Tuesday, March 28th, 2006,
by Fred (,
Fred Phelps, Free Speech, Illinois, politics, unions
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It looks like Illinois’ efforts to stop Westboro Baptist Church’s anti-gay funeral protests has hit a roadblock
An effort to stop radical anti-gay protesters from disrupting soldiers’ funerals is hung up in the Illinois Senate, as proponents wrestle with union concerns that the law could be used to curtail legitimate labor protests by cemetery workers.The legislation was filed in response to the tactics of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., which has been staging confrontational protests at funerals around the nation of soldiers killed in Iraq, including several in Illinois. The group, touting slogans like “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” claims the deaths are divine retribution for America’s tolerance of homosexuality.
The bill, HB 4532, creates the new misdemeanor offense of disorderly conduct at a funeral or memorial service, and forbids “knowingly engag[ing] in a march or picket at [a] funeral site at any public location located within 200 feet of any ingress or egress of that funeral site.” The unions have asked for special treatment, allowing them to continue to protest at cemeteries, but banning all other protests:
“We share the outrage to the horrible disrespect that’s been shown to these soldiers … but this bill would make felons out of (cemetery) workers for carrying out their rights,” said David Martino, lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union Local 1, which represents about 2,000 cemetery workers in the Chicago area.
The union has a point, but it’s not the point they think they have. Any protest at a funeral is disrespectful, whether the message is Westboro’s perverse claims about homosexuality or the union’s demand for better pay for grave-diggers. Either you accept that freedom of speech means freedom for reprehensible idiots, too, or you forbid all speech near funerals. The union shouldn’t expect a free pass.
UPDATE: Captain Ed makes the point better than I do. Freedom of speech is absolute. Just as we let the Nazis march in Skokie, we must let Fred Phelps make an ass of himself at funerals. The answer, as always, is more speech, not less. And organizations like the Patriot Guard stand ready to provide the speech. It’s interesting that conservatives, who presumably opposed the abortion clinic no-free-speech zones at issue in Madsen, now support such no-free-speech zones at funerals.
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Tuesday, March 21st, 2006,
by Fred (,
St. Charles county, UFCW, unions, Walmart, Wentzville
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Wentzville sided yesterday with Wal-Mart, rejecting union-led opposition to a 70,000 square foot expansion that will allow the retailer to sell groceries at its Wentzville location.
Before the vote, an organizer for Wake-Up Wal-Mart, a group critical of the retailer [and front group for the UFCW], told aldermen that Wal-Mart workers earn about $9 an hour, compared with the $13 hourly wage paid workers at Schnucks stores. The presence of more low-paying jobs will produce a “a quick spiral downward” in residents’ overall spending power, David Cook [activist from the UFCW] said.
This is typical pro-union/anti-corporate groupthink. How exactly will the presence of non-union jobs produce a quick spiral in spending power? Will it be the new Wal-Mart employees who have income where before they had none? Will it be the non-employees who have a cheaper place to buy groceries? Choice is good. Competition is good. This decision provides both.
This fight wasn’t ever about consumers, of course. It was about Schnuck’s and the union doing everything in their power to keep out a competitor. Until Wal-Mart expands at Wentzville Crossing, the Schnuck’s at that same location only has to compete with a Save-a-Lot in Wentzville, which serves a different market, and a Dierberg’s in O’Fallon, which is 12.5 miles away. Now they’ll have to improve their customer service, compete on price and improve the quality and selection of their merchandise. Maybe they can start by keeping rotten milk off the shelves.
And with anything Wal-Mart, it was about a bunch of New Urbanist elitist utopians who have never set foot in a Wal-Mart and wouldn’t be caught dead with the sort of people who have to shop at Wal-Mart telling other people that their economic choices are unacceptable.
Wentzville made the right decision.
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Tuesday, March 14th, 2006,
by Fred (,
education, incentive pay, Ladue, Missouri, unions
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The Post-Dispatch has an article today on the Ladue schools’ merit pay system, which has rewarded teachers who excel with better pay since 1953.
In Missouri, the concept seems to be similarly explosive. Rep. Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, introduced a bill this year to allow school districts to boost pay in subject areas where there are teacher shortages. Byron Clemons, vice president of the St. Louis teachers union, branded it a merit pay bill. The union, Clemons said, is strongly against merit pay because of its subjectivity. The bill is pending.
The union’s opposition to incentive pay has always been wrong. Why shouldn’t teachers who perform better get paid more than teachers who perform worse? This system has worked for decades in all other professions. The unions claim such systems are subjective, but Ladue’s system seems objective almost to a fault. of course, the merit pay issue is now intertwined with testing, which the teachers union also opposes.
Ladue has been using incentive pay for more than 50 years. Its students scored 58% above the state average in 2005 on the third grade CATS test in math and 77% above the state average in Communication Arts. The middle schoolers scored 100% better than the state average in math and 78% better in Communication Arts. The high schoolers were 112% above the state average in math and 68% above the state average in Communication Arts. What’s the problem again?
If the schools are ever to improve, there has to be accountability. Clearly, some teachers are bad teachers, and should be forced to get better. Equally, some teachers are excellent, and should be rewarded as such. Rep. Icet’s bill, HB 1151, is a good place to start.
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