffee makers at their desks so they didn't have to walk to the break room and hired half the number of people to do the same job if it weren't for the union. So, while I've seen them do great things for my grandparents in the past, my experience with union has been nothing but a disappointment.
Similar Messages:
UnionsJul 19, 2010
What is your opinion of unions today? Are they still necessary to protect the rights of the worker or have they become too politicized? If you think they are still necessary, why? If you think they are too politicized, how can we change that? ...
About UnionsFeb 14, 2016
I hate unions because they just take the money (which should be used for paying strike benefits) and pay for political campaigns. Sure the thugs are gone but they still are corrupt. They care nothing about the people they take the money from each paycheck. ...
My Last Word On UnionsFeb 25, 2011
Did a little digging and came up with some little tidbits: Watch the following video…….then read the article. http://blog.heritage.org/2011/02/20/video-myths-vs-facts-of-the-wisconsin-union-protest/ Some other excerpts from newspapers and older reports on union presidents (didn’t have time to look for others). 1. Stacy Billings, a parent of two Madison students, told the Wisconsin State Journal that she supports unions and opposes Walker’ ...
More Big Companies And Unions...Dec 09, 2010
see link ...
Unions At Their WorstJan 17, 2013
Profiting on Disaster: NJ Senate Votes To Exclude Non-Union Construction Workers For Hurricane Sandy Work http://www.redstate.com/2013/01/14/profiting-on-disaster-new-jersey-senate-votes-to-exclude-non-union-construction-workers-for-hurricane-sandy-cleanup/ ...
Unions Want Out Of Obamacare!May 24, 2013
...
Unions Are All About Power And GreedFeb 24, 2011
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2011/02/24/2011-02-24_lessons_in_livin_large_uft_brass_having_a_ball_as_teachers_face_layoffs.html ...
Unions And Collective Bargaining. SmSep 27, 2012
Collective bargaining is the devil's tool unless it involves NFL referees in which case it's God's greatest gift to humanity. ...
Unions Denied WaiverSep 14, 2013
Well now. Seems like the Unions screwed themselves when fighting so hard for Obamacare. Now they have to get in line with the rest of businesses and people. No favoritism for them. Too bad this happened AFTER the 2012 election. Obama administration denies labor’s request for health care waiver By Ezra Klein, Published: September 13 at 6:05 pm Organized labor was one of the Obama administration's most important allies during the passage of the Affordable Care A ...
Unions Stoop To Another Low LevelFeb 18, 2015
What jerks!!!!!!!!! Don't they believe in checking their sources first or are they just that ignorant and don't give a hoot who they hurt? Scott Walker’s parents’ home swarmed by pro-union protesters More than 100 pro-union demonstrators swarmed the Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, home of Gov. Scott Walker’s elderly parents Monday evening to protest the Republican’s proposed state budget. The protesters circled the home on 68th Street and called out, “Hey he ...
I Find It Ironic That Unions MembersMar 10, 2011
are protesting that republicans are forcing something on them that they don't want. Funny they didn't understand that very argument when many were protesting against Obamacare and upset that the democrats were forcing something on them they didn't want either. Sucks doesn't it.... ...
Unions Versus The Corporate MachineOct 30, 2015
Republican candidates are unionizing against the RNC. Is the media next? Republican party imploding all over the place. The other day I was shocked when Paul Ryan admitted the House was broken. I guess the first step is to hit bottom and confront denial. ...
Koch Brothers Plan To Bust Unions.Feb 20, 2011
You are SO being used. http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/02/18/koch-brothers-behind-wisconsin-effort-to-kill-public-unions/ ...
White House Entices Big Labor UnionsJan 15, 2010
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/01/15/2010-01-15_health_plan_deal_gives_unions_break.html ...
Unions Join Protesters. Hateful, Out Of Control, AndNov 10, 2011
http://www.observer.com/2011/11/class-war-occupy-wall-street-unions-protest-at-sothebys/ This is accomplishing nothing but a BAD message of hate and "gimme gimme". How shameful the USA has become. Obama has contributed to this, unfortunately, with his constant bashing of the rich. He should speak up at this point before someone gets killed !!! ...
Unions Now Want Exemption From Minimum Wage Hike They Pushed.May 28, 2015
wage doesn't cost jobs might want to have a chat with unions in Los Angeles. After pushing for a big hike in that city's minimum wage — which will climb to $15 an hour by 2020 — labor leaders now want an exemption for companies that have unionized workers. Why? Because, according to Rusty Hicks, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, "with a collective bargaining agreement, a business owner and the employees negotiate an agreement that works for them both. The ag ...
Labor Costs To Skyrocket For American Cars As UnionsNov 23, 2015
a 9% rate hike. The unions give aid to the Democrats. This is why we buy Japan cars. They are still make here. My Camry was made in Kentucky and had a higher U.S. content than a Chrysler. We started buying Toyota and Nissan products. They in no form or fashion make crappy cars. Both Toyota's we owned had almost 300,000 miles on them with just general maintenance and a few timing belts. Then, my husband bought a new one. ...
For The Person Below Who Doesn't Think Unions Help Raise Prices, Here's A Few Teeny FactsApr 15, 2011
A few facts for you. There are 3 large unions in the U.S.: the AFL-CIO, SEIU, and National Education Association. Do you know what the AFL-CIO initials stand for? The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a voluntary federation of 56 national and international labor unions. They represent 12.2 million members, including 3.2 million members in Working America, its community affiliate. Affiliates of the AFL-CIO are: Airline ...
"Who Killed American Unions?" Powerful Graph Shows Shows Middle Class IncomeJan 17, 2013
From The Atlantic: "Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker doesn't like unions, and unions don't like him. But the most remarkable thing about Walker's relationship to labor isn't that he thinks unions are worthless -- most Republicans agree -- but that he thinks about them, at all. Today, unions have been swept into dusty corners of the U.S. workforce, such as Las Vegas casino cleaners and New York City hotel staff. For much of the 20th century, things were different. A ...