Breaking: Its over in WI-Republicans have won

[Appaholic]

Let's see. I'm non-union. I pay a fair chunk for my health insurance. I pay state and federal taxes. My pay has been frozen for the next two years. I already make less than my counterparts in private industry. I do produce, and a portion of my pay is directly tied to my job performance.

I'm not complaining. I'm thankful to have a job. I just don't see where I'm living in some alternate fat-cat reality as many here would insinuate. Maybe you should talk to the lawyers here about that.

Yes, but don't you get paid more than your peers in Delaware simply due to the fact that you work near Washington? It's that whackiness, multiplied by zillions of other examples, that gnaws at taxpayer savings.

...and how many of your co-workers have been terminated due to poor performance (not gross negligence like fokking the cleaning lady on the boss's desk, but for performance)? It may be common, but your's would be the first governmental agency I've ever encountered that equates job security more with performance than with the ability to get a year older.

[93henfan]

Yes, but don't you get paid more than your peers in Delaware simply due to the fact that you work near Washington? It's that whackiness, multiplied by zillions of other examples, that gnaws at taxpayer savings.

There is some truth to your statement. The locality pay in Delaware, believe it or not, is nearly on par with Washington DC because DE falls under the Philly locale. DE was moved from the "Rest of US" locale to the "Phila" locale around 2002 or so, IIRC. The reason I commute over there is because of grade inflation. For whatever reason, the GS grades for essentially the same work tend to run about two (or three) grades higher once you get in the vicinity of Washington DC.

It's certainly a fair point to be addressed. BUT, guess who needs to address it? Yep. Congress.

Hey, I'm all for people directing their anger at Congress. I'm just tired of getting lumped in with them. Attack them, not the lunchpale feds.

[D1B]

Sorry 93, time for you bloodsuckers to shoulder some of the burden. It's also time for you to start producing and actually have to worry about your job performance and not be protected with insane collective bargaining agreements.

Let's see. I'm non-union. I pay a fair chunk for my health insurance. I pay state and federal taxes. My pay has been frozen for the next two years. I already make less than my counterparts in private industry. I do produce, and a portion of my pay is directly tied to my job performance.

I'm not complaining. I'm thankful to have a job. I just don't see where I'm living in some alternate fat-cat reality as many here would insinuate. Maybe you should talk to the lawyers here about that.

Thank you for your public service then. We need people like you and what Walker/Koch did will help make it happen.

[YoUDeeMan]

It's certainly a fair point to be addressed. BUT, guess who needs to address it? Yep. Congress.

Hey, I'm all for people directing their anger at Congress. I'm just tired of getting lumped in with them. Attack them, not the lunchpale feds.

I never attack a fellow Blue Hen, especially one that has a good enough job that they can afford to buy a round of beers if we happen to meet.

[93henfan]

...and how many of your co-workers have been terminated due to poor performance (not gross negligence like fokking the cleaning lady on the boss's desk, but for performance)? It may be common, but your's would be the first governmental agency I've ever encountered that equates job security more with performance than with the ability to get a year older.

I have 15 years with the federal government, six on active duty and nine on the civilian side. The military, at least the USMC anyway, gets rid of people for poor performance all the time, usually through the promotion board. Hell, they get rid of stellar-performing Marines at an alarming rate, let alone the bad ones. In terms of the civilian side, yeah, it's difficult to fire a federal employee for anything other than fraud or ethics. I concede that. Still, as a supervisor, you can make their life a living hell, within the rules, and they'll usually leave. That's the strategy I use.

[Appaholic]

In terms of the civilian side, yeah, it's difficult to fire a federal employee for anything other than fraud or ethics. I concede that. Still, as a supervisor, you can make their life a living hell, within the rules, and they'll usually leave. That's the strategy I use.

And therein lies the rub....they don't HAVE to leave. And if they don't leave, they make life a living hell for the supervisor, the coworkers & the public organization. Poor performers should not be retained in any organization because what you learn to accept as a supervisor/organization becomes the new standard. And within public organizations, those standards have consistently been lowered (DMV). And Public Employee Unions protect the crappy workers at the expense of the performers on the taxpayer dime.

[BDKJMU]

Yes it is. **** public employees.

Especially cops and firemen. Free ride full of handouts from the public.........

Cops and firemen are exempt disptick.

[BDKJMU]

Lower wages and less quality of life for all! It's a great day for America.

The majority of the tapped out taxpayers in these non right to work, high tax & deficit union state, who don't have defined benefit pension plans at all and cadillac health care plans that they pay little to nothing for, won't see their local & state taxes continually jacked up to pay for the public employee union workers good salaries along with defined benefit pensions and cadillac health care plans that they pay little to nothing for, nor will other programs have to be cut as much. No more corrupt collusion between the public employee unions and those they help elect for more and more tax dollars. No lower wages and a better quality of life for most. Its a great day for America indeed.

[BDKJMU]

Sorry 93, time for you bloodsuckers to shoulder some of the burden. It's also time for you to start producing and actually have to worry about your job performance and not be protected with insane collective bargaining agreements.

Let's see. I'm non-union. I pay a fair chunk for my health insurance. I pay state and federal taxes. My pay has been frozen for the next two years. I already make less than my counterparts in private industry. I do produce, and a portion of my pay is directly tied to my job performance.

I'm not complaining. I'm thankful to have a job. I just don't see where I'm living in some alternate fat-cat reality as many here would insinuate. Maybe you should talk to the lawyers here about that.

True- fed employees don't have the right to collective bargain (although some can be in a union I believe).
True- I believe all fed employees contribute 25% towards their health care premiums, which is about the national avg, which I still think is pretty good. Walker was asking that the public employees ONLY put in 12.6%, when they were paying little before that.

Feds also don't have any cadillac pension- I believe its 1% a year, avg of high 3 (law enforcement 1.7% for the 1st 20, 1% after that).
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This is in addition to the govt 5% matching on the TSP (fed govt verison of the 401K).

If these local & state employees in these 28 states with the collective bargaining had similar deals as the feds had, you wouldn't see as much of a fight, nor do I think the levels of taxation & deficits would be as high in these states.