Federal Workers Want Pay Raise in Obama's Second Term

Federal Workers Want Pay Raise in Obama's Second Term

Well what do ya know !

Who would have thunk it !

Sure Federal workers had their pay frozen a couple of years ago (frozen high btw).

Sure, now the Unions want a raise and retroactive (if necessary) on top of it !

With President Obama safely re-elected to a second term, federal workers feel comfortable to make their demands known. As debate rages over lowering the federal deficit, they want a pay raise.

As CNN's Money magazine reports:

[Union president Colleen M.] Kelley said her No. 1 issue right now is getting federal worker salaries unfrozen on Jan. 1, even if that means working out a deal later in the year and making pay hikes retroactive to Jan. 1.

In the midst of that, federal workers are also nervous about the fiscal cliff , which includes $1.2 trillion worth of spending cuts over a decade if Congress fails to act by Jan. 1. Some 277,000 workers -- 14% of the federal work force -- could lose their jobs in the next 12 months if the U.S. cannot avoid the cliff, according to a study by the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University.

A recent study by two scholars at the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation showed that the average federal employee currently makes significantly more than their private sector counterparts.......


With the political power of the Obama administration behind their demands, it now seems likely that federal pay increases will go into effect just as the private sector begins a new round of cutting wages and jobs.

Federal Workers Want Pay Raise in Obama's Second Term

Federal workers cheer Obama win but want pay unfrozen

What's the answer to this problem ?

See that folks?

Join a union, get a better life!

Obviously they feel entitled to that now since they realize they're co-conspirators in Obama's plan now.

Originally posted by xuenchen

What's the answer to this problem ?

Ronald Reagan showed us the answer during the air traffic controller strike. Fire the lot of them. Set wages to a reasonable level. Abolish all public unions. Then rehire with no affirmative action and no favoritism. The most qualified person gets the job.

reply to post by DarthMuerte


Reagan understaffed the air traffic controllers for almost 10 years, set a precedent that workers don't have a say in their salary or working conditions or benefits. Now where are we? Middle-class wages have stagnated, union membership has dropped while corporations have exploded to unprecedented levels of profit.

You're right, we should just screw the middle class some more.

reply to post by DarthMuerte


Vey true! I remember that! ...it worked.

Workers want a raise and you lose it?

This is the problem, not the workers. Workers DESERVE raises and benefits which correspond to current expenses.

The corporate agenda has brain washed ordinary Americans into believing that raises are awful. Especially public union raises.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Originally posted by links234
See that folks?

Join a union, get a better life!

I won't criticize the union concept completely.

Some unions actually work when the corruption is not in play and when the workforce (and especially the committees) understand the win/win situations with companies.

But the massive layoffs have affected unions both public and private.

Hard to find exact figures, but you can track these things day to day.

Daily Job Cuts.com

How much of this is "union" ?

Originally posted by DarthMuerte

Originally posted by xuenchen

What's the answer to this problem ?

Ronald Reagan showed us the answer during the air traffic controller strike. Fire the lot of them. Set wages to a reasonable level. Abolish all public unions. Then rehire with no affirmative action and no favoritism. The most qualified person gets the job.

and then the companies who no longer have to worry about the minimum wage will just start to hire unqualified people at $4/hr and the world will go back to how the republicans want it. billionaires paying no taxes with the vast majority of the working class living in poverty. good ol' america.

yes there is corruption in the unions but thats a drop in the ocean compared to the corruption going on in the federal government (mostly on the republicans side)

reply to post by links234


Are you freaking kidding me? Federal employees are some of the laziest must inefficient over paid worthless mothers on this planet!

At best they deserve to have double the work load with half the staff at half their current pay, then they will only be doing half the private sectors productivity at twice the private sectors pay for the same job.

reply to post by xuenchen

Hazzah!

More money for everyone

Why not? When did the government care that it was destroying the dollar, bankrupting the United States and guaranteeing debt slavery for endless future generations.

When our Greece/Iceland/Lithuania/Latvia/Spain/Italian/Ireland type crash occurs, I guess it wont matter anyway.

Never mind.

Originally posted by inverslyproportional
reply to post by links234

 

Are you freaking kidding me? Federal employees are some of the laziest must inefficient over paid worthless mothers on this planet!

At best they deserve to have double the work load with half the staff at half their current pay, then they will only be doing half the private sectors productivity at twice the private sectors pay for the same job.

And just think.....

Many of those people are the ones who keep you "Hold" when you call them on the phone

Originally posted by MastaShake

Originally posted by DarthMuerte

Originally posted by xuenchen

What's the answer to this problem ?

Ronald Reagan showed us the answer during the air traffic controller strike. Fire the lot of them. Set wages to a reasonable level. Abolish all public unions. Then rehire with no affirmative action and no favoritism. The most qualified person gets the job.

and then the companies who no longer have to worry about the minimum wage will just start to hire unqualified people at $4/hr and the world will go back to how the republicans want it. billionaires paying no taxes with the vast majority of the working class living in poverty. good ol' america.

Please show me anywhere in my post where I said ANYTHING about private unions? Do you understand the difference between private business and government employees? Public unions, government employee unions, should be banned. I said nothing about private unions at all.

Originally posted by spinalremain
The corporate agenda has brain washed ordinary Americans into believing that raises are awful. Especially public union raises.

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

Public union raises are awful when they are already much higher wages than the private sector.

There has to be balance, or you will find that one can no longer afford the other very quickly.

reply to post by inverslyproportional


You my friend don't know what you are talking about.

I'm an engineer that happens to work for the federal government. When the economy is good nobody wants my job because we (engineers) can make in the private sector twice what I make here. Now they want to take away the security that I came here for. And you know nothing about my workload. I have worked almost every kind of job in my 40 years in the workforce (private sector) and I've never worked much harder than I do now.

Also, I work with some of the most professional, hard working people that I have ever known.

reply to post by xuenchen


I'm going to take a guess, you don't know any federal workers, do you?

I can't speak for all people that work for the Feds, but I know many are overworked, understaffed and haven't seen a cost of living adjustment in a while.

If you get put on hold for 10 minutes, instead of assuming they are being lazy and abusing their power -- why not wonder if they have 20 other calls ahead of you to get through.

I know they're not Federal -- but if you worked at the DMV, you'd understand why they act the way they do. Trust me on that.

reply to post by peck420


I know geologists that would make 1/2 again as much in the private sector. This argument is not valid. For years architects, surveyors, geologists, and engineers have been paid less than the private sector. The only reason they choose public service is because of the retirement.

Your argument is not entirely valid.

reply to post by MystikMushroom


And for the security as I mentioned in my post above yours.

Originally posted by MystikMushroom
reply to post by peck420

 

I know geologists that would make 1/2 again as much in the private sector. This argument is not valid. For years architects, surveyors, geologists, and engineers have been paid less than the private sector. The only reason they choose public service is because of the retirement.

Your argument is not entirely valid.

Your post proves how valid my response was.

The only reason they choose public service is because of the retirement.

Is retirement packages not a valid form of compensation? If I offer you $10/hr or $8/hr + $2/hr in retirement, have I not offered two equal value offers?

There must be balance.

Originally posted by inverslyproportional
reply to post by links234

 

Are you freaking kidding me? Federal employees are some of the laziest must inefficient over paid worthless mothers on this planet!

At best they deserve to have double the work load with half the staff at half their current pay, then they will only be doing half the private sectors productivity at twice the private sectors pay for the same job.

I can view this from both sides. With full disclosure I am employed with a Federal agency; unfortunately my line of work is held as a monopoly by the Federal Government (funny how it is okay for the Government to do so). If in a chance they would privatize what I do, I would start up shop in an instant. I digress from that though.

While there are lazy and inefficient people on the Federal dole, the same can be said of any business. Personally, I work 40-60 hours a week on rotating schedules that change week-to-week. So laying down a blanket statement such as yours is quite ignorant, but I do understand why you make it.

If you were to double my workload, safety would suffer, as we have 6 people covering 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. If someone is sick or on assignment or has personal issues my workload doubles and sometimes triples. Some of my peers back east worked through the storm to reroute equipment. Some trek some of the most remote places in the states to keep equipment sound and maintained.

----------------------

To the heart of the matter though is the calls of some public unions, seeing a re-elected president and using that to push for raises, I do not agree with it. I make about what my skills would bring in the private sector, depending of course on area.