BITES & PIECES

PIECES,

Well a strike has been averted in Green Bay, everybody was happy, the union was slapping itself on the back and city council members were high fiving. Under the gun and under the wire an agreement was reached, a contract was ratified and everybody heaved a right big sigh of relief, (thank you and good nite, drive safely.)

Brought more into line was health insurance benefits and the division of payments by employer and employee. Sick days, vacation,  personal days and retirement pensions were further established and there was a unification throughout the 15 different unions representing city workers regarding several issues.

Green Bay's city employees will be required to pay more for health insurance as well as their pension funds. City employees have had it their way for way to long and change was inevitable, those that didn't see this change coming were living in a vault somewhere deep underground.

I do however have questions and reservations with regards to how the unions negociated not only with the city of Green bay, but also with their members. A Tuesday night city council meeting preceeded the Thursday vote, leaving union members little time to read and understand contract extension criteria. The vote begin at 4:00 P.M. and directly after was another council meeting, talk about a (rush to judgement.)

According to my source, these pay benefit inccreases by city employees will take place beginning in July of this year. All told the additional particapation by city workers will amount to about a 10% pay cut. Actually I do not have a problem with the increase in employee benefit pay, in good times as well as bad, taxpayers shoulden't have to sholder the load of public workers to the extent that it was.

BITS,

Michigan is doing it's part to cut state budgetary shortfalls by elminating almost half of it's 62 state police posts. There at present are 62 of these centers that is the core for the troopers to carry out their duties. Communications, holding cells, repair for vechiles and administration work is carried out at these sites.

The Michigan Govanor expects to have  29 of these sites closed, saving an initial $21 million dollars. No troopers positions will be lost, they will operate out of their houses, or leased buildings with no operating hours. According to a Michigan State Police spokewomen, "services will either be unchanged or enhanced given the increased flexibilty in deployment."

PIECES,

Ohio Govanor John Kasich is cutting in to that states budgetary woes by cutting $3 billion to local government, $2 billion to schools and libraries, and count on the sale of five prisons and the selling of future profits from state liquor sales to close the gap.

Why education and the tools to facilitate the process seems to be the first to be attached when budget cuts are necessary is beyond me. I suppose that they are the most visable and tied entirely to tax revenue and therefore the first to be attached.

It seems that legislaters forget the old  saying that "today's kids are our future." Education needs to be left alone so that we can continue to bargin in the twenty first century with the rest of the world. When kids are educated, we are all winners.