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So How Much Do Public Union Workers Really Make?
Fox News ^ | March 01, 2011 | John R. Lott Jr.

Posted on 03/01/2011 11:10:52 AM PST by JohnRLott

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To: kcvl

“Have you ever talked to the IRS?!”

Anyone that can’t beat the IRS isn’t very smart.


61 posted on 03/02/2011 2:52:59 AM PST by dalereed
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To: mom4melody

“You want to know why a lot of these employees stink? Entitlements. Affimative action hire, veterans preferencee hir, etc. I know in my own department we have the truly skilled professionals, then we have those HR made us hire due to said entitlement.”

These are often a drag on performance, and “untouchable”; the worst ones are just left where they can do the least damage while they play solitaire. Even worse are people with connections (bosses’ girlfriends, family members and such), given positions and pay far beyond their abilities. Some just keep a low profile while laughing all the way to the bank; the worst are the ones that think they’ve earned the position and should be treated as a productive member of the company.


62 posted on 03/02/2011 2:56:03 AM PST by kearnyirish2
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To: Avid Coug

Many people who made those moves in the last few years are now looking for work due to the “last in, first out” policies used by municipalities to balance their budgets. The first indication that the relationship between private- and public-sector employment had changed dramatically was when talented, bright people recently started flocking to the public sector; the compensation had pulled ahead of the private sector as it scaled back to bring us to Asian-scale levels.

When you have 1/3 of the police forces being laid off in some cities (Camden, Paterson in NJ), that is a frightening number of people being dumped into the crappy job market with skills that don’t transfer well; while they thought they’d struck gold they’ll now probably have to move to another state to work in that field. As our recent public school teacher battle with the governor showed, many of the long-timers in these jobs aren’t leaving (they know they’re riding high financially compared to the private-sector), they wouldn’t grant concessions to save their union brethren, and there is no money in many school budgets to pay anyone but the tenured teachers. Twenty-somethings looking for the 180 day work-year are leaving NJ to find work.


63 posted on 03/02/2011 3:03:51 AM PST by kearnyirish2
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To: dearolddad

I have never had any problems with any of those agencies. Maybe you guys need to work on your personalities.


64 posted on 03/02/2011 8:36:45 PM PST by arrogantsob
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To: gibsosa

Well, I don’t care if I’m not popular and can take the insults the truth sometimes generates.


65 posted on 03/02/2011 8:38:11 PM PST by arrogantsob
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To: RWGinger

Since the national median HH income is around 45K your statement shows that Wisconsin teachers are not paid twice the average salary. Wisconsin HH income is higher than the national average too.


66 posted on 03/02/2011 8:44:06 PM PST by arrogantsob
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To: kearnyirish2

While NJ teachers may be paid very well I doubt that they make twice the average income for the state. NJ income is the highest in the nation, if I am not mistaken. Nor do I know any state where the public employees are paid twice the average income for the state.

If you doubt this see what rates they are hiring people at on their job announcements. It ain’t so great.


67 posted on 03/02/2011 8:51:03 PM PST by arrogantsob
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To: arrogantsob

NJ teachers don’t make twice the income of the state average; I was referring to the income of private school teachers (their private-sector “peers”). The disparity in straight salary alone is shocking; I contend that adding the PS teachers benefits to arrive at a total compensation would easily put them at 2X private sector (for that “industry”).


68 posted on 03/03/2011 3:24:02 AM PST by kearnyirish2
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To: JohnRLott

When I was just entering the job force everybody knew getting a job for he city was easy street, but even back then you had to be a minority (mexican) or you wouldn’t get hired.


69 posted on 03/03/2011 7:42:27 AM PST by glassylassie
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To: arrogantsob

“Since the national median HH income is around 45K your statement shows that Wisconsin teachers are not paid twice the average salary”

? I NEVER said Wi teachers made twice the average salary.
Why lie?
I posted that the average Wi teacher salary was 52+K
Plus bennies.
And we know that to date they pay very little for those benefits.


70 posted on 03/03/2011 8:52:38 AM PST by RWGinger
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To: RWGinger

I never claimed you said the teachers made twice the average salary and was merely pointing out that your post showed that Rush’s claim is false.


71 posted on 03/03/2011 8:58:36 AM PST by arrogantsob
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To: kearnyirish2

That was not stated but is entirely correct. It is true here in Chicago as well and probably across the nation as a whole.


72 posted on 03/03/2011 9:00:30 AM PST by arrogantsob
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To: arrogantsob

So far all we have is someone saying Rush said that. I do not get to listen but my opinion of Rush is he rarely makes mistakes of that magnitude.

If a WI teacher package is 75k to over 100k with the teacher paying only a tiny amount of their benefit costs then their total package could be close to twice the average.

Average and median are not the same thing btw


73 posted on 03/03/2011 9:08:30 AM PST by RWGinger
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To: RWGinger

Rush has claimed this REPEATEDLY. He makes plenty of mistakes. Nothing like the conscious lies of the Treason Media though.

I am the “someone” saying he is spreading this and have heard it with my own ears practically every time I have listened of late.

The average teacher package in WI is probably around 72-75 K with teachers in the suburbs of Milwaukee and Madison being the highest paid and those in small towns the least. If that state is anything like Illinois.


74 posted on 03/03/2011 9:14:07 AM PST by arrogantsob
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To: arrogantsob

Understood; my bad. The problem here in NJ (and probably in many other parts of the country) is that the ridiculous taxes extracted from the taxpayers for the public school systems often make private education unaffordable to the average family. We lose several Catholic schools here in NJ EVERY YEAR, and that trend will continue until there are very few left. My corner of Hudson County NJ had 7 Catholic grammar schools and 1 Catholic high school 40 years ago (between 3 towns); today ONE grammar school survives in that area. It isn’t a demographic shift; if anything there are more Catholics here now as Hispanic immigration has bolstered the population. It is an absolute disgrace; after driving Catholic schools out of business, public school systems often lease or buy their buildings from them as well.


75 posted on 03/03/2011 1:44:19 PM PST by kearnyirish2
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To: JohnRLott

I found that speech and was looking though it, but he didn’t actually say that (that I could find) It is clear to me that is what he thinks, but one would have to read between the lines to see it.

Maybe I am not looking at the right speech...it was the one on February 7th to the Chamber of Commerce?


76 posted on 03/03/2011 6:45:18 PM PST by rlmorel (How to relate to Liberals? Take a Conservative, remove all responsibility...logic...)
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To: arrogantsob

here is what you heard
“According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, compensation for the average federal position in 2000 exceeded compensation for the average private sector job by $30,415 – a sizable gap that has since exploded to $61,998. Now the average federal employee’s compensation totals $123,409 – or more than twice the average private sector salary.

Federal workers have seen their total compensation soar by 36.9 percent since 2000 – after adjusting for inflation. By comparison, private sector compensation has increased by only 8.8 percent.”
http://townhall.com/columnists/howardrich/2011/03/03/why_collective_bargaining_is_bad/page/full/

from Townhall which Rush referenced. getting it right is important wouldn’t you agree?


77 posted on 03/04/2011 8:24:04 AM PST by RWGinger
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To: RWGinger

No that is not what I heard and, in fact, Rush referenced it again today. He has not been speaking of the federal workforce at all. That is a different issue.

As to the figures you reference part of the difference is due to fed workers remaining in their jobs longer than private and the fact that the jobs are different in nature requiring more education and or training.

There are very few low wage jobs in these agencies few clerical or janitorial etc. Most are highly specialized and not truly comparable to the private sector workforce. Take EPA for example or NASA there are more engineers and scientists working for them than in a factory. Same is true of NSA, CIA, Defense Dept., NIH, CDC etc.

As you say getting it right is important so we must be sure we are comparing the same things before drawing conclusions.


78 posted on 03/04/2011 11:44:50 AM PST by arrogantsob
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To: kearnyirish2

The same can be said of the Catholic school system which may be the largest private school system in the nation. We also have large numbers of new Catholics between the Poles and the Mexicans. Most of the public school teachers send their kids to private schools.

One of my sons attended public high school and just finished his six year hitch in the Navy where he was a Nuke so he has a great job now at a reactor in Green Bay. My younger boy graduated from a private school and also has a good job. So I feel fortunate to see my boys off to a good start in life. Their mother, my late wife, was a teacher in the public schools and worked like a dog and loved her students who came primarily from the Welfare Class. She could not stand the fact that there were teachers who did not work like her.


79 posted on 03/04/2011 11:52:24 AM PST by arrogantsob
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To: arrogantsob

Amazing I was able to listen today and did not hear Rush say what you keep saying he said.


80 posted on 03/04/2011 2:00:13 PM PST by RWGinger
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