Steve Hoffacker's Sales Quips

The 14 Democratic Senators in Wisconsin have spoken. To a person their own interests are far more important than those of the people of Wisconsin of the office to which they were elected.

Scott Walker has given them more than enpough time - way too much time - to get over their tantrums and return to work.

Therefore, Walker needs to declasre all 14 seats vacant and hold aspecial election forthwith or appoint replacements. The 14 should have all salaries stopped - not just held but stopped. The state police should be dispatched to recover any state property that they might have and their offices should be cleaned out.

I think they just blinked.

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For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com, or go to my other blog homesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. Listen to my free podcast messages at Steve Hoffacker's Happenings.

Steve Hoffacker - Consultant, Coach, Author, Blogger, Photographer, Motivator, Teacher, & Strategist - for Realtors, Real Estate Sales Professionals, Home Builders, New Home Salespeople, Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners, and Independent Sales Representatives.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2011. All Rights Reserved.

The 14 Democratic members of the Wisconsin Senate continue their exile in Illinois. Many of them are facing recall petitions - which I hope are successful.

If they didn't want to serve, they should not have run for election. None of these people should survive the next election.

Look at the example they are setting for the teachers and the students of the state - it's OK to run away if the battle is formidable. It's OK to play games with the taxpayers. It's OK to be disruptive if you're not getting your way.

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For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com, or go to my other blog homesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. Listen to my free podcast messages at Steve Hoffacker's Happenings.

Steve Hoffacker - Consultant, Coach, Author, Blogger, Photographer, Motivator, Teacher, & Strategist - for Realtors, Real Estate Sales Professionals, Home Builders, New Home Salespeople, Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners, and Independent Sales Representatives.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2011. All Rights Reserved.

It all started when Gov. Scott Walker wanted to bring his state budget in line - which he constitutionally is bound to do. He discovered that the public unions, and especially the teachers, were not paying into their retirement accounts or health insurance plans the way private sector workers are, so he proposed a change. The Republican majority legislature passed the proposal in committee and was set to vote passage of it last Wednesday when a series of most unfortunate and quite telling events occurred:

• Teachers falsely (and illegally) called in sick to shut down the Madison schools so they could attend protest rallies - they should all be terminated and possibly prosecuted.
• Many teachers took their students with them - without parental approval, approved chaparones, permission slips, or knowledge of the students as to what they would be doing - criminal activity by the teachers involved.
• Doctors knowingly wrote false medical excuses for the teachers - putting their medical licenses in jeopardy and now being investigated by the state medical association.
• The President gets involved and call the Wisconsin plan an "assault on unions" - who asked him to get involved anyway?
• 14 Democratic members of the State Senate (only one of them is needed for a quorum) left the state and went to Illinois where they could not legally be forced to return - still earning their state salaries while AWOL.
  
• Nancy Pelosi says she admires and supports the 14 Senators who have chosen to flee rather than do the duty they were elected for - wonder if she would have said the same thing if the Republican members of the House had gone home and refused to be present for the Health Care vote?
• Union organizers and union members from other states are showing up to protest.
• A teacher's union spokesperson urged the teachers back to class - partly because the students needed them and partly to avoid additional criticsm.
  

This is only a little about the state budget at this point, and only a little about teachers being asked to contribute more to their pension and health care plans (which they already agreed to do). It's absolutley nothing about educating the students or serving their needs - this has never been mentioned. It's a lot about unions and their enormous power. It's a lot about politicians who depend on union support.

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For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com, or go to my other blog homesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. Listen to my free podcast messages at Steve Hoffacker's Happenings.

Steve Hoffacker - Consultant, Coach, Author, Blogger, Photographer, Motivator, Teacher, & Strategist - for Realtors, Real Estate Sales Professionals, Home Builders, New Home Salespeople, Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners, and Independent Sales Representatives.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2011. All Rights Reserved.

Finally we hear the real reason for the uproar, and it's not mainly the teachers themselves who are angry, although many of them are going along. It's the unions.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka was doing all he could to whip up the troops with fiery rhetoric yesterday.

Many of Wisconsin's teachers aren't all that upset about the proposed legislation. Primarily the vocal ones are those in Madison and Milwaukee - the two largest cities. Since the capital is in Madison, the hometown arena was easy access for local teachers, and they took the opportunity to call in sick - shutting down the school system - and then showing up at the Capitol to protest.

The bill will eliminate many of the traditional collective bargaining issues, such as pensions and health care, but it does not eliminate negotiations on wages. Working conditions are not an issue. In general, the teachers have agreed to pay more toward their retirement and health care anyway. So why all the ruckus?

Turns out one provision of the bill would cause the teachers' union to be recertified every year by a majority vote of all members, not just those voting. The other provision would eliminate the school board from collecting union dues by withholding them from paychecks and passing them along to the unions. Currently dues are as high as $1,000 per teacher annually, and under the plan the unions would have to do their own billing and collecting.

This is why the unions are upset. They see their power, influence, and money going away.

Has anyone even talked about or considered the interests of Wisconsin's students and their families in all of this? Didn't think so.

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For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com, or go to my other blog homesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. Listen to my free podcast messages at Steve Hoffacker's Happenings.

Steve Hoffacker - Consultant, Coach, Author, Blogger, Photographer, Motivator, Teacher, & Strategist - for Realtors, Real Estate Sales Professionals, Home Builders, New Home Salespeople, Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners, and Independent Sales Representatives.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2011. All Rights Reserved.

Teachers in Wisconsin that have gone along with their union demand - or even joined in on their own - to ditch their responsibility to be in the classroom and either call in sick or show up at the Capitol to protest should be rewarded with a permanent vacation from their teaching assignments. They should all be fired and have their teaching certificates revoked. Clearly their actions have demonstrated (no pun intended) that they are no longer interested in teaching.

They are in violation of state law which says that they cannot strike. They are in violation of their contract which says that they can't stage a walkout or strike. They are abusing the interests of every taxpayer in Wisconsin - particularly those in the Madison area.

They have shut down the public schools in Madison for 3 days. Monday is a holiday, and we don't know if other days next week will be affected.

I'd have replacements lined up for the classroom on Tuesday - union or not. The others should be cleaning out their desks.

The teachers that have gone along with this protest have shown that they hold their own interests higher than those of their students, than the education they are supposed to love, and of the sworn duty to the taxpayers. Dismiss them and move on.

As for what they are protesting, they have already agreed to ante up more for their pension and health care, and the bill still gives them salary negotiation rights. What else is there to contest?

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For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com, or go to my other blog homesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. Listen to my free podcast messages at Steve Hoffacker's Happenings.

Steve Hoffacker - Consultant, Coach, Author, Blogger, Photographer, Motivator, Teacher, & Strategist - for Realtors, Real Estate Sales Professionals, Home Builders, New Home Salespeople, Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners, and Independent Sales Representatives.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2011. All Rights Reserved.