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This is the problem is that in this county nobody wants to discuss these things. People just go with the flow. That is what gets this state and country in so much trouble. People just vote and have no idea what they are voting for. That is why this right to work is so important to discuss. We can discuss so many other things that are important. I teach government and I plead to my students to vote. I never tell them who to vote for or who I am going to vote for. I teach them what actually the officals are saying, so they can make an accurate choice when they vote. I would wager to say 75 percent of people in this state have no idea what right to work is. Governor Daniels state of the union had good points and points that werent so good. He has done a great job for the hunter and fisherman in gaining access. He has been the worst thing to happen in education in a really long time. We are losing tons of great teachers every year, because his administration has hurt the education system so much. I am teaching in a school that has no A/C and is is falling apart. People say we dont need A/C in schools. When it is over 80 degrees outside it is 90 in my room. It was 95.6 degrees in my room last year. I appreciate Hoosier allowing this thread up. I am happy to see all the replies and views. If people dont want to reply or view dont click on it. No reason to take this down.
There might be a lot of pages in this thread, but this is nothing compared to the amount we had last year when the governor of WI Scott walker eliminated the collective bargaining rights for all state employees! Up until this thread i didn't even know Indiana was thinking of going right to work, whereas at this point last year the national news was all over Madison filming the protesters.
Ya Wi. got a lot of the headlines, but I remember the Ind. Dem. legislators left the state too the first time they tried pushing through the RTW legislation. I wonder how many of these Rep. governors would have won in the 2010 election if they had run on what they actually intended to do, once elected.
Wax_worm - money for schools in Indiana are not equally divided between school districts on a per student basis. Some school systems get a lot more money than others. Being in a smaller school system, we get less money but still have to have maintain buildings and such. Those costs go up every year but the money doesn't always follow. Some school systems with increasing enrollment actually have less money per student. Very weird formula used to allocate funds.
The Unions and large Corporations are probably the biggest contributors to a politician's campaign. We know that these donations influence their decisions. It would be nice to elect someone who actually has the common people's best interest in mind. (Ha...I must be dreaming) I also think there should be limits on how much a politician can spend on his/her campaign....it would level the field and give the common sense guy a chance at getting elected.
just fyi....yes they have to set up a pac fund which is voluntary...but when i got out of day school right before they let us become apprentices...they set all 20 of us down in a room with 4 of the main guys running the local and the pac and explained to us that we "needed to do this for our best interest". very intimidating to a new graduate with his whole career in front of him. miraculously all 20 of us signed the paperwork. it wasn't until years later after i turned out as a journeyman that i began digging to see where the money went. finding it not to be agreeable to my personal political views i went in and filled out more paperwork to stop donating. it all seems so benign when you say big whoop it's only 5 cents an hour....but run the math. a 1000 man local ideally works 2000 hours per year at .o5 cents donated. that's $100k per year!!! that's just for one local for one trade, and I'd say the 1000 man local might be a little low on the average amount of guys per local. then factor in the non building trades unions that are doing the same thing...teachers, city, state, county workers, teamsters, food and commercial workers....you are talking big bucks.like i said money is the mothers milk of politics...be like the IRS....and just follow the money!
When is this going to stop............I will finally say it, the unions are the reasons the whole country is in the shape we are in, if you do your job, why do you need someone to protect you. And I won't post anymore on this subject. I know this will get a bunch of replies, but I am just saying what about half of you are wanting to. This is a fishing site not a political site...... or so I thought.
Not jealousy here Tom. Speaking of bringing somebody down to raise themselves... Long time ago we seen an outrageous example of the grip these unions have on our political system. When GM went bankrupt and billions were handed over to the UAW, which single-handedly brought an American icon of a company to it's knees. When investors got zilch (that's zero) and bondholders got peanuts. Those are real living people that worked hard for their money just like we do, and it was smuggled into the hands of the UAW and union workers in hopes they will return the favor come election time. I know all of the trades guy's will say you can't compare this situation to my union, but i believe we have seen alot of the same going on. Lot's of folks are hurting out there but the money is flowing to keep the chosen working.I happen to have a decent job myself and wish nothing but the best for everyone else. Just like y'all, i want a fair wage and compensation for my labor. Might have come across wrong with my comments about the wages of the union workers i am seeing, but it would take more time than i care to waste to fully explain myself. In short, the only difference i see is the unions entanglement with politics and the money circle that none of you can deny. Nobody's fault but all of ours. I am given the choice to support a system like this nowhere in my daily life, rather this choice is made for me everyday via the tax dollars coming out of my check. My schools and public buildings, roads and infrastructure, energy, etc, etc... All the areas that the union's are heavily involved. I am aware of what organized labor has done in history for American workers with regards to fair compensation, workers rights, safety, etc... I have no doubt if my employer was to be unionized, it would be the start of a rapid decline in profitability and success of a currently healthy and growing company. That alone tells me something and the answer probably lies somewhere in between.And Al, i sure hope you were not planning on being the voice for the ice-fishing union. Imagine if a company were to find a whole big bunch of those pesky newbies that do twice the work of a veteran like yourself..... Good Gravy LOLLMAO, hello coffee breaks and big fish tails.Quote from Al.."There is always someone younger, and more productive than one of us older members. Or someone who has been working non-union, who just became organized and is doing the work of 2 men. Just saying, there are no guarantees you will keep your job."
Wax you are wrong. We have about 800 less students than Indianapolis, but get about 3/4 of the funding that Indianapolis has. Education system must have get funding from the state. The state says it is out of money. The state just found 300 million dollars. Why would we not give that money to education. Why is one of the first things we cut education. We waste millions of dollars on road projects and other things. The most important thing is education. We have to educate the youth across the state. Those are the young people coming up behind us. I invite anybody to come with me for one day, and you will see how funding could really help the education! We have a system that fails the students. That system was created by the government. It is very sad. I have kids in 8th grade that cant read or write.
wax_worm This has been a very interesting thread to follow. I understand your position that 'throwing more money at schools' isn't going to fix the problems in education and even agree with it, to a point. What would you propose we do to fix the education system for ours and future children?