According to a report in the Wisconsin State Journal, at least two-thirds of Madison teachers were absent for at least one day of a union-organized four day absence back in February to protest Republican Governor Scott Walker’s proposal to curb public sector collective bargaining. According to the Madison School District, 1,769 teachers took unpaid leave during those four days, while 84 teachers submitted fraudulent sick notes from doctors who were handing out sick notes at the Capitol during the protests. Of the 84 teachers who submitted fraudulent sick notes, 46 later rescinded those notes and took unpaid leave for the days they missed, while the remaining teachers who submitted fraudulent notes were suspended (but given time-served dispositions).
I’ve always believed it was inappropriate for doctors to be handing out sick notes at the protests in Madison in February, and I think it was equally inappropriate for anyone in attendance at the protests to accept a “sick note” from those doctors. Those kinds of things only lend credence to conservative attacks on labor unions and public employees, thus undermining the arguments those groups were trying to make.
Who has never called in sick to work on a day when they were not “sick”.
easy for you to say. you (and i) didn’t give up anything to be in madison, so i feel uncomfortable casting stones.
I don’t begrudge anyone for wanting to go to Madison to be a part of the protests, but I do find fault with being dishonest about it.
If I had been forced to take unpaid leave to go, I would have, but what I wouldn’t have done is take a fake “sick note” from a doctor at the rally.
The 84 names should be published, parents should be given the opportunity to remove their children for the classroom as these teachers cannot be trusted to educate their children any longer.
You now if this had not been brought to light that none of those teachers would have admitted to wrong doing and more than likely more of them would have done this illegal stunt. Dan Nerad must do the right thing and properly deal with teachers like this who were willing to cheat the taxpayers and are not the role models children should have as teachers. You are correct Zach this is just one more reason why unions have little support in this state and why respect for so many union people is at an all time low, they continue to dosplay the me me me attitude and do not care about the outcome.
I think that since you have so many days in your contract designated for “sick” days and so many days designated for personal days that if you were at the capitol and wanted to use your “sick” days you should have been able to.
I did have skin in the game and we took them unpaid but we should have had the option.
I took a day off work (unpaid- i am limited term and work for a sympathetic and affected organization), no questions asked. These teachers could not do the same, as they were being threatened with severe repercussions for taking days off through any means.
I agree with Jeff Simpson’s first point that the butchering of the ‘sick note’ debate in that teachers and other workers were held to a standard that the workforce at large was not in terms of scrutiny for ‘sick time.’ just like the other aspects of deferred compensation negotiated into contracts that are mischaracterized and used against teachers, these teachers EARNED that sick time and had the right, like any other worker should, to use it as they see fit.
These teachers and other workers were being coerced and threatened with punishment if they didn’t quietly acquiesce to losing a battle that makes their lives livable (not just in benefits, everyone knew the budget was the next train in the tunnel and teachers knew what would that meant). These doctors were being bullied (i know many of them) and threatened by administrators, the Governor, and very vocal minorities in the community at large.
I feel like by blaming these teachers, and sympathetic doctors less so, you are ultimately blaming the victims who made panicked decisions based on very real fears. Your contempt should be focused on those administrators and public officials who were publicly threatening teachers and making these kind of actions seem necessary.
CSP, just one point of clarification….I don’t have contempt for the folks who did what they did; I’m simply expressing my opinion that I disagree with what they did.
You’re right that they earned their sick time, but at the same time that time is supposed to be used when they’re legitimately ill; if they wanted to take a paid day off they could have used vacation or personal time.
That’s my issue here; nothing more and nothing less.
BTW- First time commenter, long time reader. Always nice to get the dialectic going. Anyone who likes can check out my start-up blog, comicstrippolitics.wordpress.com . Keep up the good work, Blogging Blue!
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for reading…I’ve linked to your blog on our blogroll.
Who gives a shit? People call in sick to go hunting, drinking, loafing around, shopping, because they’re hung over…..who gives a shit.
well said CSP and steve…..welcome CSP.
People DO call in sick on days they are not but not so many at one time that shut down the business they work for. Their lies not only hurt their image but also the education of the children they say are “so important” to them. It was clear they were organized and it was not just by chance they all pulled this stunt, being so organized they could have done it where they could have protest and yet keep the businesses they worked for open. What they did wad shameful, disrespectful and in reality a illegal work stoppage. Every teacher in the districts where schools were forced to close should be docked pay whether they were at the protest or sitting at home those days.
We should all call in sick a few days in a row and show the powers that be who’s really in charge.
Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple, Notalib, not the teachers.
Steve you could certainly do that but if you think you are not replaceable you are wrong. The power is with onership, they decide who they hire, how that pay and who gets fired. They pretend they care about what their employees have to say but in the long run it really does not matter. The power and control is all with management.
Contempt was probably too strong a word. I just think we’re forgetting the threats that were being made against teachers who wanted to attend, and were basically told they couldn’t do it legitimately.
With what we know now, it’s clear how there would be future opportunities that mitigated the importance somewhat of the crisis mentality of the first few days, but there was really no way of knowing that then. It really did feel apocalyptic, and I can’t blame teachers for taking extreme measures that they were pushed into by the Governor and various administrators.
“Their lies not only hurt their image but also the education of the children they say are “so important” to them.”
This is nonsense for many reasons, but do you have children? Are they important to you? Have you ever taken them on a vacation and had them miss days of school? Does that mean you hurt their education or now have to put air quotes around things like saying that you “care about their futures”? I love how the right bitches and moans about personal responsibility and makes all sort of subtle racialized jabs at ‘the parents’ in MPS but then can’t handle it when their teacher needs to take measures such as these to protect institutions that these parents- in MPS and across- are too lazy or ignorant to defend for themselves. You sound more concerned with whether or not their school functioned as child care that workday, not whether it was actually an environment suitable for teaching children.
Yes I had kids and no all vacations were schedule around non school days. Also what the teachers did was not TAKE a vacation, they basically walked away from their jobs for no valid reasons. And I guess I don’t understand how asking to pay more in benefits destabilizes the workplace or for that matter how ending bargaining rights does. Now if you are saying that a teacher can only be a good teacher with these special privileges then I would say they need a new profession then. But if the teachers really felt a need to protest they could have done it in a way that did not cause schools to shutdown, as that illegal action did not change what the outcome. I don’t care they wanted to yell, scream and pound on pails to garner attention, but they should not have put their paychecks before the educational system, there mantra “it’s for the children” just is not believable, the protest was about their pocketbooks and that is the only reason they were protesting. They were well organized they could have done the protesting without shutting down districts.
Handing in fake sick notices is a disgusting act unbecoming of professionals.
Sincerely,
Calling in sick for Opening Day, March Madness, and 3-martini lunches on the golf course.
This is exactly why the public sector is more accountable than the private sector on these matters. Spare me your fake outrage in the 262 on this topic, because you don’t want to know how much your vaunted “productive” private sector blows off…and then writes off on their taxes.
Oh, and PS, as a former teacher and current public sector employee, it’s very stupid to take the doctor’s notes as an excuse. They should stand up proud and say “Damn right I used the sick time or unpaid leave that I HAVE THE RIGHT TO USE to stand up and be counted when it mattered.”
I took a couple of long lunches and used the vacation time as a result, and most people I know that attended did the same.
Ok Jake but how many times have you heard that a business was closed for 3 or 4 days because so many people were calling in phony sickness? Also do you think if that many did call in and the company had to close they would all still be employed? Finally the teachers are public employees paid by tax dollars so they are to be held accountable by the people who pay those taxes.
last time i checked, educating the nation’s children wasn’t a business. your argument is phony because it obviously wasn’t about the benefits because every union in question agreed to the financial concessions. it was about the work environment and the impact of unionization in the workplace in terms of improving workplace standards (for the most part, with some exceptions). although vouchers will change all that anyway, i guess.