Teacher Pay Isn't Even the Issue

I have been reading the comments on various articles about the teachers union. I must say, I am pretty disappointed in my community at the moment. There are a number of comments that really boil down to "they have it better than us!"

This is a classic union-busting tactic, and it seems a number of folks have fallen for it. I see it all the time in my line of work. When some union group or another gets uppity, the big guys come in with "well, they are complaining because they don't want to lose their gold plated benefits package! Why should they have it better than you? Oh em gee, you're getting screwed!!" Rather than fight for their very own gold-plated* package, suddenly people are fighting to demote some other group to the copper plan.

People are pointing out that times are tough, and that we are all taking a hit. The logic being that so should the teachers. I think people are looking at this one backwards. Why is it that we must drag those who haven't suffered as much down with us? Wouldn't it be smarter and better to make it our goal to get those who are suffering back up to the same level as those who have been relatively protected from this economy?

If we, as a community, keep trying to pull everyone down to the lowest common economic denominator we are all screwed. So what's next, after we punish teachers for the problems we are all facing? The next time our home values nosedive (instead of the long slow tumble they've been in since '08) do we aim our equality cannons at the wealthier subdivisions, demanding that they park broken cars in their yards so their home values will come down to our level?

One would think we would take the teachers as an example of how to shield our community from the troubles raining down on us from the national level. They are sticking together, and so should we. Someone has to hold the line here, and I for one am grateful for unions to do it for us. Most of us in the private sector aren't unionized, because big-business targets unions and keeps them out of the workforce as much as they can.

So, to put my money where my mouth is, here are some ideas to improve our situation that don't require putting teachers, or any other group in our community, on blast.

We could use eminent domain to bail out underwater homeowners. This would prevent many bankruptcies, keep homeowners in their homes and free up money, which could be spent in the local community. Of course, the financial industry has been spinning talking points against this since it was first considered by a municipality, and are even now working on laws to prevent the tactic. My favorite one is where they extoll the dangers of taking our houses back, saying it would cause a credit crunch (lawls).

Or, if the thought of doing something that pro-active for our community gives you the willies, how about we start small. What about compost? How much could the city save if we stopped paying WM to haul away food scraps in our garbage? Give each house a compost bucket, like the recylcing bins, and put large bins at local parks. Homeowners can take the compost to the large bins at the parks and park district workers could collect it once a week and take it out to Prairie Green. That's a threefer! Free compost for Prairie Green, less waste for the city to pay for, less garbage stickers for residents to buy.

Or maybe we could could cut our energy costs with something like this. Basically, we lease out our rooftops to a company who installs solar panels, then we buy the energy and panels over the course of say, 20 years, After that, it's ours. BOOM.

Point is, as long as we are infighting, we will never come out of this ahead of where we are now. If we don't stick together and find ways to carry the community, teachers and all, through this, I fear 30 years from now our little community is going to be nothing more than a gathering of poor folk, targetting the less-poor amongst us for having it too good.

*I don't know when decent medical insurance and COL increases became "gold-plated" instead of standard. Some time over the last 20 years, I think. But that is an entirely different blog.