Louisiana Officials

[Texas Aggie]

Not just basektball, but this forum is getting the most traffic. Will be very interesting to see how this plays out. Would like to hear from La. officials.

No Raises for La. Officials

[Nevadaref]

I fully support the stance taken by the Louisiana officials in this. I hope that they don't work this Fall, if the schools don't reinstate their rainout pay and give them the small raise requested.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Texas Aggie

Not just basektball, but this forum is getting the most traffic. Will be very interesting to see how this plays out. Would like to hear from La. officials.

...

I tried to get some feedback once before: https://forum.officiating.com/basket...louisiana.html

[Bad Zebra]

Now that the"great recession" has passed and municipalities are collecting more property taxes to fund the schools, you are going to see more of this type of activity. Teachers salaries have begun to creep up (in Florida anyway) so it should follow that coaches, AD's and officials soon follow suit. It'll be interesting to see how far the LHSAA is willing to push this...No officials for football season? That could get ugly.

[Hugh Refner]

Maybe they can get parent volunteers for the games. Parents think they can call the game better than officials anyway.

[Rob1968]

Originally Posted by Hugh Refner

Maybe they can get parent volunteers for the games. Parents think they can call the game better than officials anyway.

In an area in which I was officiating basketball, the volleyball officials decided to refuse to work the HS season, if they were not given a pay raise. The HSAA met the challenge to their authority by simply asknig for volunteers from the stands to officiate the games. It wasn't great, but the games/season went on, ant the officials eventually conceeded.

[Rich]

There will be officials not working the "big games" that will gladly walk over the backs of other officials. Happens all the time.

One year we tried to get a raise for our adult umpiring league. Almost half of the umpires would've kept right on working and some tried to shame us for thinking about not working.

[Bad Zebra]

Originally Posted by Rob1968

... The HSAA met the challenge to their authority by simply asking for volunteers from the stands to officiate the games...

Don't know where you're located but THAT would be entertaining to watch.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by Rob1968

In an area in which I was officiating basketball, the volleyball officials decided to refuse to work the HS season, if they were not given a pay raise. The HSAA met the challenge to their authority by simply asknig for volunteers from the stands to officiate the games. It wasn't great, but the games/season went on, ant the officials eventually conceeded.

That might work for volleyball. It would not work out nearly that well for football.

Though what will likely happen, and we saw as much before in Louisiana, is that enough officials will keep working anyways and undermine the efforts of the others.

[JetMetFan]

Originally Posted by Bad Zebra

Teachers salaries have begun to creep up (in Florida anyway) so it should follow that coaches, AD's and officials soon follow suit.

^^^ This is how NYC solved the problem for public school officials. When the teachers get a raise, so do we. I don't know how they managed to get the deal but it's in place. We just received a raise last season and I think another is coming up this season or next.

Originally Posted by Rob1968

In an area in which I was officiating basketball, the volleyball officials decided to refuse to work the HS season, if they were not given a pay raise. The HSAA met the challenge to their authority by simply asking for volunteers from the stands to officiate the games. It wasn't great, but the games/season went on, ant the officials eventually conceded.

No offense to volleyball officials but if you get bad officiating in a volleyball match chances are no one will get hurt. Bad officiating in a football or basketball game can lead to kids getting hurt and/or fights. Heck, even good officiating can't stop those things from happening sometimes. If the LA folks stick to their guns something ridiculous will happen in a game officiated by volunteers - if the LHSAA goes that route - someone will be sued and the problem will solve itself.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JetMetFan

When the teachers get a raise, so do we.

Same thing here in Connecticut. No more late night contract negotiations in smoke filled rooms. No more picket lines. No more water cannons.

[bisonlj]

Try to calculate a $5 raise for every official for every event. It will make $20k look like a very small number. Just for playoff games in our state a $5 increase would cost the state $50k across all sports. Add in regular season games and that number grows significantly.

[Nevadaref]

1. On a $50 game fee a 4% raise is $2.
2. NV has about 1500 officials in the entire state for all sports.
3. Say that there are 2,000 basketball games in a season. Perhaps half are 3-person. So $6 more per game for those and around $4 more for the 2-person contests. That's $10K. Of course, doing this for all sports will come out to much more than $20K, which is my point. The schools were happy to collude with the ED to stonewall the officials as it was well worth it to them to pay him a portion of what they should have been paying the officials. They saved a bunch of money and he made an extra $60K over three years. The La people better do some research and know what they are encountering.

[BatteryPowered]

While I certainly think officials should be paid a fair amount, Is even a 10% increase really so important that you would shut down for a season? Maybe it is me but doing the math from last season that percentage increase would provide $250.

Ok...I realize that is a camp for a high school official. However, I officiate because I enjoy it. I don't want to do it as a volunteer but if I just cover my expenses for the season I am happy. In fact, I don't even track that to see if I even break even. The game fees I get just go into a vacation savings account. I try to hit one or two out-of-town camps each summer so my wife can tag along and veg by the pool and we make it a little weekend getaway.

I don't know...maybe I am just weird.

[Rich]

At some point the officials have to draw a line. They've been fighting for this for YEARS.