When I lean over there is a tendency for the contents of my shirt pocket to fall out.
In the past this movement has cost me dearly. Did I learn nooooooooo.
When I was early in my speech therapy career, there were no computers to keep track of schedules. I was always looking for a way to track my schedule with my students and their projects. I was also adverse to wearing a watch at that time.
I bought a calculator that was really state of the art. I allowed for alpha numberic (keyboarding) and it had a watch built into it. It was the size of a checkbook. It had a cut out on the front that allowed the digital time to be read. I thought that it was really cool stuff. I paid 54 dollars for it.. quite a sum in the late 80's. I used it extensively to do"work" related functions.
One night while I was baking a cake I leaned over to check the cake in the oven. It went surfing out of my pocket and on to the burners at the bottom of the oven. It ignited immediately and sent a foul burning rubber electrical smell throughout the house. Eventually I opened the oven after it cooled and through out the cake, the calculator datebook and replaced the oven burner that had melted plastic all over it. I was pretty sad.. but nothing could be done but try to figure out a better way to tack info.
Fast forward to today.
The toilet in the new bathroom suddenly did not flush. Instead all I heard was the tale tail continuous water running down the drain. Just like most guys that see an issue in their car mechanics, they throw open the hood even if they cannot or have no experience in the area, and peer bent over at the mechanics of hard to understand equipment. I did the same to the this fancy (10 years ago innovative) toilet. It had the idea of pressure charging the bowl contents down the sewage line rather than use gravity to feed the lines. At one time they flushed 8 golf balls down the line at once, with a similar flushmate device.
I leaned over and sure enough, my iphone dropped out of my pocket and down under the pressure chamber unreachable by even adept human hands. All of the water in the tank is contained in the pressure chamber and not in the tank.. so the iphone did not go swimming it was just inaccessible.
I read the owners manual on line and determined that I would have to disassemble the toilet from the base and drag apart seals and still I would have a toilet that needed parts to fix.. via online order only.
I called the local plumber that was listed as the contact for Sloan flushmate. He said that his billing charge was 89 dollars an hour. It would take a couple hours he figured to split the toilet apart and fish out the errant phone. He said that they were recommending moving out of flushmates since there were toilets that accomplished the same thing (water conservation) without such complicated assemblies and backordered parts. He offered a low water 17 inch tall (taller than our current) for 495 installed. He said that if I wanted to go shopping for another that they would install it at the 89 dollar an hour rate. Quick at math.. I decided to have them bring the 17 incher in an hour and have them install it.
I rep arrived within 30 minutes and hauled the old one out and turned in on its side.. easily fishing out my fully functioning iphone and he proceeded to install a 17 inch tall (ADA compliant) 1.2 gallon Gerber toilet. He leveled it out and shimmed it in place. all parts were installed and he calked it and checked for leaks several times.. We were good to go!
So watch out when you lean over with stuff in your pocket!
: ) Pat
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Neighbors
We have lived here for over 30 years. We were the first ones on the block. It was interesting that I finally got to know the neighbor that lives on our corner just within the last year.
I thought they were from New Jersey. I was wrong they are from Rhode Island. The moved on our block two years after we moved here. I found out that she loved nectarines but did not like peaches. Luckily I have a dwarf nectarine in my front yard. I try to pick some nice ones for her every year and put them on her front porch.
She loves to work out in her yard on comfortable days. She thinks that it is funny that she is out their pulling weeds in the front of her perennial flower mound while he is inside punching keys on a computer. She said,"I just cannot trust him to do this, he might be pulling up the plants instead of the weeds."
Her husband is over 85. He is tall lanky man with with a solid gait in his walk. He used to play golf in his retirement every day at the golf and country club. When he turned 85 he decided that he would give up of the sport. Even at 85 he was carrying his own golf clubs throughout the 18 holes and walking the length of the course. His wife attributes his good health to his walking every day an a cosmopolitan every night before dinner. His friends at the golf club could not understand why he would give it up when he was able to walk the walk and stroke the club. He was determined.
His wife told me that he started off working in middle management in RI for a tire manufactoring company, Us rubber.. or something like that. His wife was very close to her sister. They both grew up in Rhode Island. Her sister followed her husband out to Merced to be an Air Force wife. My neighbor was the youngest in the family. They lost their mother when this woman was very young. Her sister served as the mother to this woman. She felt abandoned when her sister came to California. The sister opened and ran successfully two restaurants in Merced after her husband retired from the Air Force. Her sister and her husband are both gone now.
They came out to visit their relatives in Merced for a couple of weeks from RI. When they got back, the younger sister missed her older sister so much that they decided to move to Merced within 3 weeks. The husband said that with his business experience in middle management for the tire company that he did not think that he would have difficulty finding a good job in Merced.
He was right. He found a very good job in Merced with Farmer's Insurance who had regional offices here. He worked there and made a good enough living that they bought a house and then parlayed it to a nicer section of town (our block). He retired when he turned 61. They have always had a comfortable lifestyle in Merced. She said that she would like to visit the East coast sometime but was not interested in doing a plane trip again.
I often cross him in my walks in the early morning. He chides me when I am "late" which is really funny. He is finishing his walk at 8:30 and sometimes I am just starting my walk at that time. Such are the joys of both of our retirements.
I thought they were from New Jersey. I was wrong they are from Rhode Island. The moved on our block two years after we moved here. I found out that she loved nectarines but did not like peaches. Luckily I have a dwarf nectarine in my front yard. I try to pick some nice ones for her every year and put them on her front porch.
She loves to work out in her yard on comfortable days. She thinks that it is funny that she is out their pulling weeds in the front of her perennial flower mound while he is inside punching keys on a computer. She said,"I just cannot trust him to do this, he might be pulling up the plants instead of the weeds."
Her husband is over 85. He is tall lanky man with with a solid gait in his walk. He used to play golf in his retirement every day at the golf and country club. When he turned 85 he decided that he would give up of the sport. Even at 85 he was carrying his own golf clubs throughout the 18 holes and walking the length of the course. His wife attributes his good health to his walking every day an a cosmopolitan every night before dinner. His friends at the golf club could not understand why he would give it up when he was able to walk the walk and stroke the club. He was determined.
His wife told me that he started off working in middle management in RI for a tire manufactoring company, Us rubber.. or something like that. His wife was very close to her sister. They both grew up in Rhode Island. Her sister followed her husband out to Merced to be an Air Force wife. My neighbor was the youngest in the family. They lost their mother when this woman was very young. Her sister served as the mother to this woman. She felt abandoned when her sister came to California. The sister opened and ran successfully two restaurants in Merced after her husband retired from the Air Force. Her sister and her husband are both gone now.
They came out to visit their relatives in Merced for a couple of weeks from RI. When they got back, the younger sister missed her older sister so much that they decided to move to Merced within 3 weeks. The husband said that with his business experience in middle management for the tire company that he did not think that he would have difficulty finding a good job in Merced.
He was right. He found a very good job in Merced with Farmer's Insurance who had regional offices here. He worked there and made a good enough living that they bought a house and then parlayed it to a nicer section of town (our block). He retired when he turned 61. They have always had a comfortable lifestyle in Merced. She said that she would like to visit the East coast sometime but was not interested in doing a plane trip again.
I often cross him in my walks in the early morning. He chides me when I am "late" which is really funny. He is finishing his walk at 8:30 and sometimes I am just starting my walk at that time. Such are the joys of both of our retirements.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Hotwire through the Hoops
We booked a stay through Hotwire the first day of Semptember this year. We were heading over to San Francisco and decided that with all of the activities we had planned with the daughters it made since to stay over there.
Booking though Hotwire sent us to an overnight at the La Quinta Inn.
The La Quinta Inn in South San Francisco is constructed behind a food processing warehouse. Sounds pretty strange.. but okay. the rest of the story is that the rail road tracks for big businesses on the other side of Bay Shore freeway split the lodging buildings in half. Still that is okay as long as huge train horns do not wake you in the middle of the night... they didn't.
What was strange here was there business practices.
Hotwire found us a room that we pre paid for through Pay Pal. Hotwire lets you shop by area and stars and only reveals where you are going to stay when you have paid.
We had a great night at the hotel. It was not much more than a motel 8 yet was much nice and offered a great breakfast with make your own waffle irons and plenty of batter.
When we were checking out I noticed that a bill had been slipped under our door in the middle of the night. Usually on those occasions the balance is zero since we do not run up tabs in hotel rooms and the bill was pre paid through hotwire and pay pal.
This time it was not zeroed out.
When I brough this to the attention of the desk clerk that we should not owe 74 dollars as billed since we were hotwire customers.. she agreed and tore up the bill told us not to worry.
I had this happen once before in an Emmeryville hotel.
I notified hotwire and they made it right, and so did the hotel. Hotwire refunded my purchase price to Pay Pal and the hotel refunded my overcharge to the credit card company.
The same thing happened here. Hotwire refunded my pay pal account and the hotel will refund their errant charges.
In both cases I had to submit by fax the credit card billing, my hotwire itinerary number and what they would really like is a fax of the bill that didn't have zero on it. In the last case I didn't have this piece since they crumbled it up and threw it away at the desk.
So we stayed essentially free because of their mistake. It pays to keep track of irregularities when you travel and get the docs to the right people in a timely manner.
: ) Pat
Booking though Hotwire sent us to an overnight at the La Quinta Inn.
The La Quinta Inn in South San Francisco is constructed behind a food processing warehouse. Sounds pretty strange.. but okay. the rest of the story is that the rail road tracks for big businesses on the other side of Bay Shore freeway split the lodging buildings in half. Still that is okay as long as huge train horns do not wake you in the middle of the night... they didn't.
What was strange here was there business practices.
Hotwire found us a room that we pre paid for through Pay Pal. Hotwire lets you shop by area and stars and only reveals where you are going to stay when you have paid.
We had a great night at the hotel. It was not much more than a motel 8 yet was much nice and offered a great breakfast with make your own waffle irons and plenty of batter.
When we were checking out I noticed that a bill had been slipped under our door in the middle of the night. Usually on those occasions the balance is zero since we do not run up tabs in hotel rooms and the bill was pre paid through hotwire and pay pal.
This time it was not zeroed out.
When I brough this to the attention of the desk clerk that we should not owe 74 dollars as billed since we were hotwire customers.. she agreed and tore up the bill told us not to worry.
I had this happen once before in an Emmeryville hotel.
I notified hotwire and they made it right, and so did the hotel. Hotwire refunded my purchase price to Pay Pal and the hotel refunded my overcharge to the credit card company.
The same thing happened here. Hotwire refunded my pay pal account and the hotel will refund their errant charges.
In both cases I had to submit by fax the credit card billing, my hotwire itinerary number and what they would really like is a fax of the bill that didn't have zero on it. In the last case I didn't have this piece since they crumbled it up and threw it away at the desk.
So we stayed essentially free because of their mistake. It pays to keep track of irregularities when you travel and get the docs to the right people in a timely manner.
: ) Pat
Monday, September 12, 2011
Diapers for Low Income Kids
UC Merced professor leads diaper drive
UC Merced professor Patricia "Patti" LiWang began to collect
diapers and toilet tissue in the summer of 2009 during her first Summer
of Diapers drive.
In the past three summers, she's collected 7,600 diapers and 446 rolls of toilet paper, though donations are down this summer.
The collection isn't to enhance her research but to make a difference in the lives of Merced-area families in need.
In the past three summers, she's collected 7,600 diapers and 446 rolls of toilet paper, though donations are down this summer.
The collection isn't to enhance her research but to make a difference in the lives of Merced-area families in need.
Merced Sun-Star - UC Merced professor Patricia "Patti" LiWang began to collect diapers and bathroom tissue to help poor families.
Diapers aren't cheap, and LiWang said there's no charity that donates
diapers to poor families with babies. "There's really no good source of
diapers," she said. "We have to do something."
The idea for the
diaper collection came to LiWang after she read a news story about how
the federally funded Women, Infants and Children Program, or WIC, didn't
provide money for diapers. She said that when she read the article, her
son, Brandon, was using diapers and she knew it was a hefty expense --
one you notice even when you have a good-paying job, she said. "Imagine
if I was poor," she said. "I just couldn't believe it."
LiWang said she couldn't tolerate a baby having to sit in a wet diaper for hours, especially during hot summer days. Some families are forced to potty-train their toddlers when it's too early because they can't afford diapers, she said.
"I wish I could do more," said LiWang, who teaches science. "When you do it, you realize how small it is compared to the big need."
After she collects the diapers and toilet tissue, she drops them off at the Merced County Food Bank, which distributes them to families. LiWang said she's been told that at the end of the month there's an urgent need because most families get paid at the beginning of the month.
The food bank has had to turn away people, she said.
Still, LiWang is happy if she can at least help prevent a few family arguments. Sometimes frustration arises when there's not enough money in the household to buy what's needed, she said.
"You can't change the world, but you can sometimes give people a better day, at least," she said.
LiWang is spearheading the effort, but other staff at UC Merced occasionally help. She plans to continue the drive next summer.
She hopes to get more people involved in the effort and has a vision for the drive to grow. The mother of three wants to be able to place collection boxes outside stores such as Target or Wal-Mart so people can remember to donate while shopping.
LiWang collects diapers of all sizes.
"I hope it's making a difference," she said.
Reporter Yesenia Amaro can be reached at (209)385-2482, or yamaro@mercedsun-star.com.
EDITOR'S NOTE: 'Merced Matters' appears every Monday. In it we will tell the stories of Mercedians -- ordinary people doing extraordinary things, extraordinary people doing ordinary things and a lot in between. We hope you like our effort to let you know more about others in our community, and we welcome your suggestions. Please contact Mike Tharp at mtharp@mercedsun-star.com or (209) 385-2456 with your ideas for 'Merced Matters.'
LiWang said she couldn't tolerate a baby having to sit in a wet diaper for hours, especially during hot summer days. Some families are forced to potty-train their toddlers when it's too early because they can't afford diapers, she said.
"I wish I could do more," said LiWang, who teaches science. "When you do it, you realize how small it is compared to the big need."
After she collects the diapers and toilet tissue, she drops them off at the Merced County Food Bank, which distributes them to families. LiWang said she's been told that at the end of the month there's an urgent need because most families get paid at the beginning of the month.
The food bank has had to turn away people, she said.
Still, LiWang is happy if she can at least help prevent a few family arguments. Sometimes frustration arises when there's not enough money in the household to buy what's needed, she said.
"You can't change the world, but you can sometimes give people a better day, at least," she said.
LiWang is spearheading the effort, but other staff at UC Merced occasionally help. She plans to continue the drive next summer.
She hopes to get more people involved in the effort and has a vision for the drive to grow. The mother of three wants to be able to place collection boxes outside stores such as Target or Wal-Mart so people can remember to donate while shopping.
LiWang collects diapers of all sizes.
"I hope it's making a difference," she said.
Reporter Yesenia Amaro can be reached at (209)385-2482, or yamaro@mercedsun-star.com.
EDITOR'S NOTE: 'Merced Matters' appears every Monday. In it we will tell the stories of Mercedians -- ordinary people doing extraordinary things, extraordinary people doing ordinary things and a lot in between. We hope you like our effort to let you know more about others in our community, and we welcome your suggestions. Please contact Mike Tharp at mtharp@mercedsun-star.com or (209) 385-2456 with your ideas for 'Merced Matters.'
Read more: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2011/09/12/2039356/uc-merced-professor-leads-diaper.html#ixzz1XmIZyx1Y
A comment in the Sun Star Blog mentioned they would prefer that people didn't donate Koch Industries diapers and paper. So what are the Koch Industries products and why are people against them.
A wiki research found that they are Georgia Pacific products. They are Brawny, Angel Soft, Mardi Gras, Quilted Northern, Dixie and Sparkle.
What is concerning about Koch family industries? They are a leading anti climate change supporter company. While they have been cited for improvement in their ecological development of refinery type development, they have been severely chastised by the green community for not informing their neighbors of toxic spills or potential ecological disasters to air and water tables.
So donate some diapers and toliet paper but know what you are buying when it is angel soft. Quilted Northern, or Brawny.
The New Route
I walk virtually every day.
My Starbucks employees do some really nice things for me. There was a short line in front of me at Starbucks, the first stop along the way. The lady first in line had a penciled list and a handful of dollar bills. The second lady in front of me was figuring out whether or not to get a bagel with her morning coffee.
My barista, saw me in line and handed me my dopio machaiato in a here cup as I waited to pay and the ladies were trying to figure out whether this person or that needed foam on top or whipped cream.
Such service. I do appreciate it.
My new route came about when Linzi visited me in the hospital last Spring. Somehow I hadn't put together that the road that Starbucks is on, Peterson, could lead up and connect to the road in front of the big hospital. I now often use this route as an alternative. It seems to be quieter than my route down Paulson to Donna and all the way back on Donna. I would miss my Himalayan cat monitors on White Wolf by going this way.
I have enjoyed seeing the cottontail bunnies as they skirt around the bushes on this hospital route. Their little white tails are distinctive as the run ahead. I talked to a worker who was taking her "smoking" break away from the hospital along the trail. She said that it is really cool to see all the bunnies come from the bushes and gather on the helicopter pad after a rain to nibble on the fresh green grasses that grow.
I will be looking forward to seeing that as we are approaching the fall season. We might get some rain in September. It looked like we might get some last night. The clouds came over from the mountains and it looked like the monsoon weather pattern was about to form. We felt the heat and the humidity.. but no rain.
It was similar to the feeling we had with out tent trailer in Las Vegas. The storm came in. The lightning struck all around the mountains of Las Vegas but no rain fell. We felt the sticky air. It was hot as the devil but no rain to cool it off. It was not a good night to be camping in the desert.
The next day we had a flat tire on the Flamingo blvd, freeway on ramp. I thought that we were never going to get out of there. The tire had lost their specialized bolt/nut combination and I had to go parts hunting in 120 weather before we could get the tire fixed. It made Sue proclaim that LV was the hell hole of the Western World!
My Starbucks employees do some really nice things for me. There was a short line in front of me at Starbucks, the first stop along the way. The lady first in line had a penciled list and a handful of dollar bills. The second lady in front of me was figuring out whether or not to get a bagel with her morning coffee.
My barista, saw me in line and handed me my dopio machaiato in a here cup as I waited to pay and the ladies were trying to figure out whether this person or that needed foam on top or whipped cream.
Such service. I do appreciate it.
My new route came about when Linzi visited me in the hospital last Spring. Somehow I hadn't put together that the road that Starbucks is on, Peterson, could lead up and connect to the road in front of the big hospital. I now often use this route as an alternative. It seems to be quieter than my route down Paulson to Donna and all the way back on Donna. I would miss my Himalayan cat monitors on White Wolf by going this way.
I have enjoyed seeing the cottontail bunnies as they skirt around the bushes on this hospital route. Their little white tails are distinctive as the run ahead. I talked to a worker who was taking her "smoking" break away from the hospital along the trail. She said that it is really cool to see all the bunnies come from the bushes and gather on the helicopter pad after a rain to nibble on the fresh green grasses that grow.
I will be looking forward to seeing that as we are approaching the fall season. We might get some rain in September. It looked like we might get some last night. The clouds came over from the mountains and it looked like the monsoon weather pattern was about to form. We felt the heat and the humidity.. but no rain.
It was similar to the feeling we had with out tent trailer in Las Vegas. The storm came in. The lightning struck all around the mountains of Las Vegas but no rain fell. We felt the sticky air. It was hot as the devil but no rain to cool it off. It was not a good night to be camping in the desert.
The next day we had a flat tire on the Flamingo blvd, freeway on ramp. I thought that we were never going to get out of there. The tire had lost their specialized bolt/nut combination and I had to go parts hunting in 120 weather before we could get the tire fixed. It made Sue proclaim that LV was the hell hole of the Western World!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
SF Giants to ride the Pine in Playoffs
Its early September and the Giants are out.. once again.
It was too much to think that they could repeat.
It looked so much better for the Giants before the All Star break.
You cannot blame the pesky snakes.... they are not much better.
Can you blame it on youth or injuries? Yep but it wouldn't do much good.
They just didn't win when it came to playing teams that they should easily beat.
But what a ride this year.
We all learned to appreciate a left handed slider.
And Timmy was all the rage.
Voglesong made a miraculous return as a starter.
Bumgartner the young kid star that comes from Grandma Candy's neck of North Carolina could not have pitched better.
And then there is Zito. The vestiage of the Barry Bonds era.
The park proved its pitcher's chops.
The home runs were few but memorable.
The panda was the star of a few splash downs in Mc Covey Cove.
From two years ago, this team has grown enormously in the defensive side.. but still its not good enough to overcome the lack of runs.
Games are won by the number of runs that are scored.
Too bad.. We all gained a new appreciation for the defensive side of baseball.
As they say in baseball.. there is always next year.
: ) Pat
It was too much to think that they could repeat.
It looked so much better for the Giants before the All Star break.
You cannot blame the pesky snakes.... they are not much better.
Can you blame it on youth or injuries? Yep but it wouldn't do much good.
They just didn't win when it came to playing teams that they should easily beat.
But what a ride this year.
We all learned to appreciate a left handed slider.
And Timmy was all the rage.
Voglesong made a miraculous return as a starter.
Bumgartner the young kid star that comes from Grandma Candy's neck of North Carolina could not have pitched better.
And then there is Zito. The vestiage of the Barry Bonds era.
The park proved its pitcher's chops.
The home runs were few but memorable.
The panda was the star of a few splash downs in Mc Covey Cove.
From two years ago, this team has grown enormously in the defensive side.. but still its not good enough to overcome the lack of runs.
Games are won by the number of runs that are scored.
Too bad.. We all gained a new appreciation for the defensive side of baseball.
As they say in baseball.. there is always next year.
: ) Pat
Sunday, September 4, 2011
A Salute to Teachers Labor 2011
We owe a debt of gratitude to the teacher labor movement in this country. Through it living costs of our teacher workers have produced in the past an economic engine bar none. When money gets in the hands of the teacher workers it is spent. Which moves to better working conditions and more complete employment for everyone. More taxes are paid. Our streets are repaired, our children are educated. Labor is the fuel of the economy, and teacher labor is vital to a vibrant middle class.
When money gets in the hands of entities that are not workers it is invested. It is saved it is pulled out of the economy and the money stops... or worst case scenario, it gets invested in other countries.
A long time ago an economist estimated that every dollar spent in education, resulted in 14 dollars of economic growth.
From humble beginnings, the teacher labor movement has developed the teaching profession from the world of a families "second" income to one where a reasonable working class life can be supported. When my father started in this profession in 1950, custodians were paid more than teachers. Teachers had to find a full time job in the summer to make ends meet. They often "moonlighted" to supplement their income to just above poverty lines. Growing up as a son of a teacher, we rode to school in old cars, wore clothes that were not as expensive as our peers and didn't eat steak, even at home. Our back to school wardrobe had to wait until October, when the teacher got paid for his or her first month of work. When we bought a Ford Falcon in 1960, we were really not sure that we could afford such a vehicle. Agents selling insurance and corporate salesmen could afford a new car every year with ease. Teachers are now not cast in such an economic hole, in part due to the unionization of teachers and the recognition of teachers as a viable group at the table.
Five years ago, before the housing bubble, beginning teachers were able to qualify for 260 thousand dollar homes with just their income. Health care even in my teaching career had become a necessity of contracts. A teacher could easily afford the 20% left on the table after the doctor was paid by the insurance company. Now that is pretty problematic for anyone. Teacher organization and understanding the dynamics of working through life journeys with health care has made worrying about what is covered and what is not an thing of the past for our young teachers and their new families. It was not an easy sell across the table or with our members. But it happened.
These basics were the result of bargaining over the years and a pushing to make teaching an economically viable profession.
As bargaining power of the teaching labor force developed with professionally negotiators, to counter the legal support provided by the bargaining forces from the district, teachers gained a foothold in their economic destiny as school budgets had to be made public and state budgets rather than local school district budgets became the economic engine of the academic enterprise. This would not have happened without the labor movement and the support of many teachers that had to come out of the "professional association model," and head for an advocacy model of "labor representation." It has been hard for many. It is not without its costs, both emotionally and monetarily. The journey has been worth it.
More important than negotiation rights was the inclusion rights of a union shop. Within my teaching career the memberships in both the high school district and the county district were strengthened by almost universal union membership. With everyone on board it is much easier to get what everyone needs, a fair contract, a respectable salary, and appropriate fringe benefits.
I salute the labor movement as it takes starts to realize its actualization in the public schools. With this actualization comes counter push from people who would like to see teachers paid like they were in the 1960's. Teachers need to stay strong. They must be able to teach the next generations so they may make America strong and competitive throughout the world.
: ) Pat
When money gets in the hands of entities that are not workers it is invested. It is saved it is pulled out of the economy and the money stops... or worst case scenario, it gets invested in other countries.
A long time ago an economist estimated that every dollar spent in education, resulted in 14 dollars of economic growth.
From humble beginnings, the teacher labor movement has developed the teaching profession from the world of a families "second" income to one where a reasonable working class life can be supported. When my father started in this profession in 1950, custodians were paid more than teachers. Teachers had to find a full time job in the summer to make ends meet. They often "moonlighted" to supplement their income to just above poverty lines. Growing up as a son of a teacher, we rode to school in old cars, wore clothes that were not as expensive as our peers and didn't eat steak, even at home. Our back to school wardrobe had to wait until October, when the teacher got paid for his or her first month of work. When we bought a Ford Falcon in 1960, we were really not sure that we could afford such a vehicle. Agents selling insurance and corporate salesmen could afford a new car every year with ease. Teachers are now not cast in such an economic hole, in part due to the unionization of teachers and the recognition of teachers as a viable group at the table.
Five years ago, before the housing bubble, beginning teachers were able to qualify for 260 thousand dollar homes with just their income. Health care even in my teaching career had become a necessity of contracts. A teacher could easily afford the 20% left on the table after the doctor was paid by the insurance company. Now that is pretty problematic for anyone. Teacher organization and understanding the dynamics of working through life journeys with health care has made worrying about what is covered and what is not an thing of the past for our young teachers and their new families. It was not an easy sell across the table or with our members. But it happened.
These basics were the result of bargaining over the years and a pushing to make teaching an economically viable profession.
As bargaining power of the teaching labor force developed with professionally negotiators, to counter the legal support provided by the bargaining forces from the district, teachers gained a foothold in their economic destiny as school budgets had to be made public and state budgets rather than local school district budgets became the economic engine of the academic enterprise. This would not have happened without the labor movement and the support of many teachers that had to come out of the "professional association model," and head for an advocacy model of "labor representation." It has been hard for many. It is not without its costs, both emotionally and monetarily. The journey has been worth it.
More important than negotiation rights was the inclusion rights of a union shop. Within my teaching career the memberships in both the high school district and the county district were strengthened by almost universal union membership. With everyone on board it is much easier to get what everyone needs, a fair contract, a respectable salary, and appropriate fringe benefits.
I salute the labor movement as it takes starts to realize its actualization in the public schools. With this actualization comes counter push from people who would like to see teachers paid like they were in the 1960's. Teachers need to stay strong. They must be able to teach the next generations so they may make America strong and competitive throughout the world.
: ) Pat