35, 34, 33...
State employees can afford to do without a pay hike
Between now and April 10, the Legislature has the ability to cancel a scheduled 3 percent across-the-board pay raise for unionized government employees.
It has been argued that government employees have already made concessions. But the bottom line is that state employees are still doing pretty well. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average wage in Michigan (not corrected for inflation) increased by 14.9 percent between 2002 and 2008. But for state employees, the average wage calculated by the Civil Service Commission increased by 21.9 percent. Wages for state employees have gone up half again as fast as they did for workers throughout the state. Certainly they can afford to go without an across-the-board raise this year.
There are still 33 days to fix this…
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PA 106
And you never did call me back about PA 106. Before (or if) you do, I'll debunk the common myths/excuses: 1) "it didn't have any teeth": um, not true. All districts I know scrambled to get at least 4 different bids. 2) "a single carrier could still conceivably give 4 'separte' bids." While true, I don't know of a single district that went this route. Not a one.
In fact, what I've personally witnessed is carriers failing to bid unless paid an up-front bid in some cases (why? Because they know the school HAS to get x-number of bids). Our school, in fact, is paying 5-figures to a "middle person consulting firm" to organize bids for us.
Which, if you're keeping score at home, is an UNFUNDED MANDATE.
But, yeah, I guess all will hear is that this PA 106--which has INCREASED costs to districts--is somehow the fault of the damn union.
Title
Why doesn't the Mack Center attack the $2bill in unfunded mandates the State foists on local governments instead of continually--and singularly--attacking worker bees? That's the tunnel-vision, sole purpose of any and all articles: gut worker pay and benefits. That's "the" answer to return Michigan to prosperity.
How do you expect to woo intelligent independents with such shallow and narrow and transparent political hackery?