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Is anyone aware support staff have no contract? Our contract expired June 30, 2006..does anyone care? As it is many of us make no money to begin with...12.00 a hour as a administrative secretary is a insult!!!
While working that $25K per year job, look for another one. $12 per hour sounds like a pretty good motivating factor for seeking new employment. Always, always, always seek out new employment WHILE employed. It is much easier.
Posts: 9128 | Location: CLEA | Registered: November 04, 2004
Is anyone aware support staff have no contract? Our contract expired June 30, 2006..does anyone care? As it is many of us make no money to begin with...12.00 a hour as a administrative secretary is a insult!!!
Aside from you and your immediate family I would guess no one does. Most of us think that the school districts have to many administrative assisants as it is. I do feel slightly better that they aren't paying you a ton. At least for some positions the District doesn't overpay. This way they can give a lot to the Superintendents etc. And if you hate your job that much look for another one. Admin Jobs should be easy to find.
Dear Taxpayer, I also am a tax payer. I too would like to work for a non union office, but I haven't had that luxury to do so. I had no choice but to join the union. I enjoy the students and also my job. It would be nice just to feel appreciated by the District with a decent pay. Without support staff to mail your information, answer your questions by phone and email, and to always provide excellent customer service to you and your children, how informed do you think you would be. The school board doesn't have a clue of the day to day, behind the scenes, jobs that get done but many underpaid workers. You say "look for a new job"...when you are 2 years away from being vested for some kind of retirement, or when you provide the health insurance to your family (which by the way is roughly 350.00 a month even though we are in a group plan). It would nice to have a little community support for us. I am a community member also and I always supported our staffs.
I am not a financial planner, nor do I play one on TV, but it sounds to me like you need...or needed...to make a decision on your work sitaution.
Two years away from being vested, and don't answer if you feel it's personal, but is that fully vested or (and this seems extremely unlikely) if you leave you lose everything? More than likely it is the former. So you'll probably be at least 80% vested. Any sort of upward move that you make will most likely more than offset what you may lose.
You've stated that you enjoy your job, enjoy the children, receive insurance benefits at a reasonable price (you may not think so...but $350/mo is a minimal contribution for health care ins.)...but here is the catch...the pay ain't that good. Every job has its downside. My recommendation to you, and I am not being a smart @ss, would be to seek employement elsewhere. My guess is there are positions out there that will offset any perceived loss to your 401k (btw, how long have you been there? If you are not fully vested, the 401k can't be that big at a $12 per hour job).
If you really love the job, and you know the pay will not change...take comfort in knowing you like what you are doing. This is something that I cannot say. Nor Fish...or Fan, now that I think of it.
Posts: 9128 | Location: CLEA | Registered: November 04, 2004
I have to go along with Clam. There are tradeoffs in every job. Going in you know the pay. My sister works in a school district in her community. While the pay is the greatest she enjoys the hours and the kids. She doesn't need the insurance as her husband works for Jewel and their medical is a much better deal.
I do not know what school you work for but I have freinds who have complained about the "customer service" offered by some support staff. It has been a hassle from calling kids in sick to trying to get transcripts. SO while you may be doing your job not all your peers have that same rep. It's the same as the complaints about teachers and in any job. Not everyone gives 100% yet reaps the same benefits.
I have to agree on the Customer Service offered by Administrative Assistants in the schools, many of them do not provide "excellent" customer service and some of them are downright rude!
As far as what you pay for health insurance that is most certainly not out of line, actually it is a decent deal. I have 220 group insurance clients that I insure and I would say the average employer pays 50% of the family premium. Nearly every family premium is over $1,000 per month so you are paying less then average. Many employers are following the trend of contributing nothing towards family coverage leaving employees to pay $800 or more per month to cover the family. Our individual business has increased (unfortunately) as employees have figured out that if they, and their dependents, are healthy it is cheaper to purchase an individual plan than to stay on the group plan.
voteno, you raise an interesting question for me. Now that we are child free, is it cheaper to do two individual policies? The only problem I see, will my husband's company insure us separately vs a family plan? Would I be able to get the same coverage if I had to be insured outside of his group?
Laday: The point in my typical smart*** way is to say that most people don't care about other peoples personel or career issues. For Instance I would not expect you to care that my wages are basically back to where they where in 2000. Do you care about Autoworkers losing their jobs, the difficulty of being a migrant farm worker etc. A couple of years ago D87 laid off it's Groundskeepers to save money. I didn't hear of any of the other unions at D87 raising much of a stink about that.
As Clamato and others have pointed your job has tradeoffs . Easy commute, good benefits are the pluses. The minus is a low salary. If you feel that tradeoff is not what you want find something else. Again as an Admin Assistant I would think you would have several options. I would also think that during the summer looking for another job would be an ideal time for you to do that.
Well, it didn't happen overnight. She got married this year and they built their own home. Most of our friends are at the age when empty nest is more than just college. Truth be told we really miss having her around.
M, I will respond quickly as I am supposed to be finishing up the month end books but since I am underpaid I spend much of my day screwing around.
There are quite a few variables to consider. The most important being the health of you and your husband. Illinois is not a guarantee issue state for individual coverage, therefore, you can be declined. The carriers decline for minor things, I just had a 21 year old declined because he had a metal pin in his ankle. Would it be cheaper? Possibly, depending on your age and how much you pay through your husband's employer. Your husband could remain on the group plan with employee only coverage, the only way to cover you is as a dependent of him. Did your contribution to the premium decrease when the kids came off the plan? Most plans have 3 or 4 tier rates so you would pay less for employee spouse coverage then you would for family coverage. Finally, there are a multitude of individual plans available, I am sure that an agent could match (or come close) to your current coverage. Hope this helps.
Originally posted by M: Well, it didn't happen overnight. She got married this year and they built their own home. Most of our friends are at the age when empty nest is more than just college. Truth be told we really miss having her around.
What's for dinner?...depending on the answer I am available as a surrogate on M, Tu, and Th evenings. I prefer Italian and red wine.
We also like Italian and red wine. That's why we go to Vitorio's almost every week. Cooking for two is such a waste of time. Although I may have to retract that statement as I am trying to convince my husband to redo the kitchen. I was looking into something like DinnerbyDesign. I figure 12 meals for six for $230 will last us quite some time. One of the perks of no kids is not to have to cook those healthy meals.
Go support staff (threadjacked once already)
taxpayer, my fault on the threadjack. mea copa, mea copa, mea copa
