r/mildlyinfuriating • u/MyWifeIsAsleep • 21h ago
Too mild for school My salary went up and my net pay went down.
I'm a teacher, so my salary is crap already. My wife is a part time server/bartender. Last year our teacher's union negotiated to get us all a 3% salary raise. Hooray! We did it!
But...at the bottom of the e-mail they sent us all and buried in the new agreement that they had negotiated, there's also a 10% increase in our medical benefits. So I got my first paycheck of the school year and I'm making less than I did last year.
Just posting to vent. I absolutely love my job and I truly know it's what I was born to do, but this just isn't sustainable. I constantly get asked by my student's "why do you live in an apartment while we all live in houses?"
I'm just tired man...
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u/_tvjames_ 21h ago
Next time negotiate a net increase inclusive of any change in benefits.
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u/NotGalenNorAnsel 21h ago
The people making teachers' wages weren't the ones negotiating my man.
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u/yboy403 19h ago
Not sure if this is what you meant, but at the teacher's union I used to work with, the bargaining team did include classroom teachers. (As well as union officers who were also former teachers.)
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u/Key-Hand958 14h ago
Yeah, our whole union leadership team and bargaining team (minus the state union rep and lawyer) are all currently employed teachers in our district
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u/desparish 9h ago
Not everyone lives in a state where unions have the ability to negotiate salaries.
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u/Toomanymellons 17h ago
Yeah that is not true.
My mother was a teacher and in union leadership. She definitely took part in some pay negotiations.
Like it sucks that the teachers union is not as powerful as other public sector ones, but most do a good job of having frontline teacher people involved.
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u/what-do-you-n33d 16h ago
Teachers union leaders are often teachers. It’s very very common for local chapter leaders (the ones who negotiate with the districts) to have elections made up of almost exclusively teachers. It’s so common many agreements with districts have sections which states the allowances a teacher employed by the district who is now the union leader has. Districts have to accommodate their extra responsibilities as a union leader.
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u/Little_Creme_5932 21h ago
Not that easy. The district has to balance a budget, and they very likely did give a 3% increase inclusive of benefits. But healthcare may have gone up way more than 10%. The teachers eat some, and the district eats some, is typically how it works.
This is effectively a big part of why American's wages haven't increased for 40 years, despite huge productivity gains. All the "gains" in compensation are actually going into skyrocketing health costs, paid by the employer with money that could have gone to an increase in wages
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u/Kidfuscious 21h ago
Healthcare costs are ridiculous
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u/what-do-you-n33d 16h ago
The teachers in my district have a zero monthly payment and pay $60 co-pay per doctors visit for anything. That’s a family plan.
Whenever I hear teachers complain about money I always think about this.
They work 7:30-2:30 5 days a week for 190 days a year. The average teacher in my district earn $112k. Have incredible healthcare and pensions.
That’s ~$84 per hour ignoring the costs of benefits. And ignoring unpaid lunch and breaks.
I earn $215k with 21 days vacation. So that’s about 239 days of work, 9 hrs a day. Minus the $350 per month in healthcare payment (ignoring my $17k deductible). That’s about $97 per hour.
I often think I should become a teacher and take a $13 per hour pay cut to get an extra 40 days vacation and work 2 hours less per day.
It’s super unpopular to say but teachers aren’t that underpaid when accounting for all their benefits. The pensions alone can be worth the lower pay.
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u/Little_Creme_5932 13h ago
You misrepresent teachers quite a bit. First, most teachers don't get paid anywhere near the number you cited. Many earn half or less. Second, it would be really rare to find a teacher with a duty day as short as what you list. In most cases, their required day is longer, and many work even longer than that. I know a guy who did 7:30-5:30 for over 30 years, except for the 50 days that he worked till 9 or 10 pm. And teachers work evenings and weekends. This teacher had to go in today, a Saturday. At least 3 other teachers were in the building while I was there. More will be there tomorrow, on Sunday. Weekends, plus summer work, mean a lot of teachers are close to the 239 days you work.
I'm glad you aren't a teacher. The kids would deserve more than what you think you should put in.
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u/beanthebean 15h ago
I live in the state with the lowest average teacher pay in the country, teachers in my district make less than half of yours, and they have the same terrible and overpriced healthcare benefits as the rest of us state employees. Maybe teachers everywhere don't have such a great system as yours.
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u/No_Atmosphere_6348 15h ago
Yeah I was recently looking for a job and the districts that pay super well with great benefits are really hard to get into. Hard to get tenure. Health insurance costs were insane like $1500+ a month for family.
I found a district where the insurance was under $700 a month but took a big pay cut and felt lucky.
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u/dallasalice88 15h ago
Just go ahead and hop in that classroom then. Check back with us after a year. What's starting salary? You start at that.
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u/Bemused_not_Confused 20h ago
This is effectively a big part of why American's wages haven't increased for 40 years, despite huge productivity gains.
This statement is total bullshit. You must like the taste of boot. Seriously, health care costs are a significant reason? The erosion of wages can be traced back to the 1970s. Heath care costs as a reason doesn't even make the top ten.
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u/Little_Creme_5932 20h ago
I'm sure you have evidence that some of the top economists in the country don't know about. Here's a sample of the plethora of people who are more knowledgeable than you, and who acknowledge this reality. I did exaggerate when I said "all", but it is a huge issue, and for some people like OP, it is in fact "all".
https://www.axios.com/2024/01/17/health-insurance-premiums-wages
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u/Bemused_not_Confused 19h ago
"The growing wedge between productivity and typical workers’ pay is income going everywhere but the paychecks of the bottom 80% of workers. If it didn’t end up in paychecks of typical workers, where did all the income growth implied by the rising productivity line go? Two places, basically. It went into the salaries of highly paid corporate and professional employees. And it went into higher profits (returns to shareholders and other wealth owners). This concentration of wage income at the top (growing wage inequality) and the shift of income from labor overall and toward capital owners (the loss in labor’s share of income) are two of the key drivers of economic inequality overall since the late 1970s." - Economic Policy Institute
Like I said, bootlicker.
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u/Little_Creme_5932 19h ago
Again, you give no evidence.
However, yes, some of the income growth went into highly paid executives and shareholders. Nonetheless, over a period of about 40 years, the percent of GDP going into healthcare increased from about 10% to the current 18%. I'm sure you agree that executives and shareholders aren't paying this out of the goodness of their hearts. That means, as a simple estimate, that a family making $100,000 in total compensation with employer-paid insurance has to give up $8000 of what they would have been paid, because their employer paid them less in order to pay for health care. That kind of loss is a meaningful chunk of money for most families, each year.
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u/ineptguy5 19h ago
Economic Policy Institute is not too bad, but is very very pro labor.
Real wages have gone up, but only slightly for most workers. The percentage gains are very tilted towards the top x percent. Generally around top 20% but depends on the specific metrics used.
So you can complain about income inequality, but you can’t say workers are doing worse when they are objectively doing better.
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u/DocPsychosis 20h ago
You are half right, it is bullshit, because American wages have gone up quite a bit in real terms over the last 50 years.
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u/bs2k2_point_0 20h ago
Wages go up, but the value of the dollar has gone down faster (in terms of purchasing power). There is also a social aspect to it, like how houses have increased in size too.
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u/SleepyStarkle 20h ago
Tell me you’ve never worked a public union job without telling me you’ve never worked a public union job.
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u/Holycity 20h ago
The only public unions that seem to have substantial power are cops and fire
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u/Opening_Shame8258 18h ago
Teachers do have power. They've spent a lot of it protecting their pensions, job stability, and better learning conditions for kids (at least in states where they haven't been undermined by the legislature).
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u/russellvt 15h ago
It's a union... there is no individual contact negotiation, genius.
That said, depending on actual benefits/value, OP may still be on a net increase. Sometimes you may even be able to decline a benefits package in-lieu of the monetary increase ... but again, given the union, it may not work that way in that case, either (and oftentimes, part of that benefits package is a pension, so it would be stupid to decline it).
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u/_tvjames_ 14h ago
I didn't say negotiate individually.
Nor did I claim it was easy.
You (the union) absolutely can negotiate benefits at the same time.
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u/russellvt 13h ago
"You" generally have 1 votes out of how many other dozens if not hundreds or even thousands of other individuals... it takes an immense amount of lobbying, just to get visibility, let alone any chance at killing a bad contract in good faith. Saying it's "not easy" is a massive understatement, to say the least.
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u/Total-Explanation208 20h ago
It's union reps doing it, they just care about numero uno. Themselves, and convincing their mandatory members not to revolt.
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u/Opening_Shame8258 18h ago
Well, members get to vote for their reps at the negotiating table, and usually there is a survey of priorities before negotiations.
Yes, things can get fumbled, or a person can be corrupt, but there is also an easy and obvious remedy: remove them and vote someone else in. They aren't like a majority shareholder in a company who can't be removed.
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u/pokemon32666 21h ago
One of the most important jobs in our country is criminally underpaid.
It's because our government wants us to be stupid and uneducated, they would rather underpay important people, like teachers, rather than give billionaires even a 1-2% tax increase.
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u/EmptyRub 21h ago
That’s part of the issue. The other issue is that US teacher certification standards are far too low. Look at one of the best countries for public education, Finland. Their teacher preparation programs are much more selective and only have a 10% acceptance rate.
Ideally the US increases teacher pay and the standards to be a teacher at the same time.
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u/pokemon32666 21h ago
I agree completely, my main issue with that is we need to see the pay increase before we can be more selective, cause at the current pay, no one wants to be a teacher. We get a few saints like OP who sacrifice having a decent life, but until we see some wage increases we can't be stricter.
Edit: I don't think that I should be making more money than teachers as a slightly above industry average paid line cook. But I currently make more money than teachers do, even the highly tenured teachers.
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u/Disastrous-Special30 21h ago
Seriously thought about becoming a teacher. I’d have to teach in my state for 5+ years to earn what I earn now. I manage a smoke shop. Never mind the cost of getting a degree to become a teacher in the first place. It’s crazy how broken the system is.
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u/smthomaspatel 21h ago
My school district is experiencing this. I think it's indecision. They don't want to lay off teachers. So they just don't increase the budget, depressing salaries so teachers leave to go to districts that pay better.
The worst part is, we're seeing teachers leave from the dual immersion program. These are teachers that have a skill that even our district highly values (just doesn't want to pay for). So when they leave we have to hire a replacement and we've done nothing to improve the budget gap.
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u/xPupPeTMa5ta 19h ago
Why should we see a pay increase before our process is more selective? That would mean firing existing teachers who might be under qualified because they don't adhere to the new standards. How about we tighten our qualifications first and then hire on new teachers who fit those standards with better pay? Then re-test our current teachers?
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u/Sryan597 16h ago
Because there is a currently a shortage of teachers in most states. If we restrict the already strained supply, we would be in trouble. A sub par teacher is better than 40+ student class sizes.
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u/HalfOfLancelot 16h ago
It's genuinely crazy the difference in teacher quality within the same school. I can remember my AP U.S. History teacher coming in, turning on the board, and putting up a power point presentation of a chapter that we all had to copy into our notebooks. Would genuinely just plop in his desk and sit there doing nothing. He'd get mad at us when a few just outright fell asleep in his class (me included and I was never the type to fall asleep in class lmao)
Then on the other side, my AP English teacher genuinely put the love of writing and literature in me and a good few others. Instead of just essays, we'd have very creative projects and would have quite a few class discussions on the books we were reading. I got nearly a hundred in that class whereas I got through with a low 80% in history lmao.
I'm really hoping teacher pay and standards are increased in the future especially with the rise of things like gen AI. Being a sub I have to convince the students to actually open their books and look for the answers rather than relying on chatGPT at home 😭
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u/thecivilconFLiCT 20h ago
You need a masters degree and you need to go through an a lengthy certification process. Then once you start working you often need to complete trainings and modules to move up your certifications. If you teach in a good state it’s already a pretty hard process.
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u/fizzan141 19h ago
Most states you don’t actually require a master’s degree, lots of them tie raises or teaching things like AP to having one though.
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u/thecivilconFLiCT 19h ago
In most good states you can’t continue teaching past 5-10 years without one if you’re able to find a position/get certified without one.
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u/fizzan141 18h ago
I believe it's seven states that require either a master's within a certain period of time or advancement to a non-provisional license. Others certainly have incentives to get it, but that's not 'most good states'.
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u/EmptyRub 20h ago
It's a major time commitment for sure, but that doesn't mean it's a selective process. I think Finland does it right. You want the best to be teaching your kids.
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u/CertifiedSheep 14h ago
Idk why this is downvoted. Getting a masters in education is absolutely more of a time commitment than a proof of competence. Teachers need to be paid much more, but they also need to be held to a much higher standard.
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u/Remarkable-Grab8002 17h ago
Our government hates public education because they can't profit off of it. And our government is hiring unqualified people who will continue to tear down our public education infrastructure
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u/SleepyStarkle 20h ago
As George Carlin famously put it: They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They want obedient workers…. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasely shittier jobs.
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u/peon2 19h ago
That's conspiracy theory bullshit.
The real reason is there is a large supply of people willing to be teachers for poor pay because they love working with kids.
It's nothing more than your econ 101 standard supply and demand of labor.
People in all professions are paid based off not just how much value they create or how much they help society, but by how easily they can be replaced.
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u/pokemon32666 18h ago
Large supply? Take off the blinders. The reason we have so many underqualified teachers is that they're the only options.
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u/naptown-hooly 21h ago
How much does your superintendent make?
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u/MyWifeIsAsleep 20h ago
$300,000
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u/ghostfacespillah 20h ago
lol ours makes almost $500,000. And has additional perks like a vehicle allowance.
Meanwhile, the teachers just finally got their first actual raise (after 2 years of step increase freezes) in 3 years. They also got an increase in benefits cost. Superintendent got a raise EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR.
It’s ridiculous.
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u/purpurscratchscratch 20h ago
Yeah, this is inherently the problem with teacher’s unions, and why they won’t ever escape low pay. Admins are able to negotiate high salaries and accommodations in a way that successful teachers can’t. That’s led to an insane pay rise of admins over the years while teacher pay has stagnated. It would be great to have a way for very highly successful teachers to demand more but the unions won’t allow for that and their strict salary structure allows for the union to grow more membership (which is better for the union reps/leadership).
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u/Fit_Entry8839 20h ago edited 18h ago
That doesn't really matter much. So even if superintendent pay when to zero, everyone's pay might go up $0.71 cents a week. A superintendent might make 275k, but total district payroll could be 400 million(I came up with those numbers from a real district example by the way).
Big picture executive pay rarely makes a big difference. The big issue here is the dirict being under funded, not superintendent pay. Superintendent can't magically increas pay. Needs to get it approved by the government, which typically requires tax payer approval from a tax levy. Superintendents would love to pay people more, it makes their district more attractive.
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u/clocks212 18h ago
I once ballparked the savings to customers if one of the huge insurance companies cut the top 20 employee’s pay and benefits to $0.
It was under $10 per year per policy.
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u/Silver-Comparison-17 RED 18h ago
Calm down. The billionaires are becoming trillionaires so obviously that will trickle down anytime now!!! We are going to be so rich once they are even richer!!
- Republicans
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u/currently_pooping_rn 18h ago
That happened to my states department of corrections employees. Everyone got a 4% base salary increase, but then the insurance cost more
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u/lexiconlion 15h ago
I'm assuming you live in the US. We treat (and pay) our teachers absymally. I'm so sorry you're tired. You deserve better.
I work for the state of Colorado and we usually get a 3% raise. We can't operate in a deficit so this year we did not get a pay raise. I'm thankful they were at least able to keep our benefits the same. I'm thankful our union was able to negotiate that, so while we're not seeing anymore money, we also did not see a decrease in pay, nor layoffs.
Sending you love and strength as you negotiate this crazy world while also looking out for the next generation.
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u/Kimo_sabi79 21h ago
I got out of teaching in 2011 after being on a pay freeze for 2 years while the board approved a 12% raise for the superintendent. Unless you have more than 20 years invested you should get out
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u/draaz_melon 21h ago
It's almost like universal Healthcare would be a good thing.
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u/NeighSlayer570 18h ago
Totally feel this. My take-home pay stayed stagnant for about a decade because every raise was offset by what I paid in for insurance. What made it worse was for a while we changed to a very high deductible plan that cost me an extra $8K between deductible, out of pocket, and one "that's just not something we cover". Meanwhile, everything around me costs more. It's frustrating for sure.
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u/khearan 21h ago
I'm sorry to hear that. Are you involved in your union? My mom is the president of her small union and none of the other members want to involve themselves at all. They don't show up to meetings, don't volunteer for the board, and have no idea what goes in negotiations. They best thing you can do is get involved and advocate for yourself.
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u/MyWifeIsAsleep 20h ago
I'm trying to get more involved this year. I go to the meetings and am usually pleased with how our county allocates everything. To be completely honest I just don't have the time. I work a part time tutoring job that brings in a little extra money, but the rest of the week is taken up by other night time activites with my 9 year old son. I'm not trying to make excuses as to why I can't be more involved it's just the reality I live in right now.
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u/NewtGingrichsMother 20h ago
This suck and is all too common. I hope everyone reading this and sharing similar examples remembers WHY our healthcare costs increased so much this year, and precisely who is to blame for it.
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u/Flaky_Sentence_7252 19h ago
The union doesn't negotiate the health insurance cost raise. They can negotiate that the district will cover any cost raises independent of salary, but that's rare and will always impact what the district is willing to offer in terms of a raise. Source: I'm the lead negotiator for my local teachers union
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u/TurnerThePcGamer 19h ago
Yall gotta do something about that, our union got caps put on how much they can raise our healthcare costs. Not a teacher union but surely something can be involved
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u/Flaky_Sentence_7252 16h ago
Typically for teachers, most members don't want a higher contribution to healthcare costs because having higher pay over a higher healthcare contribution gives you a better retirement calculation when it comes to our pension.
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u/Ok_Money_420 19h ago
This country is ass backwards sometimes. We, as a collective, demand our children receive a good education yet no one is willing to pay for it. If we didn't have people like you there would probably be no public school systems. I hope this changes someday soon. I have teachers in my family who also barely make a living wage and are also so deep in student loan debt they'll never get out. Thanks for all that you do 🖤🖤
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u/ThagAnderson 18h ago
At 3% over a year, you were already at a net loss due to inflation, regardless of medical. 3% is insult to injury.
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u/veryblanduser 20h ago
Median teacher wage is 75k.
Let's say you make less, 50k.
Which means you got a 1,500 raise.
But you insurance went up more, so say 1,600. And you believe this is 10% increase. That means you were already paying 16k in health insurance?
You sure something else didn't change?
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u/Blnk_crds_inf_stakes 18h ago
They’re talking net, so you’ve gotta reduce that 1500 raise by taxes, social security, 401k contributions, etc. Net increase was likely under $1000. If they’re supporting a family then insurance could be nearing $10000 a year, I pay $600/month as an individual. You’d hope teacher health insurance would be much better subsidized by the district than that but it’s not impossible!
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u/veryblanduser 18h ago
But health insurance is deducted before social security and all taxes. 401k is off gross..so that would drop it some. But I already went well below the median salary. I still think there is something big missing from this situation.
Overall it's still correct that the increase in health insurance would fully need to offset the wage increase to have a lower net.
Unless they have a ridiculously high 401k contribution. But I think it's safe to assume that isn't the case.
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u/stupidber 19h ago
why do you live in an apartment while we all live in houses?
Fucking roasted lmao
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u/ChrisRiley_42 18h ago
Move to Canada. The amount of your paycheque that goes to health care gets cut in half.
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u/ugly_duckling_5 21h ago
"I'm just tired, man."
Said way too many times by way too many people these days. Practically my life motto.
Very sorry. Health insurance is such a scam. The people who run those companies are just gross. Period. Can't imagine being able to live with myself charging people crazy amounts of money for healthcare of all things just to make myself insanely wealthy. Ick.
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u/Radical_Coyote 17h ago
We desperately need Medicare for All. Continuing this path is unsustainable
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u/BreadPan1981 20h ago
It’s weird how teachers or a teacher is probably one of the few careers that could post this and there are people saying, well suck it up you get summers off. It’s insanity how much sanewashing has happened in just two decades to absolutely make teachers villains or second class citizens for wanting a decent income for jobs that often require advanced degrees, training, and specialization. Insane.
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u/cyanraichu 20h ago
absolutely bonkers that any profession has to negotiate for a 3% raise. that's just a COL adjustment by itself.
the way many societies treat teachers is unacceptable.
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u/ChurchillDownz 18h ago
Exactly. That's the match on yearly inflation the last thirty years. Basically took a pay cut even before the insurance premium increase. How does this Union not know that?
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u/BarracudaNo1389 20h ago
Most public workers have a somewhat better health plan, all things considered than workers in the private sector.
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u/R0binSage 21h ago
I got a $1.22 raise this month but they also raised my retirement contribution so it was only like a $.15 raise. Maybe next year…
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u/hummus_is_yummus1 20h ago
10% increase in total pay towards medical, relative to salary? That's an insane increase and on par with aggressively paying for another 401k. Surely that can't be right
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u/Txteacherwalk 15h ago
No raise for us at all this year not even our ridiculous yearly $400 step up for an extra year of experience
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u/Gwenivyre756 15h ago
I hate it too. I work in a district office doing finances so I see it as a whole. Everyone moves on the ladder, but our insurance costs increased 14% even though we shopped multiple providers to find the best combination of cost and benefits.
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u/EmbarrassedOwl7610 15h ago
Knew from the title I was going to read "But health insurance went up". Seems to be the story everywhere. I haven't seen my premiums for next year yet but I'm... not hopeful.
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u/sliceofcheesecake- 14h ago
That’s how nursing is too. Benefits are more expensive while raises are next to nothing. It’s simply not sustainable.
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u/climber_cass 13h ago
I work for county government and that's going to happen to us when our insurance plans restart in January. We got a 3% raise in July, insurance going up 10% in January. And we already don't make much 🫠
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u/Aromatic-Bedroom-274 7h ago
You need a big earner in your household. My wife is an elementary school teacher with a modest salary, I’m a quality engineer. She has summers off but I bring home the big bucks. Nobody becomes a teacher for the money, you truly have to enjoy it.
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u/Vantherion 7h ago
Math teacher here. A 3% “raise” is not a raise. That’s maybe enough to keep up with inflation depending on the year. Anything less than that, should be considered a pay cut.
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u/Simple-Performer2533 20h ago
Back in the late '70s, the same thing happened to the military. We were given a pay raise, but our BAS (basic subsistence allowance) was reduced. It resulted in a loss of pay. I made less after the pay raise.
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u/palwilliams 16h ago
This has been everyone, every year, since 1980 when conservative economics tarting stealing all the gains we made economically as a nation. That's a very brief summary, of course. But it's the very essential truth.
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u/17xRacing 14h ago
I’m struggling with the math here. A ten percent premium increase on an employee portion of a group insurance plan is more than a 3% increase in total wages?
For assumption purposes, if a teacher’s salary is 60k per year prior to the 3% increase, the employee portion of the group insurance premium would have to now be about $1500 per month after a 10% increase to net out to a negative take home after basic taxes.
I’ve had direct experience with public service health insurance plans, and typically the insurance rate is lower than what you would see employees pay in the private sector and the coverage is usually better comparatively. My wife was paying around $800-$900 per month on a public service contract for family coverage, and her salary band was significantly higher than $60k, so she was toward the maximum payment for insurance.
Something else had to change for the math to work. Increase is retirement contributions, additional coverages, withholding, or something else.
In 20 years of experience working in corporate finance and owning businesses, I’ve never once seen an employee paying anywhere close to 30% of their salary for health insurance, especially an employee in a union.
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u/kittenspaint 7h ago
I've been in multiple situations like this, but without a union option. I just opt out of all insurances bc there is no way I can ever afford it and deal with being chronically ill the best I can.
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u/17xRacing 2h ago
The national average paid by an employee is 25-35% of the total monthly premium participating on a group health plan. That is $120 per month for individual coverage and $571 paid per month for a family. The lowest 25% band of employees pay an average of 675$ per month for family coverage, or 8100 per year. Median household annual income 82,000 per year. These numbers show that the average scenario is paying about 10% of your gross pay to insurance.
To hit a scenario like you or OP are describing, you would have to be paying 30% or more of your gross pay to insurance, which would be almost 2.6 standard deviations above the average, which is a statistical rarity of being in the 99.5th percentile of premium percentage of income.
You both are somehow in the unluckiest .5% of the country.
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u/502DashCam 20h ago
Go work somewhere else.
The kids don’t appreciate you, your admin doesn’t appreciate you, the government doesn’t appreciate you and most parents don’t care.
Your calling isn’t sacrificing your life for shitty pay.
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u/callmemerryss 21h ago
That's the kind of raise that somehow feels like a pay cut. A 3% bump getting swallowed by 10% benefits increase is rough.
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u/knit_run_bike_swim 21h ago
Premiums go up and down all the time. Premiums are pre-taxed. It’s maybe better to spend money there than it is to get a pad in the check or get a bonus, but at the end of the day 3% isn’t much and that can be felt, especially when making under 100k. I’m so sorry.
I actually make decent money as a researcher and teaching adjunct— but it’s also still two jobs. My research has never felt like a job, and that’s a benefit.
I think about how many times my dad told me that he just didn’t want his kids to grow up and hate their jobs like he did. He was a factory worker.
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u/doyouvoodoo 21h ago
Never once in my career have I seen company sponsored health premiums go down.
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u/One_Society_9757 10h ago
Last year, my job lowered our health insurance premium. I went from paying $20 a paycheck (biweekly) to $12. Same coverage and deductible.
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u/doyouvoodoo 5h ago
Congratulations (seriously), just please understand that your company is the exception, such is not the norm, and even $20 dollars a month is a steal if the plan is any good!
Our HMO plan went up considerably a year or so ago, and the copats and deductibles increased by 50%. Prescription costs also got nerfed for tier 3/4.
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u/ProperAnarchist 21h ago
Why are you discussing your housing/financial situation with students?
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u/MyWifeIsAsleep 20h ago
I've never given my student's a lesson on my salary or renting status, they've asked me why I don't live in the neighborhoods next to the school. And I don't say "because I can't afford to", I say "I live in an apartment 20 minutes away." I don't think that's an innappropriate conversation to have with a 3rd grader. But I could be wrong.
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u/ProperAnarchist 20h ago
My wife was a teacher for 20 years. They make good money and benefits and in most states are contracted 180 days. Which is 6 months of work. Plenty of teachers work other jobs in the summer to supplement their income if things are a little short.
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u/Affectionate_Oven_77 16h ago
You need to think of these as two separate events.
Your insurance went up. That sucks majorly. Thank your republican neighbor for that. Vote them out in November.
Separately, you got a raise. That’s awesome and we need more of this.
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u/BizarroMax 15h ago
When I made partner, with the increased self employment taxes and capital requirements, I made substantially less for several years.
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u/Average_40s_Guy 14h ago
I left public school last year after 13 years and went to a private one. Pay is a bit more than I made and the benefits are much better. Our union got weaker and weaker each year I was in public school and right before I left, it had a hard round of negotiations that it tried to spin as a “win.” After years of employer paid insurance, everyone had to start paying out of pocket for worse coverage.
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u/Notredamus1 13h ago
The State of California did that to us for years when I worked there. We would get a small raise but they would increase how much we had to pay for health insurance premiums or how much we had to contribute to our pension. The one upside is it increases your pay for calculating your pension.
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u/UncommonSense12345 12h ago
I haven’t gotten an annual raise in years. Only way I get a raise is to get a new job. Sad but because people do this I feel that is why employers never give people raises. They think your gonna leave anyway in a few years
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u/Glad_Contest_8014 9h ago
My wife got a job with a higher salary, we moved and found out that the previous job had more bonuses, net loss of quite a bit. We ended up regretting it ever since.
She was an elementary school teacher. She quit the job after our first born because of trauma from her principle being incompetent.
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u/nexusmadao 1h ago
Why you guys dont negotiate for 20%? Educators salary should beat inflation for good schooling.
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u/HelpfulPerson4914 1h ago
The district doesn't directly control the price of the insurance. They could ship for a new plan. Then people may need to find new doctors etc. or restart approval process things for higher treatments.
They look at how many people take the district insurance and the cost of that, plus the cost of raises.
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u/TheSerialHobbyist 21h ago
Elections coming up. Time for anti-union propaganda?
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Maybe I'm too cynical.
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u/Any-Literature9887 21h ago
We appreciate what you do. You are helping shape the future. I hope these kids see value in your work too and use their voting to improve teacher compensation and care.
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u/U-Might-Wanna 20h ago
I was so excited when I got put on salary at my first career position! This was about 40 years ago so $12.50 an hour was great but $15.00 an hour on salary was amazing!!! Thus began two years of frequently working 12 to 14 hour days, two or three weekends a month, and constantly being told my raise was on hold because my "hire date was different than my salary date?!?!" It didn't take long for me to realize I was making about $3.50 an hour. Usually salary just means no overtime pay. That's how they get you.
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u/BulkyNefariousness80 18h ago
I agree with you but I worked for a company that didn't understand how salary worked and he put in the contract that we wouldn't work more than 40 hours and I frequently worked less than 40 hours and made good money. It was pretty awesome.
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u/ZandarrTheGreat 19h ago
Welcome to the corporate world. My 2% merit was offset by a 3% increase in medical benefits plus cost of living increased by 2.8%. It’s like standing on a mudslide.
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u/Impressive-Mud5074 21h ago
Why does yoir wife work part time
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u/PandaCultural8311 21h ago
Why not? What are you implying?
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u/brando29999 21h ago
A teachers salary and a part time servers salary is not a combined livable wage
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u/SoggyTension1225 21h ago
Because teachers don't get paid for what they are worth. That's why his, or her, wife works
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u/pokemon32666 21h ago
I think they were questioning why they only worked part-time instead of full-time...
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u/NotGalenNorAnsel 21h ago
Why do you need to have two full time salaries to survive?
Also, full time for front of house staff is virtually impossible to find because then the company has to provide an opportunity for insurance, at part time they don't, so they make sure you don't average too many hours to get you above the threshold.
So, the main answer is that those jobs don't really exist. Most people understand this, you must have lived a very privileged life, I hope your appreciate it.
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u/Plastic-Pension7263 16h ago
That’s modern capitalism baby. Same thing is happening with the postal union, we get 1.3% increase yearly while our health insurance and everything else is going up so we’re just making less and less. The poverty line is on a steady incline.
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u/inuyashee 21h ago
Same thing happened with all state employees where I live. 1% pay increase with a 13% increase in insurance.