Wednesday, May 18, 2011

"Sharing the Pain," by Kathy Jellison

I want to talk a little bit about “sharing the pain”, “shared sacrifice” and “shared responsibility”, the new buzz words in Pennsylvania.


According to the most recent comprehensive report from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), Pennsylvania has the largest full-time and second most expensive legislative branch in the nation. The report shows that, despite ranking sixth in the nation in population, Pennsylvania’s legislative branch of 253 lawmakers and 2,918 support staff dwarfs those of larger, more populous states. With 120 lawmakers and 2,067 legislative staffers, California spent $336 million on its legislative branch, compared to Pennsylvania’s $319 million. But California, the most populous state in the nation, has 36.5 million people. Pennsylvania has 12.5 million.


Our “full-time” legislature is based on a 3-day work week, from February to July with more days added as the June 30 budget deadline approaches. It then goes into a summer recess for 3 months, resuming in September and, unless it is an election year, running through December. During an election year, legislators take a break over the election to return to their districts. And you want to take away our overtime, cut our hours of work and change our schedules?
And then there are the perks:


- Per diems are currently $163 a day, intended to cover the cost of lodging and meals. The per diems are paid automatically without any need on the legislator’s part to verify expenses and even if they obtain free meals elsewhere or own their own homes in the Harrisburg area. And you want to take away our $3.50 lunch reimbursement?


- The base salary for legislators in both houses of Pennsylvania’s General Assembly is $78,314 a year, 4th highest in the nation. And you want to roll back our wages?


- Healthcare is fully paid for the members of the House, a benefit worth $16,700 per year. The prescription plan calls for a $6 co-pay for name-brand drugs and a $3 co-pay for generic drugs.


- Senators receive about $13,031 toward their healthcare. In 2007, the Senate changed its policy to require senators and retired senators to pay 1% of their salaries to healthcare.


- We pay 3% of our salary toward healthcare, 1.5% with the Get Healthy. And you want us to pay more? All this while our new employees, IIIs and EAWs are penalized?


- Legislators elected prior to 1974 qualify for a pension multiplier of 7.5. Mellow, for instance, who has 40 years in office, is eligible for a pension up to 3 times his current salary of $110,350. In most cases, a lawmaker elected at age 30, who serves 20 years and leaves office at age 50, qualifies for 65% of his or her salary or $50,900 a year based on current salary. And the figures go up from there, depending on service years. And you want to change our pensions?


- Expense accounts, a gym, a clinic staffed by 4 nurses and a doctor (when Harrisburg Hospital is 3 blocks away), a lavish dining room, and a barber who is paid $37,000 per year to be available to cut hair. AND, automatic pay increases!


- More than 70 of the General Assembly’s 3,000 employees make more than $100,000 – more than their bosses. Some exceed Governor Corbett’s salary – the largest is $173,526.


- We are being asked to accept salary reductions, increases in the amount we pay to healthcare, loss of the Get Healthy program (which has saved millions over the years), cuts to leave and benefits.


- Your side of the table hasn’t had a raise in 3 years and we have faced furloughs every year for the past 3 years, payless paydays and continue to do more with less. We have seen the closure of The Scranton and Scotland Schools, Mayview, Harrisburg and Allentown State Hospitals, Warren YDC, the consolidation of New Castle YDC and the threat to privatize the Forensic units.


- We still see Correction Officers making more money than our Drug and Alcohol and other Counselors, LPNs with 1 year of training making more than our pay grade 6 professionals and our jobs devalued as those with less education and/or training surpass us financially. We see our new staff leaving due to the overwhelming workload and lack of adequate training – with a considerable cost to the commonwealth. They leave because they have to pay for healthcare and because the IIIs and EAWs are not given full healthcare.
- Who is really “sharing the pain?”


- In the meantime, the price of gas is at an all-time high, the price of food has gone up and the amount of work we do increases almost daily.


- All this while state revenues are up and the commonwealth is now showing a surplus? The legislators are now fighting on what to do with this money and we are looking at layoffs and givebacks?


- All this while the Governor refuses to consider a severance tax on Marcellus shale, close the Delaware loophole, tax cigars and smokeless tobacco and stop the Sales Vendor Tax Discount? If all these were enacted and we “shared the pain” we would be having a much different climate for state contract negotiations.


- We understand and will work with you to get a fair and decent contract but expect that ALL the state employees in Pennsylvania do the same.


- We know more than anyone how the budget affects our work and see vital programs being cut to our poor, elderly and children. We live it every day.
 I looked at my opening from the last state contract negotiations and could have copied and distributed much of it today. Many of the same issues and questions persist:

- Why are there so many layers of management at a time when more resources are needed on the front lines and at a time when there is a record demand for services?


- Why can’t we work together to save the commonwealth money and resources by
having AWS and FLEX time, job sharing, working from home and 4-10 hour days?


- PEBTF – a very successful endeavor. Had the commonwealth paid into the fund as agreed to in the last contract, we would have well over a 5 month reserve and could look at further benefits for our members and/or reduced percentage rates for our members and retirees. Do you realize our current retirees must pay 3% on their final wages and not on their retirement wages? And they get no COLAs? Keeping our members healthy is the best strategy for keeping our health insurance costs down.


- Why do the most senior employees risk losing the leave they have saved over the years and their yearly increment? Much of this knowledge will soon walk out the door, what is the commonwealth doing to utilize and pass this knowledge on?


- We have a trained and dedicated workforce and we care about the jobs that we do and the people that we help. We are willing to take into account the
severe fiscal constraints and challenges facing the commonwealth, hell, we have offered $1 billion in cost-savings!


You have a copy of our proposals, are there any questions before we begin

1 comment:

  1. Here's more evidence why PA state legislators need to tax the Natural Gas Drillers in the Marcellus Shale Fields.

    Most Profitable Sin: Gambling ($1.32 Billion)

    Revenue From Sin: $3.547 Billion (2nd Highest)

    Total State Revenue: $70.4 Billion (4th Highest)

    Pct. Total Revenue From Sin: 5.04 percent

    Pennsylvania is the sixth largest state by population, has the fourth largest revenue, and has the second largest revenue from sin taxes. These taxes end up providing more than 5 percent of the state’s total revenue. The main source of this money is gambling. Pennsylvania makes more money through gaming taxes than any other state in the nation, even Nevada. In 2010, Pennsylvania made about $1.3 billion through taxing slots parlors. Nevada, by comparison, made about $835 million. Pennsylvania currently has ten casinos, Las Vegas has 260. The Keystone State levies a 55 percent tax on slot machine revenue, however, while Nevada’s tax is only eight percent. Apparently, this tax has not done much to dissuade gamblers. Revenue from slot machines rose from $13.4 million in 2006-07 to just below $1.75 billion in 2008-09, according to the Center for Gaming Research.

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