UAW, completely out of their minds!

Anyone who thinks a CEO is just a paper pusher has no understanding whatsoever how hard it can be to run a business, let alone a giant organization. Oh, and I never said line workers were entitled and lazy, just union line workers

 

Lets do some math. So, if Mary Barra took a pay cut to $1 and divvied up the rest of her $29million a year over the 46,000 UAW workers, it would result in a $0.30/hr raise for them.

 

I know the math, and I've used that argument before when debating with socialist minded dimwits. My point is just that the optics are bad and that is often enough to create bigger issues.

 

Hey if we’re divvying up the CEO’s salary don’t leave out the shareholders.

 

29 million a year, 557,692.31 a week, @100 hours per week that’s 5,576.92 per hour, @ 75 hour per week that’s over 7,400 per hour, and at 50 hours a week it’s over 1100 bucks an hour.

that’s the math that folks look at, 5500 bucks an hour versus 50. Line worker makes like 9% of what the CEO makes at 100 per week. And I’m not saying a CEO doesn’t do anything for a company, but are they worth over 90 percent more than than production? With out production the CEO has nothing to do. That’s the way the folks see it.

 

Will they take a pay cut if profits decrease?

 

lol, you think she is a pencil pusher.
And sure there are CFO, CTOs who are qualified and vie for such a job. They also have same skills of running a business, from a specific angle, like the CEO. She was chosen from that same pool. Most of them are well qualified, and paid accordingly, and would not be in that position if there were not good at their job. But if you want to say her job is easy and does not require any skill, that makes no sense to me.

 

The supply of those who have it to make it to the top and run a successful company is small. Its like a good QB -- no team wants to let go and will pay for it through the nose.
The board knows it and would continue renewing contract of good CEOs, else they will lose it. They only get paid so much because that is what market dictates.

 

There is something to be said when every one at a company sees the wages increase and decrease based on how profitable a company is. Versus just seeing the top make more money while you watch your increases not keep up with inflation.

 

Teachers could be on the same system: test scores go up, so does pay. Goes down, so does pay (and longevity!)

 

If you think using test scores to assess how good a teacher is, then you clearly have no idea the challenges the education system faces. If you actually care, then go volunteer at an inner city high school; observe, survey and interview students, teachers, and support staff.

 

Been there, done that!!

Teaching high school biology was an exercise in baby-sitting. Be hard to interview high-school students who can't even understand the question. Interviewing teachers?? No agenda there! Administrators?? Failed teachers with a bigger agenda!! Teaching at the private college level was not much better. Teachers talk of "motivation" but it is lacking at both the student and teacher levels!

In my past job, I helped interview college graduates with degrees in various biology/natural resources fields. Ivy League, state universities, etc. The best, consistently, came out of the California State University system: literate, good math skills, etc.

My job required that I spend a minimum of 16 hours per year in "Outreach" (teaching kids and adults various facets of biology)=I usually averaged 80 to over 100 hours per year, besides coordinating educational events (in addition to my duties as an Endangered Species Biologist and Habitat Conservation Branch Chief for 6 years). The younger children were the best: 4th, 5th & 6th grades.

 

So you just identified problems/issues (some I actually agree with), do you have any solutions?

 

1. Increase the requirements for teachers (e.g Higher requirements for grad school; reinstate Algebra and Geometry into CBEST and other basic requirement testing for teachers; require a writing examination to graduate high school; do away with promoting the unqualified students).
2. Increase salaries for new teachers; pay scales reflecting successful continuing education classes and appropriate. The Federal government hires Wage Grade (hourly) employees based on prevailing wages for the locality.
3. Gradually phase out seniority for seniority's sake; quite promoting the most popular but least qualified teachers into administration. Require specialized education for administration.
4. Increase the use of mentors for new teachers and administrators. In the military, one is an executive officer before becoming a commanding officer.
5. Arm WILLING AND TRAINED teachers (I had a knife pulled on me while teaching).
6. Foster an attitude (within the unions) that education is FOR THE KIDS!!! Do away with the unions and start over!
7 (I know this is an anathema) Performance based raises.
8. Performance testing based upon reality!
9. Peer mentoring for students (i.e. former gang members; actual scientists)=not just discussing "life" but what they enjoy about their jobs. If someone really loves their job, it will show.

 

Love it!

1) You should look into requirements for teaching, the CBEST is for subs only (at least in CA). Look into CSETs, they are not easy! However, I do agree, becoming a teacher isn't hard, see #2.
2) Agreed, we should be convincing college grads to pursue teaching. I always thought I would love teaching from an early age, but I wanted to get paid more than teachers. It wasn't until I was a senior in college that I decided I didn't care about my salary, I preferred to be happy and I would figure out the rest. Living in San Diego makes it easy being poor (even with the high cost of living).
3) They do.
4) They are.
5) Um, no thanks, but different issue all together.
6) You might be surprised how much teachers actually care about their students, but teachers need to be adequately paid (go back to number 2)
7) So hard to do and it would also really hurt collaboration, but I think this is part of #2 again.
8) YES! I teach math, so much of the math I teach is pointless in reality. It sucks. Quadratic formula, factoring quadratics, yadda yadda.
9) This is also happening more than you probably think.

 

Um, yes please, I'd be far less fucked up from being so scarred in my school days if everyone knew that responsible adults had guns.

Want less of me around? Arm the teachers.

 

I just want to be sure here- I should be paid and evaluated accordingly for test scores on children whose parents let them stay up until 2AM playing video games and watching TikTok, get 4 hours of sleep, eat donuts and chocolate milk for breakfast and then sit down for a 2-3 hour test? Sounds awesome.

 

Umm, what?

 

Well to be fair, I was playing with my kid till 2am and didn't notice how late it was
Yeah I agree it seems nonsensical to use standardized test scores to evaluate teachers.

 

Responsible? Our cops have problems being responsible with guns, how do you expect us to train teachers on top of that? Arming our teachers is one of craziest ideas this country has ever come up with. More bullets does not make anyone safer. Like I said, different issue all together.

 

If salary went up, folks would be competing for these jobs. I do think that there are really bad teachers, thus, increase salaries and create competition. I also do think there should be some merit based increase for teachers, thus creating motivation.

how do you create that motivation in teachers? Pay them so they can be excited about life and manage the stress of work easier as the financial stress of paying for the loans needed to get the education needed to enter the profession. What do most folks starting salaries look like with a 4 year degree or even a lot of teachers 5 years to get the masters. In Maine a law was passed recently to mandate at least 40k per year starting salary for teachers.

 

Quote taken from

https://www.newsweek.com/how-uaw-strike-could-push-america-4-day-workweek-1827893

We are one of the most overworked populations in the world," he said. "We need to get back to fighting for a vision of society in which everyone earns family-sustaining wages and everyone has enough free time to enjoy their lives and see their kids grow up and their parents grow old."

 

I read somewhere that most teachers who leave the profession early do so because of a lack of support from the administration regarding classroom discipline, and because of a crushing amount of administrative paperwork.

 

I’m sure this varies widely by district/state but in San Diego unified, I have very little amount of paperwork besides grades and providing special ed assessments for about 10% of my kids each year.

As far as classroom discipline; it’s an art. It comes naturally to some, others need to work at it and it can be very challenging for some if not near impossible. I’m sure admin can help here but they can only offer so much advice/help until they are just teaching the class. Honestly, the admin probably wanted them to quit. It’s probably my personal strength in the classroom and something I can help others become a strength if I become part of the admin team. (It’s another credential and jobs are not just handed out)

The admin teams generally have a negative stigma attached to them at most schools by the teachers. I am asked often “Why?!” I want to become admin. It’s a loaded question but higher pay is certainly an aspect. They do work more hours (20-25% more) and they are generally “at will”.

A lot of misconceptions out there regarding the education system.

 

It's really hard to teach discipline now a days. My dad was army and was long range recon in Vietnam. That's where I got it from

Lost my framing job in 2008. After that, I got my b/s & masters in education. Then I paid off my loans while working in rough schools. Now I'm in best district around & make over $80k.

Here's a link to the salary schedule for Teachers. It shows the steps(years), I'm MA & step 13
https://www.cherrycreekschools.org/...ain/5821/2023-24 Proposed Salary Schedule.pdf
Benefits, 403b, 401k & summers off. Gotta work for it though

 

This is one of the reasons our “rough” schools stay “rough”. We can’t keep good teachers at them. The job is certainly more exhausting but can be, at times, exceptionally rewarding emotionally. This is where higher pay should be adjusted too, in my opinion.

 

Admin definitely can impact teachers staying in a district, and what kind of folks they bring in. Classroom management is very difficult these days due to cell phones and short attention spans. Not to mention a very different idea of respect these days.

 

Cops are mostly responsible. Also, a sword keeps another sword in the sheath. Old samurai proverb. Plus, the power dynamic of the teacher having the gun. Maybe if the teachers had a gun, I wouldn't have gotten my brains bashed in with a weapon in the middle of class in the middle of the day.

 

Someone pulled a knife on you; you got your brain bashed in. Must have been a rough school.
How are teachers with guns supposed to prevent this. I imagine this was another student and not some random person walking into school and beating you?

 

When I took CBEST (and when my wife did), it was for all teachers.

"The California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST) is a standardized test which can satisfy the basic skills requirement for teacher credentialing in the state of California. The exam is also available as an option in Oregon and Nevada. It was developed by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC)[1] to meet the California Education Code (Section 44254),[2] which was amended by the legislature of California on February 1, 1983.[1] This amendment "requires teachers, administrators, and other school practitioners, [to] demonstrate adequate proficiency, in English, of three basic skills: reading, mathematics, and writing." The CBEST is administered by the National Evaluation Series (NES), a division of Pearson VUE, under the direction of the CBEST Program.[2] It does not test an individual’s teaching skills or abilities; it only tests reading skills (critical analysis, evaluation, comprehension, and research skills), mathematics skills (estimation, measurement, computation, and problem-solving, etc.), and writing skills that are considered important for a job in the education field, either at the elementary, secondary, or higher education levels.[2]"