I'm tired!

I'm tired of a lot of things right now. I'm tired of not sleeping well. It's draining! I haven't slept through the night in like 3 or 4 weeks.

I'm tired of all the political unrest here in Wisconsin. I'm tired of people not understanding what's going on and jumping to judgement without being informed. I'm tired of my elected officials acting like children (both sides). Makes me want to put them in a time-out. Just kidding.

No really. This mess at the capitol and the upcoming budget "repair" bill is dividing friendships. People are so uncaring about those they've known for years. There is no perfect system. The elected officials are in power, whether we agree with them or not. We can voice our discontent. It's not worth losing friendships over. I am very thankful and grateful that my friends have been able to have civil discussions about what's going on without taking it out on each other. I can't say the same for the people around us.

If you don't know what's going on, our Governor has proposed major budget cuts in his new bill. In addition to budget cuts, he wants to put a stop to collective bargaining of unions. The unions and the democratic representatives/senators have agreed to the healthcare changes and the pension changes. The problem is, the bill calls for no bargaining rights except for wages. This would take away the right to bargain about workplace conditions. That's right. It takes away the right to fight for 8 hr shifts, mandatory breaks during your shift, for nursing- our union had stopped mandatory overtime (being forced over to 16-20 hr shifts to cover sick holes), and we currently are guaranteed 12 hrs between shifts. We currently have guaranteed patient to nurse ratios, thanks to our union. In our public school system, the unions have fought for teacher to student ratios. It is estimated that once this bill passes, the student to teacher ratios will hit 40:1 in some areas. Private school is a luxury and not a realistic option for a majority of the population. So, that means kids get the short end of the stick.

In addition to that, Wisconsin will lose $70 million dollars in federal aid for public transportation. They only send aid to public transportation systems that use unionized workers. That will literally shut down the bus systems in some towns.

I'm in full agreement that unions have problems. I think merit-based wages are a good idea. I disagree with some other things too. BUT you can't deny that unions have done a lot of good as well.

All the demonstrations have so far, been peaceful....but I worry that people already struggling to make ends meet are going to find this added burden too much and someone is going to snap. Where does that leave us?

Wow.

That's kind of all I can think of to sum up what is going on right now at the capitol. Just like the entire nation, Wisconsin has a gigantic budget deficit. Everyone has ideas on how to cut down on the deficit. Our governor has proposed cutting healthcare benefits and retirement plans of state workers. Unionized state workers. Not completely getting rid of pensions and healthcare, but decreasing state contributions dramatically. Yes, this may decrease the state deficit, but it will also put thousands of struggling working class families at more of a financial burden. The bigger problem....he did this while saying that unions will not have bargaining rights regarding the changes. This leads to setting a dangerous precedent regarding unions and their ability to fight for their members' rights. Almost all area schools are closed today because the teachers are on a "sick-out." There are thousands of people at the capitol. By thousands, I mean estimated over 15,000.

Brent and I made it a point to not rely on our employers for retirement. We've been working hard to set up retirement options regardless of where we work. Healthcare costs aren't as bad for us either because we can just go off of Brent's benefits. However, as a nurse, the union is extremely important. Our union is what fought for safe staffing ratios and putting an end to mandatory overtime, just to name a few. We used to be able to take 6-7 patients per nurse. This pretty much turns into pill pushing. Especially on a neuro unit with MANY confused patients, that ratio is just plain not safe. We used to also have mandated overtime. This means that if there was a staffing hole and we were a nurse (or more) short for the next shift, we were forced to stay over to cover the hole or be reprimanded for patient abandonment. While we still had the mandated overtime, the hospital did very little to cover holes in the staffing schedule with float staff.

Governor Walker also said that by stopping unions, we'd "save" money on not being required to pay monthly dues. It could "save" us $500 a year. $500 a year. That's like spitting in the wind. This is all completely frustrating, worrisome, etc.