unions

“Your comment feature never really was legitimate given the tendency to censor. But the gloves off approach regarding O’Brien appears like you’ve been bought off by Haller.”
- “Worcester Guy”

Rosalie responds:

Not so, Worcester Guy. I am still livid about all the SKY-HIGH salaries that our municipal workers make. My newspaper (ICTimes) has been running all the City of Worcester wage earners. You see line after line of cops, fireman, lawyers making over $140,000. Our WPS grammer school principals make $120,000! Freakin’ crazy!

In the old days, Worcester’s cops actually lived in our blue collar neighborhoods because they were paid blue collar wages! And they were great! My mom still remembers this Irish cop in Green Island (in the 1930s) who used to chat with the kids and give them airplane rides. Everyone knew him and trusted him! (and loved him) Now that was real community policing!

Working for the city or state used to mean two things: lifetime security and good benefits (heath insurance, etc). It did not mean a $120,000 paycheck! It usually meant a slightly below average paycheck. Something is so wrong with the system. O’Brien raises taxes and the money seems to go to pay for … city worker paychecks or the cops’ rising heath insurance costs or more (now that the state has opted out) freaking Quinn Bill payments to the WPD officers. Click to continue »

By Coffeepunk 76

I think I am going to try and read the InCity Times more often.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” I am in a union, and the Telegram and Gazette is notorious for its prejudice against unions. The Telegram and Gazette produces more hate speech towards unions than any other “paper” I have ever read.

Dianne Williamson, the same “journalist” who attacked the InCity Times, wrote “an article” (if you can call it that) on May 9, 2010, about putting her mother in ‘a home.’ This ‘reporter’ turned one sentence, “my mother has dementia, and I’m putting her into a home,” into a whole article. Click to continue »

By Chris Horton

[Governor] Deval Patrick is no longer a suitable leader for the common people of Massachusetts, no matter where he came from. The people are done with waiting for change and listening to excuses why the promises that were made can’t be kept. They won’t vote for him, and we will only destroy our own credibility with them by working for him. Appeals to all Democrats to stick together around Patrick are utterly misplaced in the context of the Convention and the Primary election because what is at issue is whether he is appropriate as leader of the Commonwealth’s Democrats. Which he is not.

The heavy-handed tactics of his supporters to intimidate anyone who might go against him at the convention even before there was any opposition inside the Democratic Party - which I saw first hand - are an indication that he’s running scared. Click to continue »

By Richard Schmitt

Is government the enemy? Many Americans think that. On April 15, tax day, a national organization held a series of “tea parties” all over the country to commemorate the colonists’ resistance to government and specifically to taxation. They are planning more events. At present, the Republicans in Congress are resisting the proposal to have government provide health insurance for some Americans. Anything done by the government, they believe, is worse than anything done by private business.

This is an old belief among Americans. The authors of the Constitution wrote that document after having successfully freed themselves from the British government and established their own. The political system they created is very concerned about preserving individual liberties against government attempts to limit freedom. It is, we think, a good system. Citizens have elaborate rights to protest, to tell the government what they think. The leaders of the government are elected; they hold their jobs by the will of the citizens and can be removed from office if they ignore the citizens’ wishes. Click to continue »