Are Wisconsin’s Public Employees Overpaid?

[Bfgrn]

Are Public Employees Overpaid?

Governor Walker has said that the labor changes are necessary because Wisconsin’s local and state employees haven’t made the same sacrifices during the Great Recession as private sector workers.

Walker glossed over the fact that state employees had eight unpaid furlough days in 2009 and 2010, which saved the state $121 million, and their wages have been flat for years.

He also forgot to mention that when he was Milwaukee County executive, members of the largest county employee union took 26 unpaid furlough days in 2010, or one unpaid day off for every two-week pay period—a 10% pay cut. They’ll have 26 unpaid days off this year, too, as a result of Walker’s final county budget. (The employees at the Shepherd Express, a private sector company, did not have any wage decreases or forced furlough days.)

Walker’s Renewed War on Workers

"Teachers are givers in a world dominated by takers, and they're also sharers. This collaborative instinct makes our profession unlike any other."
Barbara Keshishian

 

[washamericom]

every states' employees are overpaid. people aren't in the mood for being sympathetic to well paid teachers whining about being well paid, with vacations and summers off and a phat benny package. teachers can speak for themselves, they don't need to be exploited by the union. fire the crummy teachers, bag the union, everybody's a winner except the teacher duds and the union leaders. this has nothing to do with egypt or bahrain, i wish it did.

 

[Bfgrn]

every states' employees are overpaid. people aren't in the mood for being sympathetic to well paid teachers whining about being well paid, with vacations and summers off and a phat benny package. teachers can speak for themselves, they don't need to be exploited by the union. fire the crummy teachers, bag the union, everybody's a winner except the teacher duds and the union leaders. this has nothing to do with egypt or bahrain, i wish it did.

Were all you right wingers 'present counters' at Christmas? American teachers are not overpaid.

Teacher Pay Around the World

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released a trove of fascinating statistics on education around the world on Tuesday. Given increasing interest in how well the American education system is preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s economy, let’s look at how measures of United States education stack up alongside the systems of our peer countries.

First let’s look at teachers. Compared to other developed countries, in the United States teachers generally spend more time teaching but apparently without an equivalent advantage in pay.

American teachers spend on average 1,080 hours teaching each year. Across the O.E.C.D., the average is 794 hours on primary education, 709 hours on lower secondary education, and 653 hours on upper secondary education general programs.

American teachers’ pay is more middling. The average public primary-school teacher who has worked 15 years and has received the minimum amount of training, for example, earns $43,633, compared to the O.E.C.D. average of $39,007.

Comparing each country’s teacher salaries to the wealth of that country makes United States educational salaries appear lower. In the United States, a teacher with 15 years of experience makes a salary that is 96 percent of the country’s gross domestic product per capita. Across the O.E.C.D., a teacher of equivalent experience makes 117 percent of G.D.P. per capita. At the high end of the scale, in Korea, the average teacher at this level makes a full 221 percent of the country’s G.D.P. per capita.

 

[Mr Natural]

There's no such thing as an overpaid worker.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

No but there is no reason they cant contribute to there own retirement .

 

[MaggieMae]

The problem with what the governor has done is that he is literally pulling the rug out from under people whose own personal budgets have depended on what they earn NOW. There's undoubtedly room for cuts, but not before honest negotiation takes place, just as it has in many other states. You don't just start DICTATING something that will drastically and immediately affect the income people have come to rely upon.

It's Walker's attitude that needs adjusting, not public payrolls.

 

[uscitizen]

No but there is no reason they cant contribute to there own retirement .

Umm they do. I think only the military does not contribute to their own retirement.

 

[Bfgrn]

No but there is no reason they cant contribute to there own retirement .

Which they are willing to do. The Governor never offered to negotiate. He offered them HIS terms only.

 

[California Girl]

There's no such thing as an overpaid worker.

Sure there is. If you have, say, two administrators in some public sector organization.... One works hard, does his job to the best of his ability, doesn't watch the clock and hopes to one day get promoted. The other gets in right on time, leaves right on time, and does the minimum possible during his working day. One is not overpaid. One is overpaid. Don't you agree?

 

[uscitizen]

No but there is no reason they cant contribute to there own retirement .

Which they are willing to do. The Governor never offered to negotiate. He offered them HIS terms only.

Yep the union has offered concessions and the governor just wants to kill the unions not negotiate.

I do not think the republicans are ensuring their future very well in WI.

 

[Bfgrn]

The problem with what the governor has done is that he is literally pulling the rug out from under people whose own personal budgets have depended on what they earn NOW. There's undoubtedly room for cuts, but not before honest negotiation takes place, just as it has in many other states. You don't just start DICTATING something that will drastically and immediately affect the income people have come to rely upon.

It's Walker's attitude that needs adjusting, not public payrolls.

What is amazing Maggie...the conservatives who claim they support the people over government absolutely LOVE these authoritarian dictators...I honestly think they not only lack empathy, they enjoy seeing people being punished.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

No but there is no reason they cant contribute to there own retirement .

Which they are willing to do. The Governor never offered to negotiate. He offered them HIS terms only.

Yep the union has offered concessions and the governor just wants to kill the unions not negotiate.

I do not think the republicans are ensuring their future very well in WI.

Then you should be happy.

 

[NYcarbineer]

No but there is no reason they cant contribute to there own retirement .

They took retirement compensation in lieu of outright salary increases. So they DID contribute to their retirement.

 

[California Girl]

No but there is no reason they cant contribute to there own retirement .

Which they are willing to do. The Governor never offered to negotiate. He offered them HIS terms only.

Yep the union has offered concessions and the governor just wants to kill the unions not negotiate.

I do not think the republicans are ensuring their future very well in WI.

What is there to 'negotiate'? They are having to contribute to their own retirement and healthcare.... so what? The private sector does that. Why should they get something in return for something they should have to do? The public sector is not special. They, like every other American, has to learn to live within the country's means. That is not authoritarian, it is common sense.

 

[Stephanie]

Good for Walker. He made an OFFER, the little greedy "public service employees" TURNED IT DOWN. NO MORE negotiating with the greedy bunch and their UNIONS.

now they can go and throw their little tantrums. I don't think the American people are in a mood for this, but hey, SHOW them what you are all made of.

 

[uscitizen]

Which they are willing to do. The Governor never offered to negotiate. He offered them HIS terms only.

Yep the union has offered concessions and the governor just wants to kill the unions not negotiate.

I do not think the republicans are ensuring their future very well in WI.

Then you should be happy.

Why is that?

 

[MaggieMae]

There's no such thing as an overpaid worker.

Well yeah, there are. There are tenured teachers (and other union workers) who often earn much more than they're worth if an honest comparison is made to the same type of work performed by someone at a lower pay scale. I've known secretaries with degrees in English who can't spell, but they earn big bucks just because of their degree, while someone right out of high school can out-perform administrative jobs so well that it shocks the rest of the staff, but she's paid entry level wages. There are hundreds of examples.

 

[NYcarbineer]

No but there is no reason they cant contribute to there own retirement .

Umm they do. I think only the military does not contribute to their own retirement.

Everyone who works 'contributes' to their retirement, if they get a retirement benefit. This is just semantics and shuffling numbers around.

They contribute via the WORK they do. The bottom line of any employer/employee relationship is how much total compensation you receive for the work you do, NOT how its packaged.

 

[Bfgrn]

Good for Walker. He made an OFFER, the little greedy "public service employees" TURNED IT DOWN. NO MORE negotiating with the greedy bunch and their UNIONS.

now they can go and throw their little tantrums. I don't think the American people are in a mood for this, but hey, SHOW them what you are all made of.

His offer was NOTHING...it was in simple language...I am busting your union...

 

[California Girl]

There's no such thing as an overpaid worker.

Well yeah, there are. There are tenured teachers (and other union workers) who often earn much more than they're worth if an honest comparison is made to the same type of work performed by someone at a lower pay scale. I've known secretaries with degrees in English who can't spell, but they earn big bucks just because of their degree, while someone right out of high school can out-perform administrative jobs so well that it shocks the rest of the staff, but she's paid entry level wages. There are hundreds of examples.