Is the Tacoma union made?

The public sector unions are a strong supporter of a certain political party. They work hard (and successfully) to have candidates elected who will support the unions agenda.
So in effect, many tax payers are funding the support of political candidates whom they don't agree with.

 

Masters.

 

I pay close to 9K in school taxes ALONE. A friend a few towns over pays 12K! I believe that gives me the write to bitch and whine, ha.

 

It's gross. Wayyyy to high. Political corruption and public sector unions are the downfall of Long Island, no two ways around it. Sales tax of 8.625. Average home value is 450K with an average property tax bill of 8K. Most people I know have to pay upwards of 10-15K a year in property taxes alone. Add in the nations most expensive utilities provider and its no wonder the young people are leaving. If I didn't have family and friends ( and the beaches and NYC a half hour away help) I would have headed out to the carolinas a long time ago. I've looked into moving trust me, but with family and friends being here not worth it to me, so instead I complain to the internet!

 

A now former friend of minee was the same, he got content to collect when he got laid off Guy could get a job in no time and was very charismatic but saw it as a paid vacation to go hit the bars

 

Many kids in my generation were extravagant with college. I commuted and went to a state school for 2 yrs to keep costs down, would have gone to another one for 2 more if I didn't get a great grant and scholarship package

Yes some careers will cost such as doctors and lawyers, but no business major needs to live far away and not work. I left with one loan for under 10k. Granted I had the luxury of living at home as well

 

Nothing is 'union made'. Unions don't make anything. They are organizations of people.

Lets assume good engineering and materials going in.

The quality of any product or service is in the hands of individuals and their personal efforts.

I've seen, known, worked with and managed wonderful people who did quality work.

And I've unfortunately seen, known, worked with and managed folks who wound up in progressive discipline, including discharge, because they were slovenly workers.

The good news is that both types have been both union and non union members.

The bad news is being union can guarantee that you'll have a much harder time dealing with a problem employee, particularly if tenure is a component of position. The old question of 'do they have 20 years experience?' or 'do they have 1 year of experience 20 times?' too often plays out.

Being union, or non union, doesn't guarantee a quality product or service. Having a good team of employees who care about their work does.

 

Insane. You should see some of the shitty jobs I've had, not to mention some of the crap I took and smiled just to keep the job short term.

I have a good job now but work a second job and part is love of what I do but the $ helps. Www.mmdl.org is my part time gig

 

You're absolutely correct. Houston has a nice low cost of living compared to the rest of the US and most other parts of Texas. The crash of the oil market has hurt though. Lots of layoffs. Housing market has taken a hit too; it was a seller's market like no other. People were selling at grossly inflated prices and were offered more. Thankfully home prices have come down... I'm looking for a house

Things have been good broheim. Staying busy as hell and the hoof hasn't slowed me down too much (this cold weather hurts though). Barely have had time to think, much less participate in the TWSS this year. Oh well. Next year.

How about you? How is life and how was your holidays?

 

Right*
Anyway, it used to be school taxes were pulled from the general fund but every time a new tax to support schools comes along, usually a chunk roughly equal to the new tax is removed from the budget and then allocated elsewhere. It gives the appearance of more and more money being dumped into the education system but in reality it's not going up as much as people think.

 

Local school board is funded through property taxes.

 

For the most part yes, however in California there's been additional taxes tacked on through ballot measures.

 

Good deal on the healing. I think oil is going to continue to be squeezed until enough of the smaller & weaker players die off then it'll be back on & prices will rise. OPEC or at least some members are doing some blood letting (I'm sure you're way more clued into what's going on than most of us). Ya ya man if ur job is strong then you're hittin the right time if you're staying around HOU.

Things are great man. Holidays were quiet and I ended up working the days before, actual holiday & the days after Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years. So, I kept my normal hermit behavior in tact. It has turned frigid here (like low 30s upper 20s at night) from 80s just a few weeks ago & since I work outside not much of a fan. At least the mowing is done for a few months now.

I just read a story about how certain counties in your area opted out of social security. Is that still in effect? You get in on that or are you one country away?

 

That is a problem.
There is a reason property owners are charged with the funding of local public schools.

 

It isn't just the metro area of NY that the teachers make so much. 15 years ago in Tioga County a couple I know we're making $125k each as 3rd grade teachers and BS degrees. Average home cost is $100K and average household income $50K today, not sure how much they make now but pretty sure it is substantially more than the $125K back then. And they had a lot of time off. NEA-NY is very powerful and has been since Jack Schamel was the first director in 1971. I have nothing against Jack, I grew up a couple of houses away from him in the hamlet of Chemung.

North Carolina has beaches too, just saying.... Moved to Mn. from Asheville, NC and lived on the NC coast when I was stationed in the Tidewater Va. area. With the taxes and gun laws of NY I don't ever see myself moving back there. As to my experience with unions when I retired from the Navy and lived in NC I did business process improvement consulting. Including doing work for Asheville Industries which was a small firm that did Union Prevention consulting in the Southeast mainly for smaller manufacturing companies.

 

They get more than three months off. I was looking at the schedule for my son's school because I thought that it was odd that they have unusual times. Example - they get out at 2:53pm Why 2:53 - why not just make it an even 3:00? It is because every single minute of the school year is scheduled to conform with the union contracts and the government requirements. When you look at the whole plan and add in all of the weekends, christmas, easter, holidays, etc. - the entire school year totals up to slightly less than half of the days in an entire year. So in their case, they actually get 6 months+ of paid vacation. Not a bad gig when you can get it.

My gripe comes from the fact that the California teachers union threatened a state-wide strike a few years ago when it was proposed the employee member contribution on their health insurance cost would go from $0 to $15 per month. They raised holy hell about that one - and they won. So I don't have a lot of sympathy for the teacher payroll, as the statistics that they show you rarely give you the full financial picture. This is intentional to gain more sympathy. Personally, I'd be willing to take a cut in my standard pay too if I got half of the year off (paid), free insurance, and 80% or more of my salary for life after retirement. They can get 100% with enough time served.

 

I think the situation is normally that when unions aren't necessary, just like with any bureaucracy they can grow fat with complacency, so you end up with unions that become corrupt and don't fight hard enough for worker's rights and best interest. On the other end, no one wants a union until they need one, and when they need one it's usually because of larger corporations pushing shitty, perhaps dangerous, working conditions and/or low pay/benefits. There is always a trade off having one or not, but in general I tend to side on the rights and best interest of working people who are the backbone of any industry and country. Even if that means dealing with a few hard to fire degenerate employees.

 

Is that a Toller in your pic?

 

Why yes it is good eye, he is now 12. I took that when I was reloading and he kept getting underfoot so I picked him up and put him on the reloading bench in an empty 12 pound keg of Red Dot gunpowder. He is now retired from hunting and I have a Toller pup that just turned one in training. Actually he is already a heck of a hunter, not sure who is training who at this point.

 

LOL. I have a 5+ year old male, hes not a hunter but he wants to chase deer and cats. He does nose work, a bit physcotic but love him to pieces. We would get another but the wife is not physically able to manage the 2 dogs we have now let alone a third. Cant miss a Toller.