Economic reality catching up with public sector
By Dennis Wyatt
Managing Editor
The professor was indignant.
"The state should be ashamed of themselves," she told the TV news
crew. "They need to find some other way to make cuts."
Another University of California employee -- a custodian -- got
students who were worked up about tuition topping $10,000 a year and
staff being cut to let out loud whoops of approval when she said the
university had the "audacity" to lay off a quarter of the people who
keep the buildings clean.
Audacity indeed.
Anyone watching TV news in California is treated with an almost
nightly barrage of indignant public employees from the state level
on down howling at what they are faced with -- non-paid furloughs
and pay cuts -- and even some who are losing their jobs to layoffs.
It is a reality private sector workers have faced for decades.
Their temperament is decidedly different than NUMMI workers or a
host of others you see that lose their jobs in the private sector
whether they're being interviewed by news crews at the unemployment.
office or leaving work on the day they got their pink slips.
The public workers oftentimes are outraged about what is happening
to them. It's in sharp contrast to private sector workers hit with
pay cuts or layoffs.
Welcome to the real world.
Unemployment in California is at 12 percent. Almost all of that
out-of-work in that number reflects private sector workers.
It is old hat for many of the private sector workers who have had to
experience the collapse of various employment sectors in California
from aerospace to the flight of major financial institutions to the
South.
Public sector workers have essentially been isolated from the cold
realities of economics for generations. They also -- in many cases
-- wrongly hold onto the myth that they are making a trade-off for
"lower paying jobs" in exchange for job security. Public sector pay
has significantly outgained private pay in San Joaquin County over
the last 12 years. Public sector retirement packages are solid gold
compared to the private sector.
Salaries and benefits account for as much as 85 percent of
government budgets. With revenues dropping significantly due to the
mortgage meltdown and general economic slowdown, there is little
wiggle room left. It is -- to borrow one of Dilbert's favorite
phrases -- right sizing employees. Government is matching expenses
with revenue and when 85 percent of your expenses are employees you
have no other choice but to do what is now being done throughout
California.
It may sound cold but there is no other way to do it.
No one is taking joy in this - not I or any other private sector
worker. It's just that the money isn't there.
In many cases public employees in California are being given a
choice between pay cuts or being laid off. I've been there before
and it isn't fun. Personally, I opted to take a 33 percent cut in
pay instead of losing my job especially considering at the time we
had just bought a house. It took years, severe spending cutbacks,
odd jobs, and increasing credit debt to get out from under and
recover but in the end it happened.
If I'm angry about anything it is how tens of thousands of
bureaucrats in Sacramento -- as well as higher education employees
-- were living on borrowed time by the state swiping local money
which in turn is jeopardizing everything from parks and streets to
police and fire protection.
Yes, a $10,000 a year UC tuition sounds like a lot but there are
options for students who can take longer, delay entry or -- heaven
forbid -- accept the fact they may have to pay more for student
loans. One student protestor said education should be a right and
not a privilege. I agree -- but only for kindergarten through 12th
grade. Most people go to higher institutions not so they can become
an American Mother Theresa or stateside Dr. Albert Schweitzer but so
they can make more money.
Yes, a lot of the blame for our current mess rests squarely on the
shoulders of the California Legislature whom many taxpayers believe
is beholden to powerful state employee groups. However I didn't hear
very many public sector employee groups telling the governor et al
that they were hiring too many people, paying too much money, and
had benefits that were too generous when the money started slowing
down a few years back. Correct me if I'm wrong but state unions
simply said they "wanted more."
Now the chickens have come home to roost.
Read this article online at:
http://www.mantecabulletin.com/news/article/7374/
Managing Editor
The professor was indignant.
"The state should be ashamed of themselves," she told the TV news
crew. "They need to find some other way to make cuts."
Another University of California employee -- a custodian -- got
students who were worked up about tuition topping $10,000 a year and
staff being cut to let out loud whoops of approval when she said the
university had the "audacity" to lay off a quarter of the people who
keep the buildings clean.
Audacity indeed.
Anyone watching TV news in California is treated with an almost
nightly barrage of indignant public employees from the state level
on down howling at what they are faced with -- non-paid furloughs
and pay cuts -- and even some who are losing their jobs to layoffs.
It is a reality private sector workers have faced for decades.
Their temperament is decidedly different than NUMMI workers or a
host of others you see that lose their jobs in the private sector
whether they're being interviewed by news crews at the unemployment.
office or leaving work on the day they got their pink slips.
The public workers oftentimes are outraged about what is happening
to them. It's in sharp contrast to private sector workers hit with
pay cuts or layoffs.
Welcome to the real world.
Unemployment in California is at 12 percent. Almost all of that
out-of-work in that number reflects private sector workers.
It is old hat for many of the private sector workers who have had to
experience the collapse of various employment sectors in California
from aerospace to the flight of major financial institutions to the
South.
Public sector workers have essentially been isolated from the cold
realities of economics for generations. They also -- in many cases
-- wrongly hold onto the myth that they are making a trade-off for
"lower paying jobs" in exchange for job security. Public sector pay
has significantly outgained private pay in San Joaquin County over
the last 12 years. Public sector retirement packages are solid gold
compared to the private sector.
Salaries and benefits account for as much as 85 percent of
government budgets. With revenues dropping significantly due to the
mortgage meltdown and general economic slowdown, there is little
wiggle room left. It is -- to borrow one of Dilbert's favorite
phrases -- right sizing employees. Government is matching expenses
with revenue and when 85 percent of your expenses are employees you
have no other choice but to do what is now being done throughout
California.
It may sound cold but there is no other way to do it.
No one is taking joy in this - not I or any other private sector
worker. It's just that the money isn't there.
In many cases public employees in California are being given a
choice between pay cuts or being laid off. I've been there before
and it isn't fun. Personally, I opted to take a 33 percent cut in
pay instead of losing my job especially considering at the time we
had just bought a house. It took years, severe spending cutbacks,
odd jobs, and increasing credit debt to get out from under and
recover but in the end it happened.
If I'm angry about anything it is how tens of thousands of
bureaucrats in Sacramento -- as well as higher education employees
-- were living on borrowed time by the state swiping local money
which in turn is jeopardizing everything from parks and streets to
police and fire protection.
Yes, a $10,000 a year UC tuition sounds like a lot but there are
options for students who can take longer, delay entry or -- heaven
forbid -- accept the fact they may have to pay more for student
loans. One student protestor said education should be a right and
not a privilege. I agree -- but only for kindergarten through 12th
grade. Most people go to higher institutions not so they can become
an American Mother Theresa or stateside Dr. Albert Schweitzer but so
they can make more money.
Yes, a lot of the blame for our current mess rests squarely on the
shoulders of the California Legislature whom many taxpayers believe
is beholden to powerful state employee groups. However I didn't hear
very many public sector employee groups telling the governor et al
that they were hiring too many people, paying too much money, and
had benefits that were too generous when the money started slowing
down a few years back. Correct me if I'm wrong but state unions
simply said they "wanted more."
Now the chickens have come home to roost.
Read this article online at:
http://www.mantecabulletin.com/news/article/7374/
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