I want to respond to 1 and 4.jmog;685966 wrote:Since you want to be compared with "highly educated professionals" lets do that.
1. Teachers are about the only college educated career I can think of that is unionized, everyone else with BS or higher (engineers, doctors, lawyers, actuaries, businessmen, etc represent themselves in contract negotiations. So, if you want to be compared to everyone else with a college degree, get rid of your union first. You, on one hand, poke fun at those who "turn screws" and then on the other want to keep your union when typically unions represent those who "turn screws".
4. The BS degreed professional that was making $52k for 240 days of work contributes on average $150/month as their portion of their health insurance cost. The teacher pays no where near this.
So please, don't come on here acting like everyone else is a moron and they need to learn their facts when you apparently haven't learned yours.
#1. I mentioned "turning screws on an assembly line" and I don't want my profession to be compared to this group. I want to be viewed as belonging to a professional organization not a labor union. I also said that the teachers in Wisconsin are making this impossible.
#4. I pay the following for health care $143.85 per paycheck so that is $287.70 a month. Well over $150 per month. My dental is $8.06 per check, $16.12 a month. My vision is $2.40 a paycheck, or 4.80 a month. The dental and vision are comparable to my wife's costs and she is not a teacher. I carry the health for the family because the plan is better and the costs are similar. My cost for family health insurance is 20.2% of the total cost. I have no idea what other teachers in other districts pay.
As far as working less than 240 days a year, that's one of the reasons I got into teaching. My schedule allows my wife to do her job (she makes a lot more than me.) but 95% of the time one of us is home with the kids.