July 3, 2006

Shutdown = Extra Paid Vacation Days for State Workers?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 8:10 pm

Accroding to the Star Ledger, New Jersey State Employees will be paid retroactively, whether they work or not, during the shutdown, “unless the Legislature votes to withhold that money”.

State Senator Stephen M. Sweeney (D-3), Chairman of the Senate Labor Committee, views this as an “outrage”.

Once again, this Governor is protecting those who have nothing at stake in the process while the taxpayers assume the entire burden.

It’s really simple: Those who work deserve to be paid; those who don’t work shouldn’t be paid.

It’s time for the Governor to listen to the people I speak with every day at the convenience stores and diners – people who don’t get anything close to the deals these state employees get with double the vacation days of those in the private sector, 35-hour work-weeks, little or no co-pays or contributions to the increased costs of health care – and they’re all telling me enough is enough! The citizens of this state have reached a breaking point.

First he wants to force a sales tax increase down the throats of taxpayers to pay for more bloated state government that none of us can afford. Now he wants to give state employees a retroactive paid holiday so they don’t have to feel the pain everyone else has to feel.

It’s time for the Governor to honor his promises from last year’s campaign to cut out-of-control state spending. It’s time for him to stand up for the taxpayers who deserve a break from financing bigger state government. The culture of entitlement in Trenton needs a wake-up call.

Sweeney is an outlier among the democrats in the legislature, where they are busy trying to find ways that are less obvious than a sales tax incrase to fund the Governor’s budget, which increases spending by 9.2% at a time when the state is awash in red ink.

Obviously, things are not going well in Trenton, and it seems that no matter how it shakes out, the taxpayers lose.

Enlighten-New Jersey is posting regularly on the ongoing disgrace.

6 Comments »

  1. And not to be forgotten in all this is Carla Katz who was quoted today:

    “Everybody deserves to be paid,” said Carla Katz, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1034. “We’re going to fight to ensure that everybody is paid, essential and nonessential employees. Our members are ready and willing to come to work.”

    Comment by Bob — July 3, 2006 @ 9:57 pm

  2. Thank G*d I live in PA where Fat Eddie Rendell got his budget passed (with his hand deeper in my pocket) without all the drama of a daytime soap opera.

    Comment by MCPO Airdale — July 4, 2006 @ 6:41 pm

  3. Holy crap! Sometimes you just gotta love politics … wtf are these people thinking?

    Comment by Princess Cat — July 5, 2006 @ 10:52 am

  4. You’re kidding me, right? As a state employee I am told I have to stay home for 4 working days because the legislators can’t formulate a budget, and you don’t think I should be paid? I was ready to work, and it wasn’t my fault I wasn’t allowed to. I certainly do think that they owe me pay for those days.
    I do contribute to my health care costs, and pay a co-pay at all my doctor visits and for prescriptions.
    Those costs have increased over the years, and you need to check on that. It’s not as minimal as you suggest.
    Most state employees aren’t getting the sweetheart deals you read about and rally against. We’re your neighbors, family, or friends, working to support our families. Many of our jobs support the public good, which is what brought us to the job in the first place.
    I invite you to come do my job for a day, weigh the pay, hours, and benefits, and tell me what you think. Hey, if you like it, and have the qualifications, you can join state service too. What do you do for a living? I’m sure I can find a way to dump on that too, but I’d probably not want your job, so I won’t.
    Yes, I agree that the sweetheart deals need reform. They detract from all of us, and they waste taxpayer dollars. I’m a taxpayer too, as is everyone I work with. I hope that with the contract negotiations going into the 2007 contract year those issues are dealt with. I have every reason to believe our governor will reform them as he has promised he will.

    Comment by state worker — July 9, 2006 @ 10:30 pm

  5. As a state employee, I didnt ask to be home. I want my pay one way or another. I dont care where it comes from!!!!!!

    Comment by bootsie — July 10, 2006 @ 8:24 am

  6. […] I received some interesting comments from a couple state workers on my most recent post dealing with this subject, and, on a personal level, I feel their pain. However, as a taxpayer and one who is subject to the whims and/or economic realities of the private sector, this bothers me. […]

    Pingback by Parkway Rest Stop » It’s Official. — July 10, 2006 @ 8:27 pm

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