Janesvillean - and Act 10 was necessary because of decades of teacher union bosses one-sided, disingenuous pay & benefit demands. Unsustainable pay increases of 2x to 4x the rate of inflation, year after year. All while private industry pay rates stayed flat or declined. Local school boards for years, asked for small concessions in health insurance or pension contribution. Union bosses not only said no, but pushed votes for benefit increases (they need their viagra!) which they knew would lead to new teacher layoffs. Teacher union bosses in Wisconsin lost their moral high ground years ago. Your side enjoyed shouting "What does democracy looks like?!" Walker being reelected, despite $20M in spending by the pro union side is what democracy looks like.

Maybe Wislady should sign up on the "temp" list for the 2013-14 school year? Then we could see how good (LOL) she would be in the classroom. You know, ANYONE can be a teacher, right? Instead of talking like an idiot, put your money where your big mouth is and sign up to be a substitute teacher. You want to see how easy it is to teach, try being a substitute!! The righties will not be happy until teachers are volunteers. Guess we can look forward to a Mississippi-style public education system if Wislady has her way.

UNIONS UNIONS UNIONS

fear: With wislady's troubles in life she can't seem to find a job and stay off of these blogs. This person is a jealous misfit with nothing to offer! That is why they continue to post on every topic with little knowledge of anything! Truth hurts wislady!

Temps?? Really there is 800 temp teachers just waiting to work in a district that mistreats their teachers? I am curious is there a teacher yemp agency with 800 licensed teachers just chomping at the bit? One of Wislady's most ridiculous statements and that is certainly saying something.

The funny thing is there is no bullying going on. This stereotype of union bullying is silly. They simply want to negotiate the working conditions and the pay and benefits of where they work. They certainly have more credibility to bring to the table than any of the board members do. This situation displays the teachers absolute NEED for a union. Some on the board in the minority of the empty nesters in this community want the teachers to just shut up and be bullied by those with an agenda. Why are you so opposed to negotiation? No one in the private workplace with such a refined set of skills as teachers posses can negotiate with a private employer for better wages or working conditions, the notion in itself is ridiculous. What I find more ridiculous is this constant comparison by the tea party weirdo's that somehow if teachers are allowed to come together and bargain that is somehow bad for the "taxpayer". What is GOOD for society is a quality educational system like we have here in Janesville, with GREAT teachers and staff always putting themselves out there for the community and the families in it. Things I would like to see negotiated by the union is a pathway to easier identify sub-standard teachers and an easier way to take action against them. I would also like to see an hourly wage scale. You morons that suggest that teachers only work 9 months out of the year would find out very quickly how many hours they put in and how good of a deal a salary is for this profession.
The point is that the people that continue down this idiotic rhetoric about taxpayers and unions is a national ideology aimed at this idea of a perception of unions, not a reality. The JEA has MANY times made concessions on insurance and on salary. Janesville teachers HAVE been contributing to their Health Insurance for 4 years now, they have voted for a self funded plan that has saved the district tens of millions of dollars and yet so many just come in the blogs with the same old tired rhetoric. Would think by now some of you would be capable of a little research and say Thank You to the teachers of Janesville. Not only for doing a FANTASTIC job of educating our children, and a wonderful job at sacrificing for the families AND taxpayers despite all of the nasty uninformed blather that flies around the minority of this community.

janesvillean

Let them strike, there are always temps who can step up. The taxpayers are tired of being held hostage by the unions, and of hearing their DEMANDS. The teachers should be quite capable of negotiating with the school board.

Unions are needed to stop those like walker that have no respect for others & only fill their own pockets

lovemycountry, this is a direct result of Act 10 and Walker's "divide and conquer" (his words, remember -- nobody put them in his mouth) approach to government. The threat of legal action or strike is all that teachers have left now that their other rights were stolen away. Thank Scott Walker for destroying the possibility of consensus and arbitration.

“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” – John F. Kennedy. Thank you Janesville School Board for agreeing to negotiate and confer. This is good.

Lawsuits? Teacher union membership is plummeting locally and statewide. Teacher unions are panicking in a last ditch effort to remain relevant. In other words, it's NOT for the kids.