Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

wow-- 1,264 voted against it??? selfish hypocrites!! that's not "Brotherhood" and equal oppurtunity! They would rather see 1,000 families out on the street so they could protect a few hundred bucks?? come on

I'll bet those 1200 who voted agfainst it are senior union members!!! Brother!!!!

And a week and a half was wasted and thousands of words written by reporters and read by citizens....did we not know this would be the outcome...not perfect, but a solution acceptable to all in such dire times....

Wait a minute...I'm no math whiz but didn’t the taxpayer just get screwed here? "The cost-cutting proposal requires eight workdays without pay during this budget year, and four next year....But the workers can take as many as 15 extra paid days off in exchange or eschew some of those paid days off and collect a portion of their lost wages in cash if they wait until they leave state service."
So now we’re paying union employees for NOT WORKING? Unions will ruin this State faster than you can say bankruptcy.

Responce to Aaron; I am definately not a senior member, have less than 10 years, and I voted NO. I am sick of giving into Carcieri, and I trust what Downey says about as far as I can throw him.

They should have been allowed to vote on the 12 shutdown days but the wonderful Union Presidents and higher didn't allow for this. They should also have taken the 12 days shutdown because they are only going to lose their contributions (retirement/vaca/sick time)anyway, no matter which way they voted. Now they work for a day every month for nothing and there will still be no contributions taken out when they take the days off or take the pay. DUH!!!!!!

You people are still complaining? It's soooo typical of RI residents to complain about state employees. That'll never change...You people need to complain about why the State of RI is not generating any jobs and/or revenue.

It's too little, too late. The downward spiral will continue and sometime in the next few years the system will collapse. I truly see no alternative, as no one in Rhode Island seems willing to take the steps for viable, long-term fiscal soundness.

The alternative is massive inflation, which might happen and would then lower our actual debt while reducing net pay and benefits.

Default or inflation - those are the two choices I see.

No comments yet? Weird

SPIRIT07,

the states not generating any jobs because the taxes are too high due to the ridiculous amount of wages and benefits paid to state workers. Don't ya get it??

Chris Smith. This is the type of mentality that is getting you union "brothers" in trouble. This just postpones the inevitable. Huge layoffs in the future.

The sticking point wasn't loss of pay: union folks agreed to that during the Sundlun administration so that their colleagues would not face layoff; they'd do that again with no qualms. The big problem with this proposal is the spectre of being shuffled from a job in a department you care about to a job anywhere else the department of administration sees fit to put you. I'm retired now (and, no, not with a huge windfall pension) and wasn't even a union member in my last role working for you all, but when I was hired, it was to work in a specific department where I had some expertise. Not to be placed at will as though one agency was the same as another. As a (now former) state worker, I am so tired of you folks placing the blame for the economy on the people who are working their tails off so that you can enjoy our beaches, get your flu shots for next to nothing, apply for benefits, get an education, make sure your neighbor doesn't pollute your land, get help in nursing home placement, be protected against EEE, you name it; most likely one of your neighbors is involved as a state worker in making your life more comfortable. What has happened to civility?

So, in return for working 8 days without pay, state workers will be allowed to take 10 days of extra vacation. 10 days = 80 hours = approximately 5% of a typical work year. If the state can get by while this extra 5% vacation time is taken, doesn't that mean that there are 5% too many employees working for the state?. Why not lay off that additional 5% of the workforce?

shp:
You mean the education RI was recently graded an F for, for affordability.
Or perhaps the polluted land that Tiverton had to fight years to get cleaned up
Or maybe even the landfill that seems to have trouble with keeping it's expenses in order. Sorry union people, it's not your fault it's the GA for creating unsustainable budgets, one way or another with hundred million dollar plus budget shortfalls forecast for next few years, your heads will be on the verge of rolling for a long time to come.

Well, the tax and spend democrats are finally running out of other peoples money to spend. Now when will the average person realize that if there is no private sector jobs there will be no taxes to pay the public sector unionized workers either. Keep pushing the taxes up and soon no one will be able to maintain a business in the state except the mob and the politicans. Oh, you are already there aren't you.

Without the intention of seeming to be stating the bleeding obvious, might I make the comment that RI public servants have priced themselves to a degree which is no longer applicable in today's economy. Don't you get it fellas, we no longer can afford you. Its not that we don't value your input to our wellbeing, we just dont want to pay as much as we do for your output. I too was a public servant, in another world in another time and have virtually none of the ongoing benefits that retired RI public servants get, my pension is about 30% of my final salary and I had to pay a 25% contribution to that pension scheme. I retired at 55. But I digress. Remember the steel industry which is no longer in existence, the car industry which looks like going out of existence, the textile and other industries which have moved overseas, they all suffered because the labor costs. Now I acknowledge that the high costs are the result of workers finally being able to negotiate increases which meant they were no longer screwed by the owners of industry, but they went too far, and they would not move with the times. This is what is happening to RI public service. They are not moving with the times, just protecting their 'patch' immaterial of what effect that has on their ultimate future. Regarding the movement of staff from one department or area to another to meet emerging needs or changing workloads, that's common sense, but then maybe you don't have any. As to the 15 paid days off, hey boys, I agree that, its a fair compensation for losing the 12 days salary, don't you contrarians realise that when a public servant has a day off the work often still has to be done by those left behind, thereby increasing their workload (but not total cost as no additional worker is hired to replace the absent worker). The union must be complemented on putting the vote to the members and the members must be complemented for agreeing with the Carcieri plan. Its just a pity that Carcieri has left it so late in his term to tackle these issues, and even more pity that he has been ineffective in encouraging significant industry back to the state. Public service, be warned, you are pricing yourself out of existence.

So many good comments. The State is in the toilet; one of the highest property taxes in the county, high workers comp, and mid level jobs go begging because Rhode Islanders don't have the skills. This is just a partial list of the issues. So as I understand it there's a pay cut and in return they get additional vacation days or cash out when they leave state service. What about this one - In the private sector, a pay cut generally means a permanent reduction in a workers' base pay. For state workers, this is not true. The state intends to use the pre-reduction hourly rate for each employee in calculating their next step increase, longevity increase and pay raise, according to the state personnel office. Wow a raise etc. based on one's former salary not the current one. When will the leader's of the State learn. It just goes on and on.

Get a good book like The Fall of the Roman Empire. They passed so many laws they couldn't function! Sound like Rhode Island?

For their own benefit, The union has priced the state out of the business environment. Companies will not move here & create jobs. Current taxpayers are seeking other places to move & live.
Interesting that a few weeks ago the union council leadership didn't want to let the members vote... on any proposal...
I've been a taxpayer here for 10 yrs & as many others, I've commuted on avg., 4 hrs a day to MA as a means to maintain my investment in RI. The union just doesn't realize the current reality & value in the marketplace. Duhh

All smoke & mirrors Carcieri!!!

All smoke & mrirors Carcieri !!!

union membership should fire the leadership.a couple of weeks ago downey and the 30 presidents were not going to allow you to vote.the shut down days was much better then working without pay which is insulting.you need new leadership union members.

Nixx is right----the unions should have been allowed to vote on the issue in the first place, instead of being overriden by their self-serving leaders.

Instead of focusing on the # of those who voted no, I'm focusing on those who voted yes. Against their personal, short term gain, against whatever internal pressure (and I've heard this is considerable)----and just voted on the side of REASONABLE. And job-saving.

I'm thankful to those who voted yes on this.

This is good news and shows the vote should have happened a long time ago. As for the ones who didn't vote. most likely they are the senior employees who are cushy with their jobs and could care less about anyone else but themselves. At least the majority voted yes. However, we do need to fix the pension problem. I'm not saying take anything away from existing employees but we need to change the pension system for new employees going forward. RI should also start reducing any subsidising form taxpayers money into the pension. The pension should be paying for itself. If not, then retirees make less. Just like the private sector. Taxes MUST be reduced in this state! We also need to encourage new industry to come here. Unions have ruinned this state. That is why we are one of the worse in the country in terms of the economy. Union members, fire your leaders and join the rest of the RI taxpayers to figuere out how to fix RI.

RI has 13,500 state workers. The above article claims 11, 431 are union members. That means 85% of our state workers are unionized. Nation-wide, only 37% of all state workers are union members. Why is this percentage so high in RI? It is a fact that our Government cost too much, and this drives our very high tax rates at both the state and local level (RIPEC just reported RI has the 4th highest property taxes in the country). Our high cost of government is directly linked to the high unionization rate in RI. Unlike most other states, RI is the largest employer in the state. There is no competition for providing state and local services. The union bosses can dictate what these services will cost. State workers are not to blame; they are ordinary folks just like all the non-union workers. tHe blame lies with our state legislators who make our laws, enact spending and tax laws, and many onerous business regulations. The voters in this state must elect more prudent legislators, legislators with the courage to make hard decisions. One last note: If the legislators enact a law to force cities and towns to honor the terms of expired teacher contracts and/or force binding arbitration for teachers on our cities and towns, we should consider armed rebellion.

Lousy deal for the state. Laying off would have been a better deal. We don't need as many state workers as we have, and the union brass know this. We can only hope Laffey jumps in the governor's race, wins by a landslide and pulls a "crossing guard" move on the unions.