Porquoi, you ask?
Because Chrome got paid on Friday. Chrome got paid, and Chrome is seriously pissed.[And before anyone screams at me that I should shut up and be happy I have a job for which I am paid, I know--I'm glad to be employed.]
Chrome is just not glad to be employed by the state of Fucktardia, formerly known as Wisconsin.
You see, Chrome busted ass for years, in disguise as Underpaid/Overworked Adjunct--all for love of teaching. Chrome's calling--spoken directly into Chrome's shiny ear by the Voices--has been to teach.
Chrome knew that teaching would not entail riches of the monetary kind, and Chrome was OK with that. Chrome just wanted an intellectual job with a decent middle-class salary that would allow Chrome to send Things 1 and 2 to State U when the time came. Chrome was on the way, but something happened: THE GREAT BUDGET SHORTFALL OF '05-'07. And '07-'09. And '09-'11.
No merit raises for Chrome or Chrome's many colleagues scattered throughout the state who work long hours designing and delivering world-class courses to the farm kids of Fucktardia. Nope. "The budget shortfall," choked Fucktardia's state legislators through their tears of shame and remorse. "We're so sorry. We know you work hard....Salary compression? What's that? Oh, never mind. Budget shortfall--you understand. But we have to be able to hire in new talent, you know, and nobody's going to want to work here for what we're paying you, so...Sorry."
Chrome stares at the news headlines in February, disbelieving the data entering the mirrorshades. Collective bargaining--gone. Pay more for pension. Pay more for healthcare. Out of a salary well-below the average for similar work at other universities in other states. Fucktardia, FORWARD! Leading the way for the rest of the states eager screw public workers--including teachers at all levels.
Chrome goes to MadTown, and joins the protests. To no avail. Fucktardia's Republican legislators are deaf, dumb, and blind--which, oddly enough, qualifies them for the public assistance they're so assiduously cutting.
Chrome gets tenure. [Yay.] Chrome's raise: $1500. Added to a salary frozen in 2005.
Chrome makes it through the spring semester, reminding self that students are not at fault for Fucktardia's election of Governor Fucktardo (aka Scott Walker, for those of you playing at home). Worst semester ever. Can't even enjoy getting tenure.
Chrome checks out for the entire summer: no news, no politics, no CM, no ranting on Facebook. Chrome's marriage is at stake, as Chrome has been unappeasedly angry for 4 months straight. Chrome agrees with OH that media fast is best, and lo and behold, it works! Chrome feels pretty darn shiny in August.
Chrome's classes start well. Chrome's students seem interested in what Chrome has to teach them about Hamster Fur, and the History of Hamster Fur in Space. Chrome is happy, but September is a bad month, money-wise: daycare expenses pile up fast, and Chrome is paid on a 9 month contract, starting Oct. 1.
Last Thursday, Chrome goes to the new system website to download the new paystub, and Chrome is SHOCKED to see the take-home amount. It's $200/month less than last year (and it would be $550 less, but the raise has cushioned the blow somewhat). Healthcare contributions: raised. Pension contributions (which used to be deferred compensation to make up for the below-average salaries): raised. No raise (other than the automatic one for getting tenure) for cost-of-living.
Chrome hopes to leave Fucktardia soon. Chrome is burnt. Burnt out, burnt down, burnt. After more than 15 years in academia, Chrome may just have to hang it up for good, because it's really, really hard to keep the spirit willing when the flesh has been flayed off the bone.
And people wonder why I didn't take that TT offer in Fucktardia last year.
ReplyDeleteSorry man that SUCKS.
I'm sorry. I've love to be able to say that your leaving, and MLP not taking a job, will teach them a lesson, and show them the error of their ways, and all that (in addition, of course, to being a loss to the students of Fucktardia), but I'm not that naive.
ReplyDeleteIf they start having difficulty hiring adjuncts? *That* might get them a bit uneasy (but all they'd probably have to do is lower their standards a bit, probably not even disastrously so; it's not like all the smart, idealistic people are fully employed these days).
I hope you find an alternative short of leaving academia. At least tenure in one place can sometimes help in bargaining for tenure somewhere else. But good luck in negotiating salary with anyone who knows where you're coming from.
Ugh, that is revolting. I experienced something much milder (and temporary) over here in not-so-sunny CA, where my Full Prof salary was actually less than my Associate Prof one had been. But where Wisconsin goes, I am sure we will too. I am so, so sorry and wish Chrome the best of luck.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Chrome. What a clusterfuck. Harpy is with you in a pure meltdown over falsified state budget crises. Harpy's raise this year was $67, which covers only half the increase in parking fees (yes, we pay $5/day to park at work in a parking structure that leaks rusty water on your head) and does not begin to touch the increased cost of health insurance.
ReplyDeleteBut having the glory of tenure taken from you JUST SUX. I'd buy you a bottle if I could. But I have no money.
People will still go to school in fucktardia, so the admins worried about the bottom line don't really care if folks leave and others never take jobs there.
ReplyDeleteBut let's be realistic--I could say no 'cause I had another offer. Chrome will hopefully be able to get out because an offer will be given elsewhere. I once worked at a school that saw a tremendous budget cut, that didn't pay its TAs for a few weeks, and guess what? The people who could, left. As a result, several years later the college's rankings are much lower than they used to be, retention is down, and they've had to start letting in students that never would have been accepted there ten years ago.
Can the same thing happen to a whole state? Well, hard to say. But if you lose the folks who can go elsewhere, you end up stuck with the folks who can't do better or different and in the end you're royally screwed.
Aw, Chrome, that's horrible. I'm so sorry.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what it's going to take to change things. I wish people would realize the answer isn't in denying people an ing wage and benefits. The answer is in demanding the same for everyone.
I'm sorry for you, Chrome. And I'm sorry for all of us.
ReplyDeleteYet they go on and on about how the quality of education isn't what it used to be, but then teaching has long been a middle-class profession, and the middle class has been under siege for quite a long time now. I've heard that in a market economy, if you don't like the quality of a service, the way to attract better people into a field is to offer them more money, not less. Quit cutting benefits, too, because that's equivalent to less money. When a society turns against its teachers like this, it doesn't portend well for its future.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea that cutting everything and living in the woods is somehow going to return the US back to its mid-50s, racist-filled glory.
ReplyDelete//please tell me more!!//
That's really shitty. Really shitty!!! Congrats on tenure, btw., and when are you moving to another state?
ReplyDeleteWe, too, have experienced something similar, except we were told that our 'cut backs' are helping to keep the few staff we've managed to hold onto from being fired. So now we're not supposed to feel poor; we're supposed to feel noble!