tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8254272216866737058.post3990329510919938158..comments2024-02-14T14:53:03.810-07:00Comments on Καθολικός διάκονος: Labor Day 2011: reflection, not celebrationDeacon Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385969740195992108noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8254272216866737058.post-79709702437824752092011-09-06T06:20:16.956-06:002011-09-06T06:20:16.956-06:00I think of all the public sector employees, teache...I think of all the public sector employees, teachers are certainly not overpaid. In most places, as here in Utah, teachers are underpaid. It would be difficult for anyone to be a sole breadwinner and raise a family on what a teacher makes.Dcn Scott Dodgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09994604395739905637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8254272216866737058.post-45328971610370364662011-09-06T05:53:21.275-06:002011-09-06T05:53:21.275-06:00I belong to a union - a public teacher's union...I belong to a union - a public teacher's union. My wages are fair - not outrageous. I am thankful for being paid a decent wage. That said, if I were the sole breadwinner in my family of four, we would be subsisting with much difficulty - on my wages. We would not be able to afford a home, or save money.Allisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16021781602272064901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8254272216866737058.post-77786309944671340122011-09-05T11:26:49.119-06:002011-09-05T11:26:49.119-06:00I also think the criticisms levied on high finance...I also think the criticisms levied on high finance by the Holy Father in his encyclical and the utter disregard for social responsibility by many businesses and companies constitute a huge part of the problem, too. All of this congeals to create not just an economy, but a society in which the only concern everyone has is, <i>"What's in it for me?"</i>Dcn Scott Dodgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09994604395739905637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8254272216866737058.post-9255858818969947532011-09-05T10:17:53.659-06:002011-09-05T10:17:53.659-06:00If you read the USCCB statement, you will see that...If you read the USCCB statement, you will see that unions aren't spared fair criticism. Some union demands, just as some company/management demands, do serve the common good. Undoubtedly many unions have not only compromised the common good, but that of their membership. I think of the U.S. automakers, who were basically done-in by giving in to grandiose labor demands. Similarly, the U.S. airline industry was tanked as much by exorbitant pilot union concessions as by 9/11. Of course, now with fees that charge you for breathing air on one of their airliners, they have regained profitability. <br /><br />Certainly, teachers unions work against the common good pretty much across-the-board. The Utah Education Association, for example, perpetually outright lied about what effect a bill to provide private school vouchers, allowing parents choice in education would have on public school funding. They forgot to mention that the proposal would have actually <i>increased</i> per pupil funding in public schools! Other examples abound. A guy collecting signatures for a petition at my neighborhood grocery store a few years ago on behalf of the UEA learned about this from me the hard way, as did a number of my neighbors.<br /><br />What Bp Blair is calling on us all to do is exactly what you suggest. It is clear to me that the answer is not depriving people of their collective bargaining rights. Unions need to get back to being run by people who have actually spent a career doing whatever the membership does, people who are fair-minded and understand the valid interests of both sides and who recognize that labor negotiations are complex and that breaking the bank is not in anyone's interest.<br /> <br />As in the world of high (as in on drugs) finance, labor relations have become too much the provenance of lawyers and others who are not actual stakeholders, but opportunists who operate in their own interests. The media too, our increasingly compromised and stupefied fourth estate, has some responsibility in these matters.Dcn Scott Dodgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09994604395739905637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8254272216866737058.post-41623391333568279162011-09-05T09:39:52.138-06:002011-09-05T09:39:52.138-06:00In my opinion, the labor unions are no better than...In my opinion, the labor unions are no better than business management. They seek to maximize their own interests and have little interest in the common good. Both sides hahve the exact same problem, and there are many people who are neither business management or union labor who are stuck in a decreasing financial position because of it. In my own company, I pay 4 times the amount of health care premiums to offset the cost of the union negotiated rates, and we were told our premiums were raised to offset those costs.<br />In the public sector, for instance, the Chicago public schools refuse to lengthen the school day, because those in the union say that teachers already work 14 hours a day (the school day is less than 6 hours long). It is this kind of stupid argument, in which they bold-face lie to the public, which demonstrates that it's not really the kids that come first, it's the union's self interests.<br /><br />Indeed, we need a labor day. We need a day in which we remind the unions (like we do big business) that their demands do not serve the common good.Dan Snoreply@blogger.com