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Push to Unionize UW Campuses Underway

This sentence caught my eye. 

Meanwhile, debate over the issue will likely heighten as organizers pick up momentum. Union supporters tout job and salary protection…

Did I miss something?  Were the jobs or salaries of UW faculty ever threatened?  They seem to be weathering this recession without much pain.

Posted by Owen at 1755 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

1. What evidence to you have to support your presumption that UW faculty arnen’t feeling any “pain” in this recession?  (Straw man alert!)

   UW faculty have had a contractual 2% raise taken away, and the same state furlough as other employees (equaling a 3% cut).  State and University employees who were unionized did face these same cuts. That’s one of the reasons they’re pushing for the union.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 10, 2009 at 2142 hrs
   
   
   

2. George,

   How many professors have been laid off by the state?

   (straw man alert)

   Posted by Smeety on December 10, 2009 at 2155 hrs
   
   
   

3. Faculty at UWM were required to work on their furlough day.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 10, 2009 at 2308 hrs
   
   
   

4. Crap,

   Let’s see we have 10% unemployment, and the rest of us are just glad to have a job and are working like dogs.  And George is whining that UW teachers had to take some more days off.  I wish I had that problem.  We are running so short staffed, I can’t find any time to take any of the vacation I’m due.  I will lose at least 12 days of vacation this year.  And NO one has gotten raises last year, and next year is not looking much better.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 0217 hrs
   
   
   

5. What evidence to you have to support your presumption that UW faculty arnen’t feeling any “pain” in this recession?  (Straw man alert!)

   UW faculty have had a contractual 2% raise taken away, and the same state furlough as other employees (equaling a 3% cut).  State and University employees who were unionized did face these same cuts. That’s one of the reasons they’re pushing for the union.

   That violin is so tiny I can hardly believe you can play it…. Talk about straw men.

   I permanently laid of one employee, and took a 20% salary cut, just so that I could keep the rest of my employees on at their current wages and make my business continue to operate.

   Maybe I should start a small business owners union that could negotiate with me to get myself better pay….....

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 0717 hrs
   
   
   

6. BTW George, that whining is precisely why so many feel that unions are no longer necessary. I suggest you read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, so you can maybe understand the plight of actual workers, working in conditions that actually warrant unionization.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 0720 hrs
   
   
   

7. Wow - everyone is sure quick to attack. Where exactly did I “whine” and why would I?  I merely pointed out that UW system faculty have been financially affected by this recession. Jesus, I’ve had enough of this place that doesn’t allow for any normal conversation. Enjoy just talking to each other and accomplishing little. Kthxbye!

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 0914 hrs
   
   
   

8. It makes you wonder how they got such high salaries and benefits without a union.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 1044 hrs
   
   
   

9. George, you don’t need to announce it.  Just go….

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 1344 hrs
   
   
   

10. Don’t worry about it George.  Quick attacks are what one expects here from a handful of people.  I guess that’s why some folks refer to this site as “Jack Boots and Sickles”.  But there are many good and open minded individuals here dispite the few.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 1406 hrs
    
    
    

11. George,

    Bush-hating Pat makes a good point.  Try to come on here and say college professors have it rough and expect to have your ass handed to you…

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 1538 hrs
    
    
    

12. See there George, Smeetys proof of what John Stuart Mill said, “Not all conservatives are stupid people, but most stupid people are conservatives.”

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 1547 hrs
    
    
    

13. Bush-hating Pat, you crack me up.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 1625 hrs
    
    
    

14. Or as Churchill would say “Show me a young conservative and I’ll show you someone with no heart.  Show me an old liberal and I’ll show you someone with no brains.”    No shortage of proof there.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 1625 hrs
    
    
    

15. Thank God I’m not a liberal. 

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 1655 hrs
    
    
    

16. Oh, FYI, Churchill never did say, “Show me a young conservative and I’ll show you someone with no heart.  Show me an old liberal and I’ll show you someone with no brains.”

    Besides, it would be very strange for Churchill to have said that seeing as he was a conservative at 15 and a liberal at 35.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 1743 hrs
    
    
    

17. I believe my statement about Churchill being a liberal to be false.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 1938 hrs
    
    
    

18. Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.

    -Winston Churchill

    There’s the actual quote for you Pat. I can’t help but notice that making false statements and retracting them is not exactly in keeping with your boots and sabers pseudonym.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 12, 2009 at 1110 hrs
    
    
    

19. Dougy,

    At least I have the balls to admit if I’m incorrect on something I posted without having someone bring it to my attention.  It’s probably a first for this site.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 12, 2009 at 1127 hrs
    
    
    

20. It’s probably a first for this site.

    Hardly.

    Posted by Owen on December 12, 2009 at 1207 hrs
    
    
    

21. Yep, Pat is the only fair and balanced commentor on here, and the very first to admit his/her mistakes.  (sarcasm off)
    But the convenient making up of new facts or claiming well known facts are falsehood, that certainly wasn’t a first either.  I love how liberals claim we conservatives are ignorant morons, while backing up their arguments with fake science, and revisionist history.  Thanks for whacking that mole Doug.

    I must admit, I must have no heart, as I’ve been conservative since birth. 

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 12, 2009 at 1706 hrs
    
    
    

22. I can see where this could be alluring to academic staff or even faculty members at outstate UW System schools whose jobs are focused more on teaching load and less on research.  Those people tend to have fewer opportunities for advancement or lateral transfer and tend to be more dependent on improving the job they have.

    Professors at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee are probably more inclined to see unionization as potentially limiting their ability to earn more money.  People can argue the validity of their salaries but nobody can deny that they’re largely driven by the market as a whole.  And even then, we tend to be closer to the trailing edge of that trend than the leading edge.  Unionizing would just impair their ability to negotiate a salary that’s comparable with their peers.

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on December 13, 2009 at 1213 hrs
    
    
    

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