Governor Paterson To Halt State Worker Pay Raises

How about cutting public school janitor's six figure salaries in half or hire private companies and get up to five for the price of one?

-State workers get raises not due to performance but in order to keep up with the rate of inflation.

-Too many people in this state work full time and still live below the poverty line. MINIMUM WAGE DOES NOT KEEP UP WITH THE RATE OF INFLATION.

-The state agreed to these raises and reneging is illegal.

-Don't blame someone who makes $40,00 or $50,000 a year. NYS should stop paying out millions of dollars to private contactors. NYS should stop cutting sweetheart deals.

-Some non union government workers make close to and over $150,000 a year along with perks such as blackberries, government issued cars and expense accounts. Gov. Patterson should ask them to give up their raises.

Please bear in mind before you start posting how disgusting it is that state workers are expecting a raise with mass layoffs this little fact:

The new contracts were only negotiated last year. Prior to this, through all the good times, many CSEA and other unions had received no pay raises for over ten years.

In fact even the top paygrades in the Judiciary (the Judges themselves) had received absolutely NOTHING in additional compensation since 1997. The Legislature AND the Executive both worked together constantly to hamstring efforts to negotiate more reasonable terms.

In other words, as soon as the new contract was settled, the state hit rough times and has now turned around and attempted to stall the agreed upon raises.

Of course I might question Mr. Patterson on his choice of carpets and other such budgetary indiscretions, along with a continual and asinine reluctance to tap Congestion Charging and Legalized and controlled Marijuana as alternative revenue streams.

Or perhaps we'll just have to wait for all the baby boomers and their ossified, inflexible attitudes to die off before we'll see the logjam break up.

You keep ignoring the fact THEY are arguing about a pay raise from a flat broke state while most of us face unemployment or pay cuts (including: more work for the same money, higher contributions for the same benefits, less opportunities for advancement, no retirement plans, less working hours and some actual PAY CUTS).

And yet the contract was negotiated last year, when the state was well aware of its precarious financial position.

As for your other points - perhaps your energies would be better utilized by campaigning for better workers' rights for everyone rather than trying to rubbish what actually constitutes an extremely minimal increase in the state's budget.

Sadly people tend to start crying bloody murder when there's talk of reasonable minimal wage compensation, stricter conditions on overtime working and a movement for statutory vacation time that wouldn't violate human rights laws in more civilized countries.

I say give them all their raises and then lay-off and furlough the shit out of all of them.

Seriously. You want to enforce a contract for raises when the state is flat broke? Fine, we'll take it back with a two-week furlough for all of you.

Boohoo. So you don't get unconditional raises that have absolutely no ties to your job performance whatsoever. Cry us a river.

Assembly Speaker Silver said, "As far as I know, the government workers have a contract that provides them with a raise."

Of course he did--it's not like an Assemblyman has to live in reality with the rest of us. A deal is a deal, right? Does it matter if the circumstances make it impossible to fulfill?

Finally, a smart move from this guy. In the middle of a crippling recession these idiots really think they deserve a RAISE? Now if only we can get the TWU on board with this. They don't need to be making 45 bucks an hour while fares increase.