I Shoot People

Now that the Wisconsin Collective Bargaining legislation is signed, I wanted to see how many people realized what they were protesting for.

I am not a member of any conservative group, but I do believe that all the items in this article from www.conservativeamerican.org can be independently verified if someone has enough time and interest.

When you see the protesters in Wisconsin, you realize thousands of them are college kids. Some are from out of state. And you wonder how many are left that are actually from Wisconsin. Regardless, you’ll be amazed to see what they stand for.

By Peter Andrew

ConservativeAmerican.org
Leading the way Right with unique & fun Conservative American Views.

Wonder what the protesters REALLY are fighting for? Collective bargaining. At least that’s what they say. And why is that so important? Look at what collective bargaining has given union democrats in Wisconsin. You won’t believe this list!

This is what University of Wisconsin students are fighting for! Here are some examples from Wisconsin collective bargaining agreements. How many of these dingbat college kids understand this is why they are yelling and screaming?!

• Employer must provide bulletin boards to post information about union social and recreational activities. The size and location of the board is subject to collective bargaining.
• When a local union meets the following conditions are subject to bargaining: lighting, vision care and examinations, noise, chairs, desks, footrests, adjustable terminals and keyboards, work environment design (wall cover, carpet, windows), and room temperature!
• Starting of vehicles during cold weather is subject to collective bargaining. (????)
• Paid time off to donate blood. Taxpayers are paying them to donate blood!
• A Year’s Worth of Pay for 30 Days of Work – Under the Green Bay School District’s collectively bargained Emeritus Program, teaches can retire and receive a year’s worth of salary for working only 30 days over a three year period. This is paid in addition to their already guaranteed pension and health care payouts. At the average annual salary for a Green Bay teacher of $51,355, this amounts to a daily rate of pay of $1,711.83, or an hourly rate of $213.98. Since most retiring teachers receive higher than average salary, these amounts are, in practice, much higher. How many of those protesting college kids realize they are out their fighting the good fight for people making $213 an hour!!! Governor Walker’s office released details of these items this week. This one came from WLUK-TV, 3/3/11
• Teachers Receiving Two Pensions – Due to a 1982 provision of their collective bargaining agreement, Milwaukee Public School teachers actually receive TWO pensions upon retirement instead of one!!! The contribution to the second pension is equal to 4.2% of a teacher’s salary, with the school district making 100% of the contribution, just like they do for the first pension. This extra benefit costs taxpayers more than $16 million per year.
  . That’s from a February 17, 2010 Press Release, Process of developing FY11 budget begins Milwaukee Public Schools. Way to go college kids! You’re protesting to make sure you pay hundreds more in taxes to give teachers TWO FREAKING PENSIONS! You may want to rethink helping these union thugs.
• Almost $10,000 Per Year for Doing Nothing!!! – While the Green Bay Emeritus Program actually requires teachers to at least show up for work, the Madison Emeritus Program doesn’t even require that!! In addition to their pension payouts, retired Madison public school teachers receive annual payments of at least $9,884.18 per year for enrolling in the Emeritus Program, which requires ZERO days of work. When this program began, 20 days of work per year were required. Through collective bargaining, the union successfully negotiated this down to zero days. Walker’s Source? The Madison Teachers Inc. Website.
• No Volunteer Crossing Guards Allowed – A Wausau public employee union filed a grievance to prohibit a local volunteer from serving as a school crossing guard. The 86-year-old lives just two blocks away and serves everyday free of charge. Principal Steve Miller says, “He said, you know, this gives me a reason to get up in the morning to come and help these kids in the neighborhood.” But for a local union that represents crossing guards, it isn’t that simple. Representatives didn’t want to go on camera but say if a crossing guard is needed, then one should be officially hired by the city. Source: WAOW-TV, 1/27/10
• $6,000 Extra for Carrying a Pager – Some state employees, due to the nature of their positions, are required to carry pagers during off-duty hours in order to respond to emergency situations. Due to the collective bargaining agreements, these employees are compensated an extra five hours of pay each week, whether they are paged or not. For an employee earning an average salary of $50,000 per year, this requirement can cost more than $6,000 in additional compensation. Source: 2008-09 Agreement between the State of Wisconsin and AFSCME Council 24
• Arbitrator Reinstates Porn-Watching Teacher!! – A Cedarburg school teacher was reinstated by an arbitrator after being fired for viewing pornography on a school computer. The school district ultimately succeeded in terminating the teacher only after taking the case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court at great cost to the taxpayers. Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/23/08
• ‘Outstanding First Year Teacher’ Laid Off – Here’s one the college students can feel good about protesting for (not!). Milwaukee Public Schools teacher Megan Sampson was laid off less than one week after being named Outstanding First Year Teacher by the Wisconsin Council of English Teachers. She lost her job because the collective bargaining agreement requires layoffs to be made based on seniority rather than merit. Informed that her union had rejected a lower-cost health care plan, that still would have required zero contribution from teachers, Sampson said, “Given the opportunity, of course I would switch to a different plan to save my job, or the jobs of 10 other teachers. Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/14/10
• Union Opposes Cost-Saving Lawn Mowing Program – As a cost cutting measure, Racine County began using county inmates to cut the grass in medians and right-of-ways at no cost to the taxpayers. A county employee union filed a grievance indicating it was the right of government workers to cut the grass, even though it would cost the taxpayers dramatically more. Source: Racine Journal Times, 5/12/10
• The $150,000 Bus Driver – Oh, and this is worth driving in from out of state to picket for! Better call Jesse Jackson to come in for this one and call off school to holler and shout for this poor public union employee! Give me a freaking break!!! In 2009, the City of Madison’s highest paid employee was a bus driver who earned $159,258, including $109,892 in overtime, guaranteed by a collective bargaining agreement. In total,seven City of Madison bus drivers made more than $100,000 per year in 2009. “That’s the (drivers’) contract,” said Transit and Parking Commission Chairman Gary Poulson. Source: Wisconsin State Journal, 2/7/10
• $150,000 Correctional Officers!! – Correctional Officer collective bargaining agreements allow officers a practice known as “sick leave stacking.” Officers can call in sick for a shift, receiving 8 hours of sick pay, and then are allowed to work the very next shift, earning time-and-a-half for overtime. This results in the officer receiving 2.5 times his or her rate of pay, while still only working 8 hours. In part because of these practices, 13 correctional officers made more than $100,000 in 2009, despite earning base wages of less than $60,000 per year. The officers received an average of $66,000 in overtime pay for an average annual salary of more than $123,000 with the highest paid receiving $151,181. Source: Department of Corrections
• Taxpayers Fund Paid-Time off for Union Activities!!! – In Milwaukee County alone, because the union collectively bargained for paid time off, fourteen employees receive salary and benefits for doing union business. Of the fourteen, three are on full-time release for union business. Milwaukee County spent over $170,000 in salary alone for these employees to only participate in union activities such as collective bargaining. Surrender of Management Rights
• Because of collecting bargaining, unions have included provisions in employee contracts that have a direct fiscal impact such as not allowing management to schedule workers based on operational needs and requiring notice and approval by the union prior to scheduling changes. As then Milwaukee County Executive, Gov. Walker attempted to reduce work hours based on budget pressures and workload requirements by instituting a 35 hour work week to avoid layoffs, which the union opposed. Additionally, government cannot explore privatization of functions that could save taxpayers money.
• INSURANCE SCAM TO FUND UNION ACTIVITIES!!!
  The WEA “Trust!!!” – Currently many school districts participate in WEA trust because WEAC collectively bargains to get as many school districts across the state to participate in this union run health insurance plan as possible. Union leadership benefits from members participating in this plan. If school districts enrolled in the state employee health plan, it would save school districts up to $68 million per year. Beyond that if school districts had the flexibility to look for health insurance coverage outside of WEA trust or the state plan, additional savings would likely be realized. Boy, those college kids must be proud to have the honor of picketing for such virtuous people!
• Viagra for Teachers – The Milwaukee Teachers Education Association (MTEA) tried to use a policy established by collective bargaining to obtain health insurance coverage that specifically paid for Viagra. Cost to taxpayers is $786,000 a year. Only in the last week, did the Milwaukee TEA drop this lawsuit due to public pressure.
• Unrealistic Overtime Provisions – On a state level, the Department of Corrections allows correctional workers who call in sick to collect overtime if they work a shift on the exact same day. The specific provision that allows this to happen was collectively bargained for in their contract. Cost to taxpayers $4.8 million. Oh, but those brilliant young minds enrolled in the University of Wisconsin at Madison are all too happy to protest for this! They look forward to working extra hours to pay taxes to cover things like this.