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PilcheskyDeceit True Freedom of Speech -> True Freedom of Speech ... Pilchesky denies Freedom of Speech -> Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
Post Info TOPIC: Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
Agamemnon


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Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
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My wife just got the call from Rosemary Boland. Apparently there were "final" negotiations today that didn't resolve the key outstanding issue: healthcare.

My wife just spent the past four weeks getting her classroom ready for the first day of school...looks like that will be later than expected. From what I gather, the teachers will be on strike continuously until a settlement is reached...there will be on "one day" strikes. They can remain out until well into October before the mandatory number of school days rule kicks in.

This is not good...



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Stacy Brown


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RE: Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
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this is terrible. the teacher's are getting murdered on health care costs, so i certainly can understand their frustrations. hopefully, something will be worked out at the 11th hour.

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Agamemnon


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I've never considered myself 'pro-union'...in fact I've never been in a union, and I have no plans to ever be in one. Simply put, I don't think anyone but me should be representing my best interests, and I definitely disagree with teachers unions over things like merit pay. That said, it's pretty clear in my mind that teachers do need to be unionized, if for no other reason than to protect them from utterly inept School Board Administrators.

As for this particular situation, Scranton's teachers are truly getting screwed (all be it this was as "self-screwing", with a very big assist from the Board) over healthcare. A lot of people will cry "but I pay for my own healthcare, why shouldn't teachers", which is fair, but here's an example of how this situation is way out of wack:

In our family, I cover my three children with my employer's healthcare (I work in the private sector, for a very large financial services company), and my wife covers just herself. My coverage is not spectacular...it's probably more 'middle of the road' in terms of deduction and out-of-pocket costs. Anyway, for slightly more than what she pays for just herself via bi-weekly payroll deduction, I pay for myself and our children. Family coverage is even worse....and teacher in the district pays almost twice what I do for coverage that is not nearly as good.

Again, I don't have great coverage at work...my particular plan is Geisinger, and we've had all sorts of problems getting simply check-ups scheduled (having to schedule them months in advance, tons of last-minute changes, etc.), but we deal with it because that's the nature of healthcare in this country these days. The trend for teachers is even worse...I think family overage has increased over a thousand percent during the course of the current contract, with no signs of abating.

I say all of the above knowing that this strike will personally harm me and my family. We have a daughter in college and two in high school...not exactly inexpensive endeavors. My wife has several health problems that require quite a bit of medication and frequent doctor visits. All of this will still need to be funded, strike or no strike. With the above noted, I'm in favor of the union doing what it needs to in order to secure reaonsably priced heathcare coverage.



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LusOnlyVoice


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RE: Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
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You are right Ag ... this is not good .......

People will not understand .... however ... if something is not done about this issue ... there will be no end to it and we who work at the SSD will end up owing money to the district for working for them ... just to pay for our healthcare ....it's a very sad thing that is going on in the SSD.

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LusOnlyVoice


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RE: Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
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Ag ... you scooped Pappa Pilchesky ... you broke the news of the stike at 8:01 PMand he broke the news of the strike at 11:31 PM.



Joe Pilchesky

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Posts: 3161
Date: Aug 30 11:31 PM, 2008
Teachers set to strike Wednesday, Sept. 3rd

(go to sft1147.org for updated information)

SCRANTON FEDERATION OF TEACHERS

LOCAL #1147



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tooltime


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RE: Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
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Sorry guys,I hate to disagree. Most companys in todays day and age only give 2-3 % raises, This is why there is so many people that change companys, just to recieve a better pay rate. As far as insurance, I have paid $98 a week for the last 3 years, If my wife used her companys isurance it would be $220 every two weeks. It sounds to me like the offer on the table is an improvement over what they have now.

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Agamemnon


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RE: Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
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Tooltime...fair enough, and I think I can say that we all welcome dissenting opinions here. This isn't the Pilchesky Dictatorship.

As to the question of healthcare cost, you don't say whether the amounts you quote are for single or family coverage, so that has to be put into the equasion. However, I'll go out on a limb and say that the coverage costs paid by SSD teachers now are well above what other similar public sector employees pay (such as other teachers) and are on the high-end of even the private sector (for similar coverage). Case in point: my brother works for the Office of Surface Mining, a federal agency. His single person coverage costs him $35 every two weeks.

Regarding raises, I agree with you: the 7% figure quoted by the union is too high in my book...but my thinking that is the "ask for the most, settle for more reasonable" number. 2-3% is probably the right number in my book. The rub here though is that because insurance costs have gone up so much (from basically nothing in the early 2000's), any raises they have gotten have been eaten up by double digit annual healthcare coverage increases.


-- Edited by Agamemnon at 16:55, 2008-08-31

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tooltime


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RE: Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
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Sorry, My coverage is HMO family. On the other point, By asking for a 7% raise makes them look bad in the public eye. I have been in working with contracts for years, and i know this is how it's done. However, when it comes to tax payers having to pay the bill it does make them look bad. Oh and by the way, as i have said before I have been bounced off of the other site many many times.

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LusOnlyVoice


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Well you won't get bounced off here ... I guess we employees of the SSD are shocked at the cost of our health insurance ... I would be shocked at the cost of your healthcare ... but I guess one difference between ours and yours ... ours continues to go up up up each year and you said that you have paid the same each year? At least you know what you are going to be paying ... we are now in the waiting game for the bc/bs rates to come out for 09 ... the memo strikes fear in all of us ... it comes out each year to eat up our raises ... some actually bring home less money than the year prior after the new rates come out ... it's a little disheartening. And I am sure that we are not the only ones in the world that this happens to .... but it does not mean that it's right for anyone to pay such high prices for healthcare.

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Agamemnon


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RE: Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
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**UPDATE**

Negotiations were held today, and apparently some progress was made. The strike is still officially on, but there does seem to be a ray of hope that it can be avoided.

Negotiations will resume tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon at 4pm.


-- Edited by Agamemnon at 20:13, 2008-09-01

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Bill Lumbergh


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RE: Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
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4 PM???? Geez, they can't roll their arses out of bed any earlier to get this done already? The total lack of consideration for the students, in that neither side seems in a big hurry to get a deal done, is pathetic in my book.

Sure $8,100 is ridiculous for health insurance premiums, but the union voted on and approved that contract. Its really their own fault for not properly reading the contract before signing it.

Off topic, but that Rose Mary Boland just gives me the creeps. My wife had her for a teacher and told me that she is just plain evil....she does not like children in the least. She even kept a PADDLE in her classroom, and was known to use it!! Is this allowed in Scranton schools? I'm a few years older than my wife, and I even attended Catholic school for a short time, and never saw a paddle or a kid hit by a teacher in school.

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Agamemnon


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Actually I think I may have had Ms Boland too, all be it a very long time ago...it may have been her first teaching assignment (East Scranton Jr High, Art...if I have the right person). Anyway, she does have a reputation for being a hard-a$$, and honestly, I'm glad that none of my kids had or will have her. Whether or not she actually likes kids isn't something I can comment on, although I will say this: she's not the only one in the SSD with that outlook.

As for the laying the blame for all this healthcare mess, you got it right Bill...this is mostly a self-inflicted wound on the part of the SFT. The long-term cost of this will be that Scranton teachers will always and forever (until and unless a state-wide system is put into place) be paying more for heathcare coverage than any other teachers in the area. Right now they are at the turniquit phase, just trying to stop the massive bleeding. They succeeded though with the last contract in doing the impossible: they made the School Board actually look shrewd and smart. Nice trick, huh?

I'm not sure about the corporal punishment thing, but I will check.


-- Edited by Agamemnon at 11:00, 2008-09-02

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Bill Lumbergh


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RE: Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
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I agree that the teachers are paying way too much for insurance, but I think, at least from what I've seen, the school board seems to be offering a fair deal, and if a compromise can be reached between what the board is offering and what the union is asking for, then a strike should be avoided.

But I've heard something that may have some truth to it....that even if there is a strike, its likely to last only for 2 days...since a strike will call off any of the high school football games. And we all know how that is around here.....unfortunately, academics take a back seat to athletics, especially football. And with Scranton and West both having good teams this year, neither the teachers nor the district want the bad PR of ruining the football season for two potential playoff teams.

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Agamemnon


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Update...Negotiations resumed late this afternoon, and so far now word from the union or the district. I'm thinking this is a good sign...as in they are continuing to talk. Hundreds of teachers turned out as the Directors entered the administration building.

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VinceWhirlwind


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RE: Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
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maybe i'm wrong, but i believe the biggest rub of all is that the district is self-insured, correct?

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Agamemnon


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A TENTATIVE CONTRACT HAS BEEN REACHED.
There will be no strike.

Details to be released to the SFT rank and file tomorrow after school.

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LusOnlyVoice


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Vince you are right ... and this leads me to believe that this is really not the smartest move ... because it involves paying BC NEPA to administate the plans offered ... it also involves having a stop loss policy to cover the care that the district can't afford ... after a certain dollar amount is spent on health care ... the stop loss policy kicks in to pick up the costs. Being self insured is quite complicated. And it does not seem to be very cost efficient.

NO STRIKE Thank GOD!

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I want everyone to stop and think about one thing ... Joe Pilchesky is not a lawyer ... he's just a guy playing a lawyer on the internet.  Please don't trust your legal needs to this man.
Agamemnon


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A couple of thoughts...

...being self-insured makes sense for orgnaizations that can spread the risk out among a very large employee population and who have the knowledge and expertise to manage those risks. The SSD has neither.

..as to Bill's point, I heard that same thing. Sadly, people take high school sports far too seriously in this area. Football is an EXTRAcurricular activity, and I think there are some who forget the EXTRA part.

...credit to both negotiating teams for doing the right thing and hammering out an agreement. Here's a link the the Scranton Times article on the subject...not a lot of details though.

-- Edited by Agamemnon at 06:34, 2008-09-03

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IHavehadenoughofhaters


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RE: Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
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I think they are only self insured for workman's comp. I was under the impression BC/BS is the health insurance provider. As far asI know there hasn't been a negative word mentioned about the workers comp insurance. They have been self insured for years.

Sadly Bill's comment about football (well any sport really but football is the most popular) is probably accurate.



-- Edited by IHavehadenoughofhaters at 07:02, 2008-09-03

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Bill Lumbergh


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the fact that a tentative deal was reached is great news...a little late last night, but good news nonetheless. Hopefully its a fair deal for all sides....the teachers, the district, and the taxpayers. I give the Scranton teachers credit in that they seem more willing to compromise than some other area districts that seem to strike often (Abington heights and others). I hope the teachers did get a fair deal and will be enough to keep good teachers in Scranton rather than leaving for other schools.

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Agamemnon


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I think there was great incentive for both sides, and this does make both the teachers and the administration look good. Besides, any relief on the heathcare cost department would be welcome and would basically constitute a raise for everyone. Personally I'm thrilled that this whole thing didn't turn out to be financial hardship for my family, but that's just selfish best interest on my part.

As a side note, a DD poster complimented Pilchesky on getting the scoop on the settlement so early...which means that some teacher in the district called him immediately after they got the call from the union (I posted the news about 5 mintues after my wife got the call, as my daughter was using my laptop smile.gif ). Gee, I wonder how many district teachers Pilchesky knows very well? Hmmmm, who could that have been????


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IHavehadenoughofhaters


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I think you are talking about his "special" friend aren't you...?.. you fresh thing you!!biggrin

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VinceWhirlwind


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RE: Scranton Teachers to Strike, Starting on Wednesday Sept 3rd
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i think they are self-insured for both.

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LusOnlyVoice


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IHavehadenoughofhaters wrote:

I think they are only self insured for workman's comp. I was under the impression BC/BS is the health insurance provider. As far asI know there hasn't been a negative word mentioned about the workers comp insurance. They have been self insured for years.

Sadly Bill's comment about football (well any sport really but football is the most popular) is probably accurate.



-- Edited by IHavehadenoughofhaters at 07:02, 2008-09-03
IHave they are self insured for both workers comp and for health insurance. I know this because I was formerly a part of the healthcare committee and sat in on many many many health insurance meetings. We are definetly self insured for both. That is where I learned about the Stop Loss Policy.



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IHavehadenoughofhaters


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Ahhhhhhhh thanks Lus. I thought is was BC/BS insurance.

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LusOnlyVoice


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BC/BS is the Administrator of the plan ... which simply means that all of the paperwork is sent to them ... the district can then take advantage of the BC/BS discounted prices ... they issue a check and then turn around and send a monthly bill to the SSD ...

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