Life is tough

[Leroy Lizard]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/nyregion/25spit.html


When Passengers Spit, Bus Drivers Take Months Off
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

[...]

Of all the assaults that prompted a bus operator to take paid leave in 2009, a third of them, 51 in total, “involved a spat upon,” according to statistics the Metropolitan Transportation Authority released on Monday.

No weapon was involved in these episodes. “Strictly spitting,” said Charles Seaton, a New York City Transit spokesman.

And the encounters, while distressing, appeared to take a surprisingly severe toll: the 51 drivers who went on paid leave after a spitting incident took, on average, 64 days off work — the equivalent of three months with pay. One driver, who was not identified by the authority, spent 191 days on paid leave.

Transit officials, facing a budget shortfall of $400 million, called the numbers troubling. “We have to see what we’re going to do with that,” said Joseph Smith, who oversees bus operations for New York City Transit.

Spitting falls under the category of assault in the drivers’ contract with the authority. And officials at Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents city bus operators, said the extended absences were justified.

“Being spat upon — having a passenger spit in your face, spit in your mouth, spit in your eye — is a physically and psychologically traumatic experience,” said John Samuelsen, the union’s president. “If transit workers are assaulted, they are going to take off whatever amount of time they are going to take off to recuperate.”
[...]


Yeah, I bet.

I'm glad we all don't meet in person. I would be collecting more sick days than there are days in the year.

Well, if I belonged to a UNION!

[Leroy Lizard]

Here's another gem from a year ago:


L.A. Unified pays teachers not to teach
FAILURE GETS A PASS
About 160 instructors and others get salaries for doing nothing while their job fitness is reviewed. They collect roughly $10 million a year, even as layoffs are considered because of a budget gap.
May 06, 2009|Jason Song

For seven years, the Los Angeles Unified School District has paid Matthew Kim a teaching salary of up to $68,000 per year, plus benefits.

His job is to do nothing.

Every school day, Kim's shift begins at 7:50 a.m., with 30 minutes for lunch, and ends when the bell at his old campus rings at 3:20 p.m. He is to take off all breaks, school vacations and holidays, per a district agreement with the teacher's union. At no time is he to be given any work by the district or show up at school.

He has never missed a paycheck.

In the jargon of the school district, Kim is being "housed" while his fitness to teach is under review. A special education teacher, he was removed from Grant High School in Van Nuys and assigned to a district office in 2002 after the school board voted to fire him for allegedly harassing teenage students and colleagues. In the meantime, the district has spent more than $2 million on him in salary and legal costs.

Last week, Kim was ordered to continue this daily routine at home. District officials said the offices for "housed" employees were becoming too crowded.

About 160 teachers and other staff sit idly in buildings scattered around the sprawling district, waiting for allegations of misconduct to be resolved.

The housed are accused, among other things, of sexual contact with students, harassment, theft or drug possession. Nearly all are being paid. All told, they collect about $10 million in salaries per year -- even as the district is contemplating widespread layoffs of teachers because of a financial shortfall.

Most cases take months to adjudicate, but some take years.

Kim, 41, has persisted the longest.

He argued unsuccessfully in a lawsuit that he was the victim of disability discrimination. Born with severe cerebral palsy, he has limited use of his limbs, must use a wheelchair and requires a full-time personal aide (who is paid about $14 an hour by the district). He declined repeatedly to be interviewed, as did his attorney, Lawrence Trygstad.

Kim's long-term stay in paid professional limbo highlights how long it can take to move through the thicket of legal protections afforded educators in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second-largest.

"It's a glaring example of how hard it is to remove someone from the classroom and how the process is tilted toward teachers," said school board member Marlene Canter, who recently proposed -- unsuccessfully -- to revamp the disciplinary process.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/may/06/local/me-teachers6

[StoopTroup]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/nyregion/25spit.html




Yeah, I bet.

I'm glad we all don't meet in person. I would be collecting more sick days than there are days in the year.

Well, if I belonged to a UNION!

You said you do belong to a Union though?

WTF?

I'm beginning to think you really do need some help...:pop: :eek:

[Leroy Lizard]

From a previous post:


I have been in a union in the past, but dropped membership when they told me to quit eating at a restaurant whose staff had gone on strike. No one tells me where to eat. Some of my wages still go to the union even though I'm not a member. It pisses me off, but it doesn't amount to much.


It wouldn't matter if I was, because I can be a member of a union and criticize them.

But more importantly, why should a person be allowed to stay home and get paid simply because someone spit on them?

Why should a person be allowed to do nothing at all and get paid day after day, while others bust their butt for the same paycheck?

You don't find the situations described in those news items absurd? You don't see the blatant unfairness of those situations?

I would be most interested in hearing your response.

[StoopTroup]

I don't know I'm not a bus driver.

Also...I think I've uncovered your real job...and Leroid....picking kids up in the morning and taking them home in the afternoon in a large yellow vehicle doesn't make you a teacher.

[Leroy Lizard]

I don't know I'm not a bus driver.

Also...I think I've uncovered your real job...and Leroid....picking kids up in the morning and taking them home in the afternoon in a large yellow vehicle doesn't make you a teacher.

And they always complain, "Why does every thread have to be about you, Leroid?"

I meant, Leroy. Now you've got me doing it.

[StoopTroup]

Well...you have begun to start them and for me....it's like being able to be involved in Special Olympics again without having to drive to Stoolwater.

[PDXsooner]

I'm a member of a union and sometimes I think they are an absolute joke. My wife is a member of a union as well. It's not like either of us really have a choice in it...

[Leroy Lizard]

This should anger any reasonable person:


The housed are accused, among other things, of sexual contact with students, harassment, theft or drug possession. Nearly all are being paid. All told, they collect about $10 million in salaries per year -- even as the district is contemplating widespread layoffs of teachers because of a financial shortfall.

[StoopTroup]

I'm a member of a union and sometimes I think they are an absolute joke. My wife is a member of a union as well. It's not like either of us really have a choice in it...

Yup. Same here...I just show up...work and cash my paycheck every two weeks. There the way things ought to be...the way we want things and the way is really is...stressing out about things you can't control have little to do with how I live anymore. If it's a job and it's a Union Job...I'd work it to feed my family without a blink of an eye.

[PDXsooner]

Most people who bash unions would have no problem benefitting from union protection if it helped them. Most people who work for unions would be the first to bash unions if they were fired from one. I've learned a thing or two about human behavior in my time...

[Leroy Lizard]

Most people who bash unions would have no problem benefitting from union protection if it helped them. Most people who work for unions would be the first to bash unions if they were fired from one. I've learned a thing or two about human behavior in my time...

Yeah, if you're going to be required to pay me all day for doing nothing, why would I object?

Tax payers may have another view on the matter, though.

[StoopTroup]

Yeah, if you're going to be required to pay me all day for doing nothing, why would I object?

Tax payers may have another view on the matter, though.

Like I've said before in other threads...you don't have to be in a Union to have a job where you sit around doing nothing all day. Hell...even Seinfeld old show had spoofs on Castanza getting jobs where he did nothing and even got promoted for doing nothing. Sometimes doing nothing is harder than it looks too...especially if your a school bus driver I bet.

Taxpayers? I'm pretty much sold on the fact that most all of us have a problem with paying taxes and how they are spent. It's why having discussions on whether or not some politician is better than another one or whether or not the current POTUS is leading our Country into ruin is kind of laughable most times. We can't really do anything about it.

Also...I don't think most people don't even care whether you object. We are just finding some of your point - counterpoints funny and somewhat disturbing when you mix into the fact that you're a School Teacher/bus driver or whatever you really do.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

GM has a program similar to LASD story above where the "house" non-working union members. Lots of money paid to people to sit in a room and do nothing.

[StoopTroup]

GM has a program similar to LASD story above where the "house" non-working union members. Lots of money paid to people to sit in a room and do nothing.

Yep. They have also laid off folks who get paid while they are in transition to bring them back to work. Some amazing stuff that makes other Unions look really bad...lol. I'd like to have been a fly on the wall when mngt and the union guys were putting that one on paper.

[PDXsooner]

Yeah, if you're going to be required to pay me all day for doing nothing, why would I object?

Tax payers may have another view on the matter, though.

Union members are taxpayers.

[Leroy Lizard]

Like I've said before in other threads...you don't have to be in a Union to have a job where you sit around doing nothing all day. Hell...even Seinfeld old show had spoofs on Castanza getting jobs where he did nothing and even got promoted for doing nothing. Sometimes doing nothing is harder than it looks too...especially if your a school bus driver I bet.


I have seen some wild rationalizations before, but this one takes the cake. You have to reach to the depths of reasoning to pull out "Doing nothing is actually kinda' hard" to justify paying a teacher to do nothing but work on his side business.

And never mind that even if it's hard, there is no benefit to the employer or the public at all. Where's the value in paying a man to sit in a room and do nothing?

[Leroy Lizard]

Yep. They have also laid off folks who get paid while they are in transition to bring them back to work. Some amazing stuff that makes other Unions look really bad...lol.

What makes unions look worse is the rank-and-file not speaking out about the abuses.

[Leroy Lizard]

Union members are taxpayers.

So they don't mind paying a teacher to do nothing, while other teachers (who are also union members) get fired left and right? They don't see a problem with that?

[PDXsooner]

So they don't mind paying a teacher to do nothing, while other teachers (who are also union members) get fired left and right? They don't see a problem with that?

Listen, any one worth their weight in salt has a problem with this. No question. Laziness on taxpayer money pretty much gets everyone angry. No defense here.

But when people take it to the "I'm completely anti-union" level, I throw the bull**** flag. That's because if a union formed in 99.9% of people's line of work and it benefitted them, their philosophy on unions would drastically shift.

[Leroy Lizard]

Listen, any one worth their weight in salt has a problem with this.

Well, StoopTroup?

[StoopTroup]

Leroid...I know by now you understand that I don't give a **** what you think or say in these matters. Again...you're a debater that has no purpose. If you're using SoonerFans to sharpen your debate skills so that some Freshamn doesn't make you look like a complete moron in front of the kids on your bus...I understand. All of us are trying to help you with your education.

I don't even have a problem with your ideas about Unions or Politics as I know that you or any idea you may express has little to do with the World the rest of us live in.

Salt can cause high blood pressure though so you probably ought to taste your food before you add any.

[Leroy Lizard]

Leroid...I know by now you understand that I don't give a ****

So you don't want to answer. Why not just say that?

[StoopTroup]

So you don't want to answer. Why not just say that?

What was the question?

[Leroy Lizard]

Good grief.

Never mind, StoopTroup.

[StoopTroup]

http://vierdsen.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/political-pictures-james-carville-half-lizard-fact.jpg

[StoopTroup]

NSFW

Nuclear Bubble Wrap (http://vox2.cdn.amiestreet.com/album-art/Draining-the-Lizard-on-a-Dead-Gay-Wizard-by-Nuclear-Bubble-Wrap_rlS0QiwRcgIx_full.jpg)

[StoopTroup]

lol

http://genellepadilla.com/blog1/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/633494561677642290-neurotic.jpg

[Leroy Lizard]

Another beaut: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1503982/posts


Big 3 and suppliers pay billions to keep downsized UAW members on payroll in decades-long deal.

By Bryce G. Hoffman / The Detroit News

WAYNE -- Ken Pool is making good money. On weekdays, he shows up at 7 a.m. at Ford Motor Co.'s Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, signs in, and then starts working -- on a crossword puzzle. Pool hates the monotony, but the pay is good: more than $31 an hour, plus benefits.

"We just go in and play crossword puzzles, watch videos that someone brings in or read the newspaper," he says. "Otherwise, I've just sat."

Pool is one of more than 12,000 American autoworkers who, instead of installing windshields or bending sheet metal, spend their days counting the hours in a jobs bank set up by Detroit automakers and Delphi Corp. as part of an extraordinary job security agreement with the United Auto Workers union.

The jobs bank programs were the price the industry paid in the 1980s to win UAW support for controversial efforts to boost productivity through increased automation and more flexible manufacturing.

As part of its restructuring under bankruptcy, Delphi is actively pressing the union to give up the program.

With Wall Street wondering how automakers can afford to pay thousands of workers to do nothing as their market share withers, the union is likely to hear a similar message from the Big Three when their contracts with the UAW expire in 2007 -- if not sooner.

"It's an albatross around their necks," said Steven Szakaly, an economist with the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. "It's a huge number of workers doing nothing. That has a very large effect on their future earnings outlook."

[olevetonahill]

With Wall Street wondering how automakers can afford to pay thousands of workers to do nothing as their market share withers, the union is likely to hear a similar message from the Big Three when their contracts with the UAW expire in 2007 -- if not sooner.

2007?
Yer right on top of things as usual :rolleyes:

[StoopTroup]

Why don't you start posting the links where you get this stuff Leroid. I mean...none of this is really new news for me. Many of us know this stuff was going on. The funniest things is anyone who doesn't think it's weird that GM was so stupid to be a part of this kind of work rules. It's why very few Americans...including me didn't think bailing them out was a good idea. Again...not so much the Unions fault...the fault of GM Management. They should have all been subject to bringing GM out of bankruptcy or face losing their jobs to folks who could figure out how to run the Company properly and negoiate with their Unions and Suppliers and Dealers/Wholesalers.

Just another link that fails to make a point.

Another failed attempt to start an Internet Award winning blog.

It's like getting two flats on your school bus and having only one spare.

Sad.

[PDXsooner]

Posting stuff that makes people angry, and then trying to use it to get people to think like you, is gay.

[olevetonahill]

Posting stuff that makes people angry, and then trying to use it to get people to think like you, is gay.

So yer sayin limptard is a ghey skool bus driver ?:eek:
NTTAWWT

[StoopTroup]

lol

[Leroy Lizard]

With Wall Street wondering how automakers can afford to pay thousands of workers to do nothing as their market share withers, the union is likely to hear a similar message from the Big Three when their contracts with the UAW expire in 2007 -- if not sooner.

2007?
Yer right on top of things as usual :rolleyes:

Because we know everything is all better now.

[Tulsa_Fireman]

What's funny is how scandalous examples of the worst of the worst are used to paint the entirety with a broad brush of corruption and greed.

Yes, there are mafia goon-filled, law breaking, unscrupulous crapfests for unions out there. Yes, there are law abiding, cooperative, worker safety oriented unions out there. The term "union" does NOT automatically equal Guido and Vito breaking fingers, does NOT automatically equal the raping of government coffers, does NOT equal the crushing of the American private sector.

I got a bad starter on my new car. You don't scrap the car, you don't rebuild the whole motor, and you don't replace all the body panels and get a new paint job. You fix the damn starter or you replace it. And in the case of all the examples you've cited, you absolutely FAIL to cite an example that damns unions as a whole. You're simply demonizing and telling the world (or at least this board) that you suck at fixing cars.

[Leroy Lizard]

What's funny is how scandalous examples of the worst of the worst are used to paint the entirety with a broad brush of corruption and greed.

Yes, there are mafia goon-filled, law breaking, unscrupulous crapfests for unions out there. Yes, there are law abiding, cooperative, worker safety oriented unions out there. The term "union" does NOT automatically equal Guido and Vito breaking fingers, does NOT automatically equal the raping of government coffers, does NOT equal the crushing of the American private sector.

(deleted)

[StoopTroup]

Wow...someone is learning how to STFU....lol