WAKE UP PEOPLE! Call your reps / senators and tell them you're paying attention. Ask them to justify their position if they intend to support it. Or don't...but don't complain when your local taxes go up because it precisely these types of bills that continually tie the hands of our local leaders.

What's taxing is Anchor Rising boorish attacks on taxes and the inane comments of some of its readers. There's a bit more to the situation than the Neanderthal, "Taxes bad", Tea Party Good"; followed by a couple of self satisfied grunts.
OldTimeLefty

OK Swifty...I mean Lefty...enlighten us...what more do we need to know? I don't mind paying taxes but I'm sick and tired of the GA passing the buck to local municipalities so they can continue to curry favor from special interests. Perhaps you should look up inane because it seems to aptly apply to your postings.

Surely you can muster more indignant venom than just that little spurt, Lefty.

Of course, we should turn over all our assets to the state government, and they will return to us our "fair share" after the union bosses take as much as they want.

Since nobody here has taken the position that they want zero taxes, how does Lefty determine what should be the right amount of taxes?

What's the point of "negotiations" if one side can simply sit it out and get a contract through an arbitrator? Why not send a lowball offer first and then sit it out. Why waste all your time negotiating? Go right to the arbitrator. Then, it's basically the arbitrator running the town.

"There's a bit more to the situation than the Neanderthal, "Taxes bad", Tea Party Good"; followed by a couple of self satisfied grunts."

We're all ears OTL.

I like the idea of including teachers in what firefighters and police have now. Binding arbitration is there because police and firefighters do not strike. Since withholding one's labor is the hammer the worker has and in exchange for giving that up it seems like a good idea to have some mechanism to resolve matters. It is illegal for teachers to strike so instead of having contract talks go nowhere( and this seems to be the tactic of the high priced hired gun lawyers for school committees) and see a contract thrown out ( remember East Providence) with the only real option being to either keep working after having money taken away, hours added to the day, benefits reduced or taken and without a contract or go to jail, I think it makes sense to place the teachers in the same category as police and firefighters by giving them binding arbitration. It's only fair.

By the way, I had to laugh when I read the phrase above "fait accompli" and then the latin phrase "quid pro quo" in the same piece. Those two phrases have been spoken and written by so many today in this full court effort against binding arbitration. Those phrases have been working so hard today that maybe they should insist on some legal protections too.

Yeah, Max, and no brains.
OTL

BobN
I'm enjoying myself. I leave the venom up to you. As long as you are a voice crying in the wilderness you provide amusement. Keep at it.
OldTimeLefty

I haven't seen this kind of panic since that Flintstones episode about "The Way-Outs are coming!" People hear it on the radio and think Bedrock's going to be invaded - turns out the Way-Outs are a band.
Remain calm, people. Al-Qaida did not land here, and won't land here tomorrow.

Nice try at the BS finesse, Lefty, but the adjectives in your previous post speak for themselves.

You are much more eloquent in what you don't mean to say than in what you do.

New Jersey's position as the gold medalist in property taxes is deeply threatened by this bill. Especially since they have a rayzist rightwing anti-tax NAZI as governor while we have a malleable room temperature IQ retard.
Great job progressives!

What people are leaving out, and what Phil misses in his analysis, is that the entire arbitration selection system guarantees compromises and meet-in-the-middle decisions even when compromises are not the fair and just solution. When a city is bankrupt and a teacher's union demands 8% pay increases, giving the union 3% pay increases is not justice - it is financial madness. Any arbitrator who rules in favor of the city will be blacklisted by the unions and will never be selected as an arbitrator again. Not to mention that arbitration is now associated strongly with CBA "rights" and negotiations so most of the arbitrators are heavily in the union camp to begin with. The entire system is corrupt and results in injustice most of the time. Only a truly neutral judge who is free to dismiss a union's claim outright can serve as a valid check on negotiations. Which is precisely why unions push for binding arbitration so that they can get their incremental victories year after year after year from arbitrators who rely upon their continued selections to find work.

Dan

What about a worker's right to strike?

Workers should absolutely be able to strike. And the employer should be free to fire them or sue for breach of contract when they do.

Dan, what about when a contract is expired? Then can they withhold their services? I think they should be able to. But at the same time, their employer should be able to lay them all off when the contract is expired as well.

"Then can they withhold their services? I think they should be able to. But at the same time, their employer should be able to lay them all off when the contract is expired as well."

YES. Absolutely on both counts.

What about a worker's right to strike?

WTF is that?

The right to quit is constitutionally protected.

Striking is a choice.