With the state of economic affairs being what they are, most municipalities are going over their operating budgets with a fine tooth comb.
There has been a lot of talk about abolishing unions-privatizing to save money. Many say the unions have outlived their original purpose-to protect workers rights-to make sure the workplace was safe and a living wage could be had.
Have unions outlived their usefulness in the United States? Are we now less competitive globally-what is the impact down the road for our nation? I am linking you to a good article on Unions that addresses these questions.
This comes at a time as I said above, where most municipalities are looking at possible municipal employee layoffs and just plain old job elimination. Some cities and towns have already had to resort to these measures to get by economically. Cheshire is no different. As most of you know, the union contracts of several departments will expire this June 30th. Most don’t understand “steps” or “defined benefits” but just about everyone understands what type of problems this town will be facing if our union employees are forced to walk the picket line. We can never take for granted their services. Now I must admit, some of these union salaries MAY BE A BIT OUT OF LINE with the private sector, and this may have be addressed. But I am sure most union employees would rather take a slight pay cut than lose their jobs. It is up to their union representatives to take this into consideration and not engage in hard nosed counterproductive negotiating tactics.
One union taking a hit in Cheshire and I am sure many other towns is the teachers union. Many say the teachers are overpaid and under worked. OH BULLCRAP!!
“Oh you know, these teachers don’t work all year, why should they be paid like they are”!!
I have heard many many people gripe about this very issue.
My answer: give it up you JEALOUS MAN!! That is right. You are jealous because most teachers are women, and they make more money than YOU!!
Umm, how come I don’t hear YOU say: “Oh, these baseball, football, hockey players don’t work all year, why should they be paid like they are”!!
WHY?? BECAUSE THEY ARE MEN!! THAT IS WHY!!
Even that isn’t a fair comparison to teachers, because most teachers do not make millions in three or four months. I remember a friend of mine, and I think I mentioned this before, who got into a NYC taxicab one night and found a paystub of a then New York Giants football player-now mind you, this was about 15 years ago. The check was for $150,000. And THAT WAS FOR ONE WEEK!!!
NOW THAT IS OVERPAID even by today’s standards.
GET OFF THE SOAPBOX AND FOCUS YOUR ATTENTION ON REAL MONEY WASTERS: LIKE THE POOL. This town has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into an energy wasting monolith and gotten very little in return for it.
Click here for: Rod Paige Confronts the Teachers Unions
I will say one thing though, I do think Cheshire High School has TOO MANY ADMINISTRATORS!! When I went to Central High in Bridgeport YEARS AGO, we had the Principal, the Vice-Principal and TWO other administrators-one for “East Administration (the east half of the high school) and one for “West Administration”
That was IT for a school of 3,200 students!!!
BUT, I do want to caution people-eliminating programs, cutting back on educational items for the students, trimming afterschool programs-DOES and WILL have a negative impact on education and the quality of life here,
When I was living in Bridgeport in the 50′s and 60′s Bridgeport was like CHESHIRE!! YES!! Plenty of jobs, safe streets (for the most part), A GREAT SCHOOL SYSTEM!! When I graduated high school in the mid-seventies, Central High had 23, YES 23 state of Connecticut scholars!! OK!! My education rivaled anything that Cheshire High can give, believe me.
But then, in the early seventies, I saw a change starting to happen. The city was becoming financially strapped-educators were being asked to cut programs, cut back on classes, books, everything. I had many classes with 50 kids in them. We got through it. I remember the parents packing Central High School auditorium begging the Board of Education not to cut programs, not to cut teachers.
Even the teachers got into the act and back then they WERE NOT MAKING THE MONEY THEY MAKE NOW!! They hit the picket lines with the students. And then, I saw a real change. People started to leave Bridgeport for the suburbs. Businesses started relocating, and the downward slide began and really has not reversed itself.
And in my opinion-this was brought about by the perception amongst many middle class residents of Bridgeport back then, that education was sliding. Bridgeport has really not been able to recover from this. Bridgeport is trying, they really are-and will continue to try-but let’s face it-when I say Bridgeport to you-what comes to mind? YEP!!
You don’t think education uplifts a community? Want to see what happens when people leave a community to seek a better quality of life and education? Then go look at those old Pleasure Beach photos I have run from time to time. WHAT A DISGRACE!! LOOK AT IT NOW!!
Look at Bridgeport-the way it was when I was growing up-look at it now!! This could be anytown, big or small. It breaks my heart to hear people talk bad about Bridgeport-this is where I was born. Would you like people to talk about CHESHIRE this way?? It is beyond heartbreak-knowing how grand Bridgeport was!! It HAD EVERYTHING!! IT MAKES ME CRY!!
I have a link to a blog where this very subject is being discussed. This blog is a little “rough” around the edges, but this person, who is obviously very young-hits the nail on the head.
Sure some of it was economics, the downturn in the industrial age, the factories moving down south or overseas, but I believe the downturn in education, accentuated this decline. NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EDUCATION-BUT SPEND IT ON THE STUDENTS NOT THE ADULTS!!
I believe most if not all teachers care about their students and care deeply about teaching. I believe some would even take a slight pay decrease to keep their positions. As I stated above with the town employee unions, there has to be some give and take with the teachers union also. They have to be realistic and I am sorry to say-4.4 percent raise over the next few years is not realistic!!
Now we have opened up Pandora’s Box-what do you expect the other union negotiators to ask for? LESS?? Probably not!!
Now onto another hot topic: TAKE HOME VEHICLES!!
For many months, myself and Councilor Tim White, whom I have been backing up on this issue, have spoken about accountablility with these municipal taKe home vehicles in Cheshire. Most of our questions have been falling on deaf ears from the Town Government whose familiar tactic is to let people talk about an issue they don’t want to discuss-and not answer-or half ass answer it-hoping it will all “JUST GO AWAY”
Well, I know I will keep talking about this issue and I am CERTAIN Councilor White will also.
I guess Gov. Rell has gotten the “message” about state cars because she is eliminating 100 vehicles and will be auctioning them off to raise money!! A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION GOV. RELL!!
My spouse, who has been a Field Auditor with the Labor Dept for 32 years HAS NEVER HAD A TAKE HOME VEHICLE-and he has been more than able to perform his job. If he can do it-yes, everyone else can.
