700 NYC teachers are paid to do nothing

Exhibit A for the prosecution of unions that have decided to do away with what's deserved and, instead, protect undeserving members to create an entitlement program...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

One of two things should happen rather than the status quo. Either continue to pay them, but require them to attend 8 hours a day of classes suited to dealing with the specific problem that got them the disciplinary action to begin with - maybe some could be rehabilitated and return to work rather than being fired at the end of a months or years long vacaction...

or

Assasinate the union leaders, burn the contracts, fire the bums, and either hire 700 competent teachers or just divide their salaries up amongst those existing teachers that are competent human beings and don't need to be imprisoned in a rubber room indefinately.

I'd opt for a combination of both, except the ones with the least agregious offenses (most deserving of a second chance) are likely the ones that stay in detention the longest and waste the most taxpayer money as it would be more difficult to prove that they need to be terminated... while the ones that only spend a few weeks there are likely to be the few whose behavior is so attrocious even the union can't defend them very long.

So option two seems like the only reasonable way to solve the problem.

Fortunately/unfortunately, in a city as large as NYC, 700 teachers is probably no more than one tenth of one percent of the teacher population - relatively little wasted tax dollars but also not a big enough problem for most people to get upset and scream loud enough to get the system changed.

Why the other teachers in the union aren't as mad as hell over this I don't understand - this prevents them from being paid a more reasonable wage, and teachers (the good ones) are seriously underpaid

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"Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret, especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous."
-William Proxmire



“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” - Mark Twain

Oh let me top that

MOBILE -- An official with the state pension plan says if convicted sex offender Charlene Schmitz staves off termination from her Washington County teaching job for another 2 1/2 years she will be able to retire with pension benefits for life.
Charlene Schmitz


The administrator of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, Mark Reynolds, said everybody's talking about how outrageous it is that she's collecting her salary, but she's also earning retirement credit.

A federal jury in Mobile convicted Schmitz in February 2008 of using a cell phone and a computer to entice a 14-year-old boy for sex, and U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose sentenced her to 10 years and a month in prison.

Schmitz, 56, was fired from her teaching job at Leroy High School. But Alabama law requires an arbitrator to conduct a hearing and determine if the dismissal was justified.

The Alabama Department of Education is trying to revoke her teaching certificate.

Schmitz is being held at the Federal Correctional Facility in Tallahassee.
Former Alabama teacher could qualify for lifetime pension while in federal prison - Breaking News from The Birmingham News - al.com

She is in federal prison collecting her salary and service years to collect her lifetime pension.

Where were all these sex-crazed female teachers with a penchant for young boys when I was 14?

But seriously, it is ridiculous to continue to pay someone who is in prison - and not working. Working is what people are supposed to get paid for.

The only time I ever got paid for not working is when I was laid off from a job last year... out of work for six weeks, applied for unemployment for which I was due - and got $146, which is like 1 1/2 days pay... for six weeks.

I'm so glad me and my employer pay unemployment insurance to the state - I might not have gotten anything.

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"Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret, especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous."
-William Proxmire



“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” - Mark Twain

You just filled me with a whole new level of affection for you, Zoo.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

Giving a liberal facts is like throwing bacon at a vegetarian. All it does it piss off the vegetarian and waste good bacon.

And more

Audit reveals 257 ghosts on DPS payroll


A payroll audit this month at Detroit Public Schools turned up 257 names that will be subject to an investigation into illegal ghost employees, officials said Tuesday.
Advertisement

All of the district's estimated 13,880 workers had to pick up paychecks or direct-deposit slips in person by June 12 as a first step in determining if anyone who is not on the payroll is collecting pay.

There were 37 unclaimed paychecks and 220 unclaimed direct-deposit slips totaling about $208,000, said Odell Bailey, DPS's auditor general. He added that the recipients are not on approved leave.

Robert Bobb, DPS's state-appointed emergency financial manager, also said an audit has begun to determine if employees have unapproved health care dependents that are running up costs.

DPS is to hold a public meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at Frederick Douglass Academy, 2001 W. Warren, to reveal next year's draft budget.
Audit reveals 257 ghosts on DPS payroll | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

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Recession is when your neighbor loses their job
Depression is when you lose your job
Recovery is when Obama loses his

The 220 unclaimed direct deposits seem awefully suspicious... the 37 unclaimed checks, not so much as they would just sit around until becoming null and void in 6 months - so no incentive to any criminal activity - probably just human errors in the paperwork chain that left terminated employees still recieving a paycheck - could be the case for the direct deposits too. Even if it is just error, and not deliberate theft, that kind of lack of oversight is ridiculous, to have pay issued to 257 people that are no longer employed.

If it is properly investigated, they'll get to the bottom of it. It could get interesting.

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"Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret, especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous."
-William Proxmire



“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” - Mark Twain

I'm not 100% anti-union. Unions deserve credit for giving us the 40 hour workweeks and other humane workplace requirements that we are now granted by law. In some careers unions are probably still a good thing, improving on safety and regulation... things like underwater welding, underground mining, and the guys that move steel around 100 stories in the air on a 8-inch wide girder.

But for the vast majority of people employed under unions, they are unecessary and sometimes even counter-productive in this day and age.

Even in the instances where they are extraneous and counter-productive - I support the right of workers to unite. But modern unions aren't about solidarity, the worker doesn't have a right not to unite, not to be a part of the union, modern unions are nothing but mafia style extortion, to both the employers and the employees. It should be illegal for closed-shop unions to exist, all union membership should be 100% voluntary, period.

At some point when union necessity declined to a minimum, the unions became more about strong-arming the workers into membership, to keep union dues paid and the unions in business, and less about solidarity between workers and giving the workers a fair platform to reconsile greivances with employers.

Unions suck, I hate them. Most union employees would profit if the unions disbanded, as they wouldn't have to pay dues for which they get nothing in return. My wife is FORCED to join a union, otherwise she can't hold a job with the county - it's ridiculous, she benefits not from being a member, and has no CHOICE in the matter. Legalized extortion by non-profit agencies. It's outrageous. Unfortunately, I believe as a state employee, in the future (when I finish school and become a Full-time employee, and not an intern) I'll be required to join a union - which is bull$h!t. Though I don't think it will be the same union as my wife, her's being the "Montana Public Employees Association" - even though I'd be a public employee in the state of Montana... it makes no sense to me.

If forced to be a member, I will excercise my right as a member and attend every union meeting, making a motion to vote for disbanding the union, or at the very least, making union membership optional.

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"Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret, especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous."
-William Proxmire



“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” - Mark Twain

I couldn't have said it better.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

Giving a liberal facts is like throwing bacon at a vegetarian. All it does it piss off the vegetarian and waste good bacon.

It's an easy solution. Just notify the 257 people that they need to contact the proper authorities with ID and proof of employment. If they don't make contact, then you hold their paycheck until they do. This gives them three chances to show that they are valid employees. You could also just talk to their supervisors/co-workers and find out if they really do exist.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

Giving a liberal facts is like throwing bacon at a vegetarian. All it does it piss off the vegetarian and waste good bacon.