Dear GOP Legislative Staff:
Congratulations on your stunning win. Some hard work (and a lot of Democratic incompetence in governing) earned you majorities in both houses and control of the Governor's office. So it's time to hit you up for some predictions on the goodie basket that will ultimately await you once Governor Walker and your bosses put together the 2011-13 budget.
Given Scott Walker's history, we all know you're going to be handsomely rewarded for your months of hard work with a kick to the teeth and a steaming pile of crap left on your doorstep. What I want to know is, just how bad is it going to be?
Looking for predictions on four items:
1. Furloughs - How many unpaid days of leave will you be taking as a result of the 2011-13 budget?
2. Health insurance contributions - As non-represented employees, will your bosses and the governor increase your health insurance premiums and/or institute deductibles for all health insurance plans? If so, by how much?
3. Pension contributions - How much of your pension contributions will you end up swallowing?
4. Cost-of-living adjustment - What are the odds of you getting any COLA in the next budget? (And no, step increases don't count.)
All may participate of course, not just GOP staff. But I am particularly curious to know how much the staff of the incoming majority party thinks their own bosses are going to crap on them, since there's nothing quite like busting your ass, only to realize that you don't have any Democrats left to defend your wages or benefits.
Or are they just going to make you all independent contractors? Oops, I shouldn't give them any ideas!
Congratulations on your stunning win. Some hard work (and a lot of Democratic incompetence in governing) earned you majorities in both houses and control of the Governor's office. So it's time to hit you up for some predictions on the goodie basket that will ultimately await you once Governor Walker and your bosses put together the 2011-13 budget.
Given Scott Walker's history, we all know you're going to be handsomely rewarded for your months of hard work with a kick to the teeth and a steaming pile of crap left on your doorstep. What I want to know is, just how bad is it going to be?
Looking for predictions on four items:
1. Furloughs - How many unpaid days of leave will you be taking as a result of the 2011-13 budget?
2. Health insurance contributions - As non-represented employees, will your bosses and the governor increase your health insurance premiums and/or institute deductibles for all health insurance plans? If so, by how much?
3. Pension contributions - How much of your pension contributions will you end up swallowing?
4. Cost-of-living adjustment - What are the odds of you getting any COLA in the next budget? (And no, step increases don't count.)
All may participate of course, not just GOP staff. But I am particularly curious to know how much the staff of the incoming majority party thinks their own bosses are going to crap on them, since there's nothing quite like busting your ass, only to realize that you don't have any Democrats left to defend your wages or benefits.
Or are they just going to make you all independent contractors? Oops, I shouldn't give them any ideas!
8 comments:
1. 2 per month, 48 for the biennium.
2. Yes to an increase. Yes to deductible. Not a clue as to "how much".
3. 2.5%
4. Not a chance.
1. 27 furlough days per year (54 for the biennium).
2. An increase of 15% in premiums and deductibles.
3. 10% of pension contributions.
4. No COLA.
I've been looking for a way to quietly suggest that the Recess Supervisor may have gone native during his time in Madison.
Today I'm not so sure that I need to be subtle about it anymore.
Did I say that discussing any of these things was completely inappropriate? I'm just noting the subtle irony that GOP staff, in campaigning for Republican victories, are campaigning against their own financial interest.
I suspect, BJK, that you don't go around your office actively lobbying for a wage cut. Most of us don't. Which isn't to say that stuff like that doesn't happen from time to time, but the employees aren't usually saying "please sir, may I have another?"
Based on what the Gov campaigned on:
1. 2 per month
2. An increase to bring it up to a 20% contribution (the back of the napkin says that would double the current contribution)
3. He said 50% of the value of the plan.
4. You're kidding right?
Does anyone want to hazard a guess what number will attached to the QEO when that comes back? I'll bet it won't be 3.8.
I know the QEO was part of some unholy deal cut in the early 90's, and that WEAC was at the table, but I've always wondered a bit about how the QEO would fare in court if it were challenged legally.
Does state government have the right and authority to unilaterally interfere with the ability of employees to collectively bargain, if the limitation is imposed only on people in a particular professional class? If so, what's to stop the state from creating a QEO for manufacturers or service industries? Is that kind of meddling the place of government?
It always fascinates me that conservatives complain about the power and intrusiveness of government, unless it's something they want controlled. Then it's okay.
Contrary to what many believe, state employees are doing a job. Those jobs cannot be done when the employees are "furloughed."
Further, when you increase furlough days dramatically, you actually lose much more work time than the directly-unpaid days.
That is because many state employees are FSLA-exempt (i.e. salaried). Salaried employees cannot be paid overtime and they cannot be docked (because they are salaried). The way the state gets around furlough days is to declare salaried employees as hourly during the weeks that there is a furlough day (doesn't make sense to me, but apparently it's okay).
That means we cannot work overtime during those weeks. Right now, many employees are actually working unpaid overtime in non-furlough weeks to ensure that as much of the missed work gets done as possible. That is, we are docked for hours we end up working anyway (but unpaid). Okay, fine.
But the more weeks in which there are furlough days, the fewer the weeks in which the work can be made up.
But heck, in the prisons and other institutions that must be fully-staffed, the state is already furloughing hourly employees and then paying time-and-a-half overtime to others to make up for it. The state is already furloughing employees who are paid from federal funds and other sources the state cannot use for general purposes.
Oh, and speaking of federal funding. We can be "principled" and turn down federal funding and stop the trains and send money back. But remember, Wisconsin is already a "donor" state--that means we send more money away in federal taxes than we receive in federal funding. So we may as well increase that disparity as well.
The state may be "open for business," but we don't seem to care about taking care of the business of the state.
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