Cancellation of Union Contracts: The self-entitlement of public workers
A regular citizen shown in the video below pulled over a police officer—a government worker who believes that they are exempt from the law. The officer was driving an unmarked police car and using it for traffic citations—which in Washington state is illegal. The private citizen knew as much and pulled over the bewildered officer. Notice the arrogance of the officer in believing that because he was a police officer, that he was held to a different standard than the rest of society. Wisely, he realized that the citizen knew more about the law than he did, so he shut his mouth rather quickly—but his irritation at being called out for illegal action was classic.
This is what you get when you have unionized employees in charge of society. Unionized behavior doesn’t work in private industry and it certainly doesn’t work in the public sector. It is because of the lack of competition in promotions, raises, and benefits acquisition that there is so much incompetence in the public sector centering around union contracts paid for with tax payer funds. As predicted at this site four years ago, time is running out for this kind of behavior as city managers and councils are beginning to understand that the only way they can manage tax funded resources is to introduce competition to the equations so that they can get better value for the consumed dollar.
Two remarkable stories happened over the last week resulting in the cancelling of union contracts by public officials. One is the dissolving of the Lincoln Heights police department in Ohio due to excessive insurance costs triggered by union driven law suits so to move the bar of progressive activism far to the left—which has cost Lincoln Heights a lot of money. They decided to just drop their police department to stop the bleeding—which was an excellent decision. The other is the Philadelphia school system cancelling their teacher’s contract because of the excessive cost of health care contributions. The union over the years refused to budge on their golden plans with little contributions from themselves which has broken the bank leaving the only responsible thing to do is to just drop the contract. I have reprinted each story with the original links below. The Lincoln Heights story was the result of a WCPO I-Team investigation and is what journalism is supposed to be about. The Philadelphia schools system story is a Fox News feature. Both have their roots in the same crises located in different parts of the country to show that this is not a regional problem. One is in a relatively conservative area, the other a very liberal one. In the coming months and years this will become a much more common occurrence as it is the only way to properly manage tax payer resources from the greedy hands of public sector unions who just don’t know when to stop asking for more, and more, and more.
CINCINNATI – Lincoln Heights police and fire departments were shut down Thursday after a “lapse in insurance coverage,” but at least one service returned Friday morning.
Hamilton County dispatchers said the fire department reopened, but the police department will remain closed.
Public Entities Pool of Ohio (PEP) – an insurance group that provides property and liability coverage to public entities – terminated the village’s insurance at 12 a.m. Thursday, forcing the departments to shut down.
“It was a yearly renewal,” Lincoln Heights Village Manager Stephanie Summerow-Dumas said. “It was time for a renewal and (PEP) made the decision (to cut coverage) because of certain variables.”
Those variables are lawsuits, according to PEP Executive Vice President JT. Babish.
Babish said coverage was pulled due to the “substantial negative financial impact” of wage disputes, employment harassment, wrongful terminations, allegations of wrongful arrest and violations of civil rights within the departments.
Twenty-three of those claims have resulted in lawsuits – nine of which are still being defended, he said.
PEP officials said the village could not keep up with the costs of those suits.
“Any company would look at that and see if they want to be vulnerable to offer insurance,” Summerow-Dumas said. “I’m sure that came into play and they looked at some of that.”
Lincoln Heights emergency dispatchers were advised to tell callers to contact the Lockland Police Department and Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, which have taken over emergency duties.
RELATED: I-Team: Lincoln Heights police department struggles with ‘corruption’
The closure of Lincoln Heights’ safety services comes on the heels of an I-Team investigation looking into allegations of corruption inside the police department.
The I-Team uncovered several officers within the department have been cited with violations and charged with crimes .
Lincoln Heights Mayor Laverne Mitchell called Ohio Rep. Alicia Reese Thursday after the insurance coverage was revoked.
Reese said she is working to find a solution.
“I contacted the governor to ask for help,” Reece said. “Safety has to be the top priority for the residents, both in the short and long term.”
Reece said she also held an emergency meeting with cabinet members and representatives from the Department of Insurance and Public Safety.
She said the state agreed to work with Lincoln Heights officials over the next several weeks.
Philadelphia schools cancel teachers’ union contract
PHILADELPHIA – The troubled Philadelphia school district abruptly canceled its teachers’ contract Monday, a surprise move designed to force health care contributions after two years of stalled labor talks.
The announcement came at a hastily-called meeting of the state-run School Reform Commission.
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District officials said they have no plans to cut wages of the 15,000 teachers, nurses and other members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. They would pay about $55 to $140 per month for health care premiums, and face other benefit cuts, starting in December, unless the move is challenged in court.
The American Federation of Teachers called the vote Monday “a well-planned Hail Mary ambush” by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, who faces a tough re-election fight next month.
“Corbett’s School Reform Commission has amped up a war on teachers and support staff,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement. “The commission would rather attempt to impose a contract than work with teachers to figure out what is best for Philadelphia’s kids.”
The district, one of the nation’s largest, has 135,000 students. Officials have eliminated 5,000 jobs and closed more than 30 schools as they cut nearly $1 billion in expenses in the past few years. The district perennially struggles with a structural deficit caused by rising pension and health care costs and payments to charter schools, which serve an additional 65,000 students.
Officials said the benefit concessions were on a par with those made by administrators and other workers in recent years.
“Requiring teachers and other employees to contribute to their health care costs is a change and a sacrifice, but contributing to health care benefits is the reality of today’s workplace,” Superintendent William Hite said in a letter to parents. “Limited resources require difficult decisions.”
He expected the teacher health care contributions to yield more than $50 million in savings and new funding per school year. At the same time, Hite urged parents to keep pushing state lawmakers for what he called a fair funding formula.
“Philadelphia families have made extraordinary sacrifices: students come to school every day in buildings that lack critical resources necessary for teaching and learning,” said SRC Chairman William J. Green, a longtime Philadelphia councilman appointed to the post by Corbett earlier this year.
Corbett just two weeks ago signed off on a $2-a-pack cigarette tax in Philadelphia, which city leaders had sought to raise $83 million a year for the school district.
One Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Mike O’Brien of Philadelphia, called the SRC’s unanimous vote to break the contract Monday “an exercise in union busting.”
“It’s certainly a violation of all laws dealing with collective bargaining,” he said. “I think it winds its way into the federal courts.”
Union officials planned an afternoon news conference.
City schools have been under state control since 2001, but have always worked under a negotiated contract. Under the takeover law, teachers do not have the right to strike.
Only a few dozen people attended the surprise session Monday morning, according to parent activist Helen Gym, who said she only learned of the meeting at midnight.
“It’s a disgrace in terms of public governance and democracy,” said Gym, the co-founder of Parents United for Public Education.
“As parents, we’re obviously concerned, because the only thing that is really holding our schools together right now is the teachers and staff,” she said. “I just don’t know how we’re going to sustain and keep a talented teaching force without a contract.”
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/10/06/philadelphia-schools-cancel-teachers-union-contract/
Rich Hoffman
