I have one question for Linda Lee Kennedy (letter, July 7) and all other opponents of Ohio Senate Bill 5: What makes them think they represent the middle class? Union workers comprise something like 12 percent of the work force. That means the other 88 percent of us represent the vast majority of middle-class workers in the U.S.
Unions, pensions and collective bargaining are relics of the past. In today's marketplace, good workers are any company's greatest asset and are compensated as such. Different people perform at different levels; why on earth should a lesser performer be paid as well as a better performer through something such as collective bargaining? It just doesn't make sense in a market economy.....
The writer of the letter just doesn't understand what constitutes the "middle class" in our country.
According to dictionary.reference.com, the middle class is defined as:
middle class
–noun
1. a class of people intermediate between the classes of higher and lower social rank or standing; the social, economic, cultural class, having approximately average status, income, education, tastes, and the like.
2. the class traditionally intermediate between the aristocratic class and the laboring class....
In an article at marketplace.nationalpublicradio, several economists were asked to define middle class. Below are the names of the economic experts and their quotes from NPR:
Gary Burtless of the Brookings Institute:
....He uses the term "middle income" rather than "middle class" and he bases his definition on the median household income -- which last year was $48,200.
Burtless says the middle can range from half of that to twice that number, so $24,000 to $96,000....
Frank Levy MIT economist stated:
I would say a reasonable range is about $30,000 to $90,000. Most of what we mean by middle class, I think, is how easy it is for you to afford the basic building blocks of a good life in America and that means can you afford a single-family house and can you afford a car and can you afford to heat the house and so on and so forth...
According to teacher-world.com, here is the list of average income for those involved in teaching in Ohio:
Average Beginning Teacher Salary: $31,753
Burtless says the middle can range from half of that to twice that number, so $24,000 to $96,000....
Frank Levy MIT economist stated:
I would say a reasonable range is about $30,000 to $90,000. Most of what we mean by middle class, I think, is how easy it is for you to afford the basic building blocks of a good life in America and that means can you afford a single-family house and can you afford a car and can you afford to heat the house and so on and so forth...
According to teacher-world.com, here is the list of average income for those involved in teaching in Ohio:
*Teacher Salary Information For 2008—2009
Average Beginning Teacher Salary: $31,753
Average Teacher Salary: $47,602
Average Administrator Salary: $77,740
Elementary School Principals: $82,414
Middle School Principals: $87,866
>>>> Indeed.com has the following income statistics for Ohio firefighters:
| Firefighter in Ohio.........................$52,000 | ||||||||
| Paramedic Firefighter in Ohio .....$49,000 | ||||||||
| Firefighter Paramedic in Ohio.....$44,000 | ||||||||
| Emergency Communications Technician in Ohio.....$37,000 | ||||||||
| Fire Protection Specialist in Ohio.....$63,000 | ||||||||
Ohio Labor Market Information reports that average income for police and sheriff's patrol officers in Ohio is--------------------- $53,310
The author of the letter to the editor doesn't understand that teachers, firefighters, and police officers are making incomes far below his own income. Does the author of the letter want the firefighters and police officers who risk their lives protecting his family to make far less? Does he think that their jobs are worth less than his own? Does he think that teachers that have educated his children, enabled them to go to college, are not worth their income even though they have bachelors and masters degrees?
