Wisconsin 1 Wisconsin Unions 0
 

Here is another graphic representation of why I believe unions have outlived their usefullness.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politi...t-health-costs

Here is a companion article. They state that at least one Wisconsin school expects to go from a $400K deficit to a $1.5M surplus in the next year BECAUSE of the anti-collective bargaining laws passed in Wisconsin at the vehement opposition of Dems and unions. It also says the union backed insurance is now saying they will MATCH the lowest bidder! Imagine that!

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politi...chool-district

Thank you very much for the nice citable article.

There will be more of this when the hysteria wears off. Right now the local printed press are still running the front-page stuff about programs that have to get cut, and little about what happens when muni gov finds out that they have some more (fiscally beneficial) options now and can apply them forthwith.

It didn't help the unions' cause any when it got out that the up-in-arms populace during the initial brouhaha turned out to be other organized locals' rent-a-mobs that were bussed in on I-90/94 for a daily stipend which, when exhausted, sent them back home via the same charter bus they rode in on. I know because I interviewed some of these hired thugs as they stopped for chow enroute out of Madison and (thankfully) out of the state to go back underneath their rocks.

That dime got dropped - there will be more of this and I hope this thing goes viral.

Stossel had a nice piece over the weekend about the cost of genuflecting at the High Church of the Educational Self-Licking Ice Cream Cone.

MOO:

Unions had a purpose in largely unregulated big enterprise, along with a small government, remained at odds with big business; The constant push/pull of regulation vs. free enterprise created a strange equilibrium which worked for some time, providing workers with rights and benefits without strangling the business. The problem was when the government decided "If you can't beat em, join em" and in the end, the American worker got the short end of the stick. Over time government and regulation grew, unions became more powerful through that regulation and collective bargaining, and businesses, big and small, were choked. Large enterprises that could afford it, moved their operations overseas, maintaining a shell in the US for image and financial/tax purposes. Small business moved towards illegal and undocumented workers to avoid regulation and union stranglehold, and again, the American worker got the shaft.

Government and unions need just enough power to maintain that balance of workers rights and common sense regulation, not a drop more. The constant struggle is needed, there are no victors, just the tit for tat which keeps things going.

Reduce government, reduce regulation to what is needed to prevent outright corruption and proven ecological damage, regulate collective bargaining and you just might bring jobs back to this country.


My .0002...

An additional dynamic going on in Wisconsin
 

Unlike the Apologist in Chief, many like to blame the new guy for the 8 years of the previous saddle-headed governor, who never met an entitlement (or vote) he didn't think he could buy. And here's the cost; there is going to be alot of "Baksheesh, Sahib!" for awhile yet...but it's a step in the right direction.

LINK

Wisconsin owes U.S. $1.18 billion on unemployment borrowing
e-mail print By Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel
Oct. 23, 2011 |(181) Comments

Related Coverage
Wisconsin owes U.S. $1.18 billion on unemployment borrowing
Walker's job goal may be tough to meet
The state of Wisconsin still owes the federal government a whopping $1.18 billion it borrowed to pay unemployment benefits to the jobless.

Despite the fragile state of the economy, the state is working on ways to repay the federal government. It is doing so in a variety of ways:

 Special assessments against businesses to pay the interest the federal government is charging states.

 A one-week waiting period for people seeking unemployment benefits.

 An increase in the taxable wage base the state uses to calculate what companies owe.

 A requirement that residents filing new claims register first with the Wisconsin Job Service and actively search for work.

 Proposed legislation that sharply increases the penalty for fraud.

Among the 27 states that owe the federal government money, Wisconsin ranks 11th. California is first, with $8.63 billion owed.

A new study on unemployment insurance by the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan research organization, finds that businesses nationwide are in danger of facing higher unemployment insurance taxes at a time when private-sector hiring is low.

Craig Barkelar, administrator of the Department of Workforce Development's division of unemployment insurance, said last week that Wisconsin has paid $42.4 million in interest payments owed between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 to the federal government. The state did so, he said, to avoid losing administrative reimbursement costs that the federal government pays Wisconsin.

The federal interest rate is 3%. It used to be 4%.

Employer payment
In Wisconsin, an employer pays unemployment insurance taxes on each employee's taxable wages. Taxable wages are the first $13,000 of each employee's total annual wages. The taxable wage base was $12,000 per employee in 2009 and will rise to $14,000 in 2013.

The tax rate that Wisconsin businesses must pay varies from about 0.3% to nearly 10%, and the rate is based on a formula tied to the amount a company has paid into the system.

The one-week waiting period for payment of unemployment benefits takes effect Jan. 1 and will save money in the long run. It is not the first time a waiting period has been enforced, Barkelar said.

Barkelar's division also has been working to recover overpayments to jobless recipients. To date, the Division of Unemployment Insurance has been able to collect 79% of all overpayments that have been discovered.

And it's getting better at it.

Going up
In 2009, the agency recovered $31 million in overpayments. In 2010, it was $35.3 million. And through Oct. 18, a total of $36.1 million in overpayments has been recovered.

Currently, overpayments exceed $100 million.

The division has legal authority to issue levies and warrants, intercept federal and state tax refunds, garnish wages and offset jobless payments made in other states.

At the same time, state officials are hoping the economy will improve.

"As wages and jobs grow, the number of people needing benefits decreases and revenue coming in from unemployment insurance taxes increases," Barkelar said.

***

Debtor states
Twenty-seven states, including Wisconsin, still owe money to the federal government after borrowing to pay unemployment benefits.

1. California : $8.63 billion
2. Michigan: $3.14 billion
3. New York: $2.89 billion
4. Pennsylvania: $2.80 billion
5. Ohio: $2.61 billion
6. North Carolina: $2.45 billion
7. Illinois: $1.89 billion
8. Indiana: $1.86 billion
9. Florida: $1.55 billion
10. New Jersey: $1.25 billion
11. WISCONSIN: $1.18 BILLION
12. South Carolina: $966 million
13. Kentucky: $949 million
14. Connecticut: $810 million
15. Nevada: $773 million
16. Missouri: $725 million
17. Georgia: $721 million
18. Arkansas: $360 million
19. Arizona: $291 million
20. Colorado: $259 million
21. Rhode Island: $240 million
22. Minnesota: $228 million
23. Kansas: $171 million
24. Virginia: $169 million
25. Vermont: $77 million
26. Delaware: $62 million
27. Alabama: $23 million

Republicans at the regional level should be networking the municipal players with those in areas (like the opening article) where the shackles have been cut so they can be shown the win-win that happens. School boards could (if they have the stones) tell their constituents that they don't have to cut programs and will in fact be enjoying a surplus.

Oh, my, it's like the Energzer Bunny...
 

LINK


WEAC break may be a thing of the past
By MATTHEW DeFOUR Wisconsin State Journal lacrossetribune.com | Posted: Wednesday, October 26, 2011 12:00 am | (29) Comments

.La Crosse schools are closed Thursday and Friday, but with the annual teachers union convention canceled, many districts are considering whether to do away with the mid-semester break in the future.

Many school districts had already set their calendars for this year by the time the Wisconsin Education Association Council announced in May it would cancel its fall convention.

But Sun Prairie and McFarland have decided to hold classes next year on the days previously set aside for the WEAC convention. Others, including Cambridge, Belleville and DeForest, are thinking about doing the same.

“Early indications are people would favor having regular classes on those days to reduce breaks in instruction for students,” DeForest Superintendent Jon Bales said. “It also allows for the addition of makeup snow days at the end of the year without going too far into the month of June.”

Most La Crosse teachers will have two unpaid days off this year. Music and art teachers will attend conferences.

Middleton-Cross Plains is continuing its past practice of requiring teachers to work for 7.5 hours — either on Thursday or at some point in the future — in exchange for the two days off.

Some districts, including Madison, will use the days for professional staff development.

Attendance at the WEAC convention has been noticeably low in past years and parents questioned how it improved the classroom experience for their children, said Kim Henderson, president of the Wisconsin Parent Teacher Association.

“Most people are never traveling so they’re trying to find someone to watch their kids,” Henderson said. “Most parents would rather have the time when the weather is nice.”

Union officials acknowledge that attendance has dropped off, with Madison Teachers Inc. executive director John Matthews estimating about 10 percent of WEAC’s membership going.

WEAC canceled its convention this year largely because it was unclear how many districts would allow teachers to attend under the new collective bargaining law, spokeswoman Christina Brey said.

In the past unions negotiated for the days off, but the new law allows School Districts to unilaterally set their calendars.

The Madison School District previously paid teachers for the two days off to attend the convention, but was one of the first and largest districts to change its contract to require teachers to attend school-based staff development instead this year.

Madison teachers will spend the two days learning about a new approach for identifying special education students, the implementation of consistent curriculum across the district, and new tests to assess student progress and whether the district is closing its achievement gap, Deputy Superintendent Sue Abplanalp said.

“Right now teachers are ... trying lots of different strategies and we’re not sure if they’re working,” Abplanalp said. “We really need to focus on systemic reform in our district to make sure the strategies are effective.”

Elementary teachers will also have planning time in the afternoon, though middle and high school teachers are unhappy that they won’t, Matthews said.

Tribune reporter Patrick B. Anderson contributed to this story
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Next thing you know they won't get automatic matching days for Fed holidays the state doesn't recognize. The sky is falling.