There has been a lot of talk about “contracts.” As most of you know, the U.S. Senate defeated yet another bailout request by the “Big Three” automakers. Why?? NO UNION WAGE CONCESSIONS!! This is absolutely condescending arrogance and they deserve to go under. So the Union which represents these workers would rather have them stand for hours on end in an unemployment line than give up a few percentage points in their paychecks.
To paraphrase someone: “boy I am glad I am not in THAT SECTOR”!!
Sometimes I think these unions are a double-edged sword. I sometimes think they have lost all sense of reality. I mean on the one hand, they do provide benefits to workers by protecting their rights–employers are less apt to “pull stunts” as they do in the private sector-but on the other hand-it seems they like to “cut their own noses off to spite their faces” PHEW, I almost said nuts.
Anyway, the BIG THREE AUTOMAKERS, the Cheshire Teacher contracts, the unemployment fiasco and now the reval in Cheshire has gotten people really steamed up. I believe that people will only tolerate so long. I think if there are not significant changes for the better by summer, we might see protests or even riots.
Now many people have spoken to me about these teacher raises. There was even an article off my newsfeeds from the Hartford Courant talking about West Hartford teachers taking a one percent and one and a quarter percent raise over two years. Their union cited diminished state aid as the reason.
Click here for Courant article on West Hartford Teachers
If you just count the straight wage increase, Cheshire teachers are slightly ahead. BUT, the issue with me is the LENGTH OF THE CONTRACT: Two years for West Hartford vs FOUR YEARS for Cheshire. The way things are going, God knows what will be the state of affairs 24 months from now, let alone FOUR YEARS DOWN THE ROAD!!
In fact, I found out that Darien, one of the wealthiest towns in Connecticut, located in Fairfield County only gave their teachers a two year THREE PERCENT RAISE and THAT WAS FOR LAST FISCAL YEAR!!
Click here for Darien teacher article
Interestingly enough, the article states that for the previous fiscal year, Darien teachers received a FIVE percent raise, but agreed to a lower figure for the current fiscal year citing rising economic concerns.
Talk about planning for the future–NOT LIKE CHESHIRE!!
And while we are on contracts, the Bridgeport Police Union, by a narrow margin, did ratify their new contract which calls for a zero pay increase over the next two years!!
Click here for Bpt Police raises
TAKE NOTICE TOWN OF CHESHIRE-one of the CONCESSIONS:
The savings from the elimination of take-home cars, Finch has said, are expected to total anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000, depending on how many miles the officers drove the city vehicles for personal use. Savings may also come from acting Police Chief Joseph Gaudett Jr.’s new personnel deployment plan aimed at reducing overtime, Ficarra said.
All this, coming on the heals of a report by the U.S. Dept. of Labor that an additional 573,000 people filed for unemployment benefits this week.
START PLANNING AHEAD HEAD IN THE SAND CHESHIRE–GET REAL–GET RID OF THESE TAKE HOME CARS FOR STARTERS.
In all honesty, how can our Town Government expect the rank and file and the other non teacher town employees to take a lower pay increase when they have seen what the Board of Education just did??
We might have a real mess on our hands soon.
Now I did want to include this article about the New York State Dept of Labor having problems keeping up with the large volume of callers. They also had a mini meltdown a few weeks ago as Connecticut did, with unemployment filers getting hung up on.
Click here for unemployment article
On the top of this article, there are some additional economic news you might want to click on, namely the END OF KB TOYS, and the 10 Fastest Dying Towns in America.
More interesting economic news from “The Consumerist”
And speaking of unemployment, George Dubya, will soon be joining these ranks on Jan. 20th.
Some gamers at Yahoo have come up with a career that just might suit him.
Try to have a nice weekend.
