You know that I’m opposed to unions. Yes, I know that in the beginning, they were a good thing. But whenever you have the union thugs making the demands that they make on governments and companies, is the moment that they go too far in their power and authority. After all, unions are not elected by the people, yet they are telling governments what to do. That is too much power and too much unaccountability. So I stand with Scott Walker and the Republicans in Wisconsin against this power struggle by the Dems and union thugs. I know that I’m talking about teachers, but do they really love the children they teach if they close down the schools where they work? If anyone in the private sector walked out on their jobs to protest, we would lose their jobs. Why not these teachers?

Anyway, here is what Scott Walker and the Republicans are trying to do:

Quick facts about Wisconsin’s Budget Repair Legislation
 The plan is about reform: Wisconsin’s Budget Repair legislation is about enacting modest – but critical – reforms to public sector entitlement programs that are long past due. The proposal takes on some of the most egregious violators of taxpayer dollars including public employee unions and public sector pensions.
 Ending public sector collective bargaining: The plan would end the practice of public sector union bosses strong-arming politicians for exorbitant benefits and absurd contract concessions. The plan rightly calls for an end to the ability of certain public sector unions to band together to pressure policymakers into unnecessary contract concessions.
 Respecting the taxpayer: When public sector workers – who are paid with taxpayers dollars – resort to bullying tactics to gain sweetheart contracts filled with plush benefits unheard of in the private sector the taxpayer loses every time.
 Respecting the public’s trust: When teachers choose not to teach purely to pad their already lavish contracts with taxpayer dollars they are violating a sacred public trust. Using students and their parents as leverage in contract disputes is a tried and true practice of teacher’s unions that must end.
 Stopping out-of-control benefit costs in the public sector: The proposal would prevent unions from forcing extravagant pension and health benefits on the state that only serve to further cripple state budget. Also, the plan would make the commonsense change that public sector wage increases could not exceed a cap based on the consumer price index (CPI) unless approved by voters.
o Also, some contracts would be limited to one year and wage rates would be frozen until the new contract is settled
 The public vs. private sector: In Wisconsin, private sector workers make 74% of    their state-level public sector counterparts. This is the 48th worst pay differential in the nation and clearly shows that the public sector employee unions aren’t hurting for better pay or benefits.
 Paying a fair share: The plan also would help ease the tremendous financial burden placed on the state by its bloated pension plan by finally requiring some public workers to pay their fair share into the program.
o Overall, public employees would fund 50 percent of the annual pension payment – a total that would require a modest contribution of 5.8 percent of 2011’s salary.
 More needed reforms: The plan also makes much needed reforms to other problems complicating Wisconsin’s fiscal future. Among them, restructuring the state’s debt burden will help reduce debt service costs by $165 million in fiscal year 2010-11.

You can go to the sight and sign the petition in support of Walker and the Republicans by clicking here. If you want to see what a problem unions our for our public schools, check out this story at Hotair.com. Here is a snippet:

With state budgets collapsing around the nation, an increasingly bright spotlight has been focused on the activities of many public sector unions, perhaps none more so than the teachers unions. Since most of the news is rather alarming to say the least, here at Hot Air we feel obliged to bring you a true feel-good story of union activity to brighten your winter days. With that in mind, I invite you to look over this CNN video journal by reporter Steve Perry. (Video available at the end of this column.)

The story focuses on Central Falls school in Rhode Island, an educational institute in such a sorry state of affairs that their drop-out rates were staggering and many students didn’t even log enough classroom time to receive a grade. Last year, in an apparent sign of throwing up their hands in despair, the school board took the drastic measure of firing all 88 of Central Falls’ teachers.

UPDATE: I’ve been reminded that Ed covered the firing of the teachers last year with full details of just how badly the school was performing.

Now, I already know what you’re thinking here. “But Jazz, what about those poor, unemployed teachers? Couldn’t anyone do anything to help them?”

Fear not! In charged the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, who not only got all of their jobs back… they landed them a raise. And all of this is taking place in a community which wouldn’t even qualify as “working class” by most standards. The average wages in the Central Falls region are very low. Steve Perry sat down with Supervisor of Schools Frances Gallo to ask her about it.

No matter how you slice it, unions are not good for America. They promote laziness, and the Democratic party.

BTW, the doctors who gave protesters medical notes for missing work are coming under fire from the public. Good deal (by coming under fire, I mean that metaphorically). You can read about it here.