Today is not a good day. It is one of those days you wish you could have just rolled over and slept through until tomorrow. The usual focus of my ire is on national politics, but this time it is turned back on local issues.
I work for the school district in my town. Like most school districts around the country these days, money is tighter than the proverbial tick, and there have been a lot of cutbacks and a hiring freeze put in place. This is all in the midst of a complete restructuring of the grade infrastructure of our schools, so it is understandable that we are all like a bunch of long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs when it comes to our jobs.
When the new school year started a few weeks ago, we all found out one of our former colleagues had been indicted for embezzlement for padding her time card to the tune of thousands of dollars last year. This was discovered during a district wide audit. So, in addition to all the other worries, we now have to be careful that we are not sloppy in tracking our time on the job. We also know that there are a number of other people who are suspected of dauddling before punching out to pad their official time on the clock.
As a result of all this, management has announced that they will be installing surveillance cameras to monitor employees and make sure they clock out in the appropriate amount of time. Enter the union.
Apparently, installing those cameras runs afoul of something in the current union contract. So, an alternative was proposed. Instead of installing cameras, the time structure would be changed so that each job had a specified time frame to be accomplished, with provisions for special circumstances and unavoidable overtime situations. However, this requires reopening of the currect contract.
There are two things that really jack my jaws here. First, the union members can’t seem to understand that the few idiots in our midst who can’t seem to get through the day without cheating on their timecards (or stealing from the district, if you say it out plain) are using the union to cover their behavior, and jeopardizing the jobs of everybody in the process. The other is that the union reps will be forced by union by-laws to represent anyone who is accused of such embezzlement. Management is understandably skittish about simply getting the proof on these miscreants and firing them for cause. The manager even came out and told the local union president that she couldn’t do anything because of the union. The district can’t afford a law suit filed by some idiot who gets fired, even if it ultimately wins the suit.
I am not a union man, and I’ve never made any bones about not liking unions. In this case, I told my follow workers and the union reps that if the office has proof then the union, once it confirms that proof, should stand aside and keep its mouth shut. Of course, all the union supporters are calling me everything but low down and foul smelling since then.
I guess my point is this: How long do we have to put up with incompetence and greed and outright theft before something is done about unions protecting these individuals? How long do we have to put up with the extra costs that are passed on to consumers by unionized companies who have to bear the burden of carrying such people on the payroll and benefit rolls? How long will we stand by and let government, at whatever level, institute ever more draconian methods to counter the unions?
I can remember seeing print ads in LIFE Magazine for brand new Ford Mustangs with an SRP of $1,695, off the showroom floor. What is the cheapest U.S. made auto today? $12,000; $15,000? What’s worse, what you get for that money is a tiny little crackerbox on wheels. All because of bloated union contracts that perpetuate wages that are far too high, and benefits (including retirement pensions) that eventually bankrupt the company. Would the problems with GM and Chrysler have been nearly as bad if the unions hadn’t been so greedy and unwilling to make concessions over the last 40 years? I think not.
Government is just as much at fault, however. The bleeding heart left wing types who believe in cradle to grave control and big government have fostered a culture of corruption and pay-to-play that has damn near destroyed our economy.
There are times when I feel like Davy Crockett at the Alamo. I know in all likelihood that I won’t live long enough to see the day things are set right, but I hope that my contributions to the fight will help bring that day about.
We all long past the point where we should have stood up and said enough is enough, and demanded that things be set right. Now, it is likely that we will eventually have to fight to do it. Crockett and Bowie and the rest fought the good fight, and died, knowing that their sacrifice bought time for Sam Houston to enable him to defeat Santa Ana and win freedom for Texas.
This sort of thing is happening all over the country, but I am heartened when I see the droves of Americans who are turning up at town hall meetings demanding that their elected officials toe the line and represent the people instead of lobbyists and special interests. Politicians who do not heed those warnings do so at their own peril.
