News
Voters approve cutting public employee benefits
Public employees and their unions took a beating at the polls in recent votes. Voters in two major California cities approved cuts to government retirement benefits, while Wisconsin voters rejected a bid to oust Gov. Scott Walker for his efforts to end collective bargaining for most public employees.
Voters in San Diego and San Jose on June 5 overwhelmingly approved cuts to retirement benefits for city workers, according to The Associated Press (AP). In San Diego, the nation’s eighth-largest city, two-thirds of voters approved cutting pension benefits. In San Jose, the nation’s 10th largest city, 70 percent of voters approved retirement cuts.
Measures in the two cities differ, but each cuts retirement benefits for both future and current employees. San Diego imposes a six-year freeze on pay levels used to determine pension benefits unless a two-thirds majority of the City Council votes to override it. In San Jose, current workers have to pay up to 16 percent of their salaries to keep their retirement plan or accept more modest benefits. Most new hires in both cities would get less generous benefits.
Supporters said voters were sending a message: Government workers’ pensions cost too much and are more generous than the private sector. That message could spread to other state and local governments where officials say paying retiree benefits means having to short public services, like filling potholes or keeping libraries open.
“The message is that if elected officials and public employee unions do not responsibly deal with this issue, voters will take things into their own hands,” Thom Reilly, former chief executive of Clark County, Nev., now a professor of social work at San Diego State University, told AP.
Supporters said the failed recall in Wisconsin also signaled that voters back efforts to curb public employee unions. They cite examples in Indiana, which this year became the nation’s 23rd “right to work” state banning union contracts that require fees from nonmembers, and Louisiana, where Gov. Bobby Jindal pushed through a series of bills targeting teacher tenure and salaries.
Great!
Now why don’t we vote
Great!
Now why don’t we vote to cut the salaries and pensions of all elected officials in each state and in federal government.
Then why can’t we vote to slash all the bonuses for CEOs and deny all their perks i.e. trips, airplanes, houses, etc.
Shouldn’t we be able to vote to cap private industry pensions?
Agree-the republicans have
Agree-the republicans have been attacking the unions by cutting everything they’ve worked for and earned, but why don’t we cut the mayor’s perks, the councilmen’s perks, the judges retirement, the sheriff’s retirement. Oh, no, they won’t be touched because they’re not the “low life middle-class.”
I wonder how many millions of dollars in subsidies the Koch brothers have gotten from the federal government-why don’t we stop that?
I agree with the comment
I agree with the comment above. Let’s cut from the wealthy private sector where the big bucks are rather than cutting the pension of a State office worker who retires on 20K per year!! Put yourself in this person’s place!
It is important to note that
It is important to note that Wisconsin’s system is very different from Califoria’s. In Wisconsin a portion of the wage is placed into a managed retirement system. There is no other or future governmental additions to the system.
That being the case, why not
That being the case, why not hire illegals at less than minimum
wage and no benefits whatsoever. After all, Obama-care is now
the law of the land. Why have trained professionals in the state
and local government work-force when if you dumb down the
system, any illegal who won’t speak English, will fit the job.
Of course we should hire
Of course we should hire illegals. That way we can have the same quality infrastructure, water, politics, and solid waste management as their home country.
In my opinion the only reason
In my opinion the only reason there is no money in the pension funds, to make it sustainable is because of poor decisions by those in positions of authority. If they had not kept dipping into the funds for special projects, etc., there would not be question on whether it was sustainable. The problem with legislators is that they have big ideas, but often fail to think any further than the end of their individual noses, or pockets. We should not be making career positions for these politicians. They do not deserve to have better medical benefits, retirements, extended vacations and holidays. We did not send them there to pad their pockets but to serve us as representatives not just for the majorities, but for each individual that lives within their districts.
I agree. This is not about
I agree. This is not about the private sector. This is about politicians who sit in elected seats for way too long. There is so much corruption in the Senate we need to start from scratch. These politicians abuse the private sector and make millions from back door deals. Follow the money-IE Solyndra…
No kidding. Isn’t it funny
No kidding. Isn’t it funny how the elected officials are the ones who underfund the pensions and use that money to build stadiums and make back door deals with their business partners, but now that we have a national problem as a result of their decisions and those of big business and the banking industry, the City employees must pay the cost. And the public is ignorant to the entire problem.
I totally agree. Note while
I totally agree. Note while workers wages and benefits are subject to attack, if one questions the outrageous CEO and executive wages and benefits, one is accused of being a commie. This is one of the reasons the middle class is disappearing.
CEO is private sector- The
CEO is private sector- The government is already too involved in regulating the private sector.We should stay out of it. We should not be bailing out private companies with our tax dollars. That is how we control it. As for our public officials- yes we should negotiate our Congress, Senate salaries. They enter public service as well off individuals and leave as millionaires and billionaires. Just look at some of our Senate members right now. They have celebrity money. Meanwhile our country is bankrupt!
We can vote to slash all the
We can vote to slash all the bonuses for CEOs and deny all their perks i.e. trips, airplanes, houses, etc.
Don’t buy their product…
Hmmm; meddling in Private
Hmmm; meddling in Private industry…I think that’s called Communism and kinda goes against all we stand for. YGTBSM!
I have to be honest with the
I have to be honest with the other respondents; the DB and DC benefits in the public sector out pace the private sector in almost every situation! I recently joined the public sector and saw my DC benefits, health and welfare benefits all increase!
Yes you are correct, but as a
Yes you are correct, but as a general rule, at least in the past, the wages in the private sector are better. So as a result it used to balance out.
people are just jelous is all
people are just jelous is all it is I know when they recruited my son to come work at the county from his privit secture job he took less money but the selling point was we make up for it with benifits which is how it figured out but now they go along with taking away what a joke so are they going to raise wages to compete now I doute it so now it will be back to private sec.
I checked my salary in Texas
I checked my salary in Texas is 20-30% less than what I would be making in the private sector. If they cut our pension, then I would leave this job. Good luck finding qualified employees to run government, or is that’s what everyone is saying they don’t want it. People don’t want to pay into a system anymore, but they want all the amenities or they think they can get the same amount with yesterday dollar. I’m not sure where we are going, but it’s not going to be far with this mentality.
Yes, what right do they have
Yes, what right do they have to vote on our pensions? Oh, wait it’s their taxes. Oh, wait what about the big tax breaks we give to small-large business that their taxes too, shouldn’t they be voting on capping 401k’s, CEO perks, all elected officials in state and federal governments too that vote for these same large tax breaks? Where does it start and end?
Yes, if they do it to the
Yes, if they do it to the public sector then the private sector should be done as well. After all they get millions of dollard for their retirement compared to the few thousand the public sector gets unless you’re luckey enough to be in the federal government. Will they get their pension cut… the judges, the politicians, the President, etc..? The CEO’s of banks, industries, etc. they make more money that 100 middle-class people will make in a lif-time.
The lure of public service
The lure of public service was not for me the salary or the benefits as they were less than the private sector years ago. The promise of stability and the fact that I was in a profession that served the public good were strong motivators for taking the job and staying with the job. My salary never kept pace with the private sector (I have three science / engineering degrees) but security and the promise of a reasonable retirement after 35 years along with job satisfaction made up the difference. Mine is not a profession that has a strong advocacy for increased retiement benefits as I am neither a Policeman or a Fireman although my work is major importance to the health of society. I did, however, earn my meager benefit and do not feel that it would be justified to reduce it simpy because of the failure of our leaders to do their job. I know a lot of dedicated people who work in government and who contribute greatly to the well being of this society. We in the trenches have paid our dues. All the ebst.
Well said!
Well said!
Contrary to popular belief,
Contrary to popular belief, Indiana’s right-to-work law does not cover public sector unions – only the privates.
I understand that these are
I understand that these are trying times and we have to cut somewhere, but don’t go after the pensions. Not so much police and firefighters, but other municipal and county governments are being “dumbed down”. To attract quality people to positions like IT, you have to offer attractive benefits to make up for the quality canidates that could make 3 to 4 times as much in private industry.
Yeah, let’s get them all,
Yeah, let’s get them all, especially those teachers who are very overpaid! What other industry can you have a masters degree and in excess of 20 years of experience and make the huge salary of $50,000 while having that level of experience and education! After all we want to pay less to the people (unemployment workers, social workers, public works employees, police, fire and others) we must depend on in emergencies (personal and natural disasters). And we want to make sure we attract sub-standard employees (read teachers) to educate our future (read children).
I held a middle management
I held a middle management position when I retired after 25 in municipal government at my husband’s urging. I put as much as we could afford into a Deferred Compensation Plan very similiar to 401k. This money was all deposited by me as government adds no matching funds. As for government paying for monies going into our state pension fund, several years ago many cmmunities asked unions to not take raises and in return the municipalities agreed to pay part of the employee pension contribution. This affected what our final salary base for retirement would be. When I retired the city was cutting my hours and thus reducing my yearly pay which would determine my retirement. This forced me to retire as to not take a loss in retirement pay. I have 3 EPA licenses and a Class 4 Laboratory Analyst License, BS, and MBS in Environmental Science Management. My highest yearly salary never reached $50,000 and I could have been paid much more in the private sector, but I felt working for the public was more valuable to me than the money. Please consider that when you turn on your tap and have water or when you flush your commode and it disappears to a place of which most people have no idea.
Very sad that being a
Very sad that being a “government employee” is getting such an unfair negative image. I reallty hope that those complaining loudest about the “worthless, lazy, overpaid government employee”, think about the poor service they get at the license bureau, or when it takes hours for police/fire or EMS to show for your emergency, or if your “special child” has their program cut at school, or the food you eat makes you sick because it wasn’t checked, or the products you buy are defective or not fakes, or the prisons explode in riots, or the roads become undrivable from damage and lack of snow removal, or any one of hundreds of functions, government employees perform daily. The public takes this all for granted and will pay a WHOLE LOT MORE when it is all privatized. There are a lot of issues that have complicated this problem, but attacking the lowest rung on the latter is a political move to give the false appearance of fixing the problem. Most government workers are not compensated at a matching rate of the public sector, so we get a “compensation package” with benefits to help even the pay. Just remember, you get what you pay for and when the public sector workers are finished being taken advantage of and politicized…..get ready for really bad roads, emergency responses, etc…..we deserve fair pay and benefits too! We have houses, cars, kids, debts and educations to pay for, just like the rest of America…don’t chase us out of government in a short-sighted political game.
I agree with you. Cops, EMS,
I agree with you. Cops, EMS, Firefighters and even elected Sheriffs don’t set our wages, they are set by the City And County Commission. Don’t blame the workers or Sheriffs Clerks, ECt go to the Commissions who set wages, and polices.
The assault on public workers
The assault on public workers pay and benefits is the culmination of the 30 year assault on workers and government by conservatives. If you believe in good governance read Thomas Frank’s book “The Wrecking Crew”. Defunding of unions and government, is a goal of the single bottom liners who want to privatize and profitize every good and service.
On top of this add the corrupt behavior of the financial sector. Every public employee should be aware of the Matt Taibbi article in the Rolling Stone.
America we have a huge corruption problem and the republicans want to do nothing about it.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/notes-on-wall-streets-bid-rigging-scandal-20120622
hmm this will be more often
hmm this will be more often now
If they are going to reduce
If they are going to reduce benefits to match the private sector, then INCREASE the wages & salaries to also match the private sector. Public employees are told they get lower salaries for better pensions, but when the pensions come due, the public always forgets that part of the “deal.”