Wisconsin teachers have their own health insurance company that's run by the union. They pay almost nothing into it, but are insured for life. They're paid $50K+ for 9 months work. They can retire after 30 years (my neighbor retired at 55).
More than half of the increases in appropriations for the Milwaukee school district goes to teacher benefits.
As for public employees being underpaid, well, that depends upon how the employee plays his cards. There's plenty of public employees who've done well for themselves. A couple of years ago the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did a story on public employees making six figures. A registred nurse at a county correctional facility was making over $200,000 with overtime. There's plenty of Milwaukee police officers making over $100k.
Milwaukee cops (firefighters, too, I think) get 95% of their last five years pay as pension after 25 years, 100% after 30 years, and 105% after 35 years. So, a cop could easily retire at 55 and make more than he made on the job.
I'm sure everyone here has heard my story about a friend who was a Milwaukee building inspector, got himself on disability in 1985 (how he's disabled, I don't know; he can do anything), and recently switched from disability to his pension. He hasn't worked in 25 years and he's getting a pension.
But ask these folks to pay 12.5% of their health insurance or half of their pension costs and it's the end of the world.
I wish Walker had the power to fire all of the teachers, as Reagan did with the air traffic controllers.
