The other Gormogons have covered the ground mightily with regards to the Wisconsin protests but I thought I’d throw out a few benefits that maybe people aren’t aware of that will likely fall (if they weren’t eliminated by today’s bill signing) and some other anecdotes

• Under the Green Bay School District’s collectively bargained Emeritus Program, a teacher can retire and receive a year’s worth of salary for working only 30 days over a three year period.  This is over and above their already guaranteed health care and pension payments.  At the average annual salary for a Green Bay teacher of $51,355, this amounts to a daily rate of pay of $1,711.83, or an hourly rate of $213.98.  Since most retiring teachers receive higher than average salary, these amounts are, in practice, much higher.  Of course, this is better than the Madison benefits where a teacher in the Emeritus program doesn’t have to work a SINGLE DAY and still receives an annual payment of at least $9,884.18.  When first created, Madison teachers had to work 20 days per year to qualify but the union bargained that down to zero.
• Due to a 1982 provision of their collective bargaining agreement, Milwaukee Public School teachers actually receive two pensions upon retirement instead of one.  The contribution to the second pension is equal to 4.2% of a teacher’s salary, with the school district making 100% of the contribution, just like they do for the first pension.  This extra benefit costs taxpayers more than $16 million per year.
• Milwaukee Public Schools teacher Megan Sampson was laid off less than one week after being named Outstanding First Year Teacher by the Wisconsin Council of English Teachers.  She lost her job because the collective bargaining agreement requires layoffs to be made based on seniority rather than merit.
• Informed that her union had rejected a lower-cost health care plan, that still would have required zero contribution from teachers, Sampson said, “Given the opportunity, of course I would switch to a different plan to save my job, or the jobs of 10 other teachers.
• In 2009, the City of Madison’s highest paid employee was a bus driver who earned $159,258, including $109,892 in overtime, guaranteed by a collective bargaining agreement.  In total, seven City of Madison bus drivers made more than $100,000 per year in 2009.

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