Myth of the Overcompensated Public Employee

[SHRED]

Below are some links that I wanted to share:



Debunking the Myth of the Overcompensated Public Employee
http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/debunking_the_myth_of_the_overcompensated_public_employee

Traditional Defined Benefit Pension Plans: A Tried and True System That Benefits Taxpayers
http://www.ncpers.org/PromotingPensions/

In the Public Interest
Ensuring democratic control of public functions & understanding the risks of privatization
http://inthepublicinterest.org/


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[stray cat]

1. It is just that the rest of us would like a guaranteed pension instead of paying for someone elses

[county worker]

2. So since you don't have one, no one should? And that meme of you paying for it.

I pay into my pension too. If you were in a private company, and had one and I bought your product I would be paying for yours.

We public sector employees are performing services for you. Personally I provide administration for social programs. We do a very good job of staying within our budget. We have not cut services in two years yet we have not gotten a raise, we take unpaid furloughs and we are not filling vacancies.

You make it sound like the world is unfair to you but at one time most everyone had what we have. We did not lose our union or benefits like private companies did. Now the push is on to turn you against us rather than us all working together to bring back what all of us use to have. We need to fight together rather than against each other!

[SHRED]

4. Read the links I provided...

...then hopefully you will be more informed to not make such judgmentally ignorant statements.

OBTW:
I work in Public Works for a ctiy.
We contribute 4% of our pay into CalPERS (with more on the way).
No pay increases in 3 years.
No Social Security.
Unlike the private sector,,,no merit pay, no bonuses, and no stock options.
We have heavy equipment operators making less than half of prevailing wage earned in the private sector.
The tax payer is getting a good deal.


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[Omaha Steve]

3. I work at a waste water treatment plant

I'm a certified level II WWTO. Most people won't even come in the gate to my plant. It is an aging dirty place. I pay over 9% of my gross into my pension.

If the general public wants better pay and benefits, organize your workplace.

I've never complained about pay and benefits others get except CEO's BTW.

OS

[glitch]

5. THIS gets unrecked? Amazing. K & R

Most of us have known for years that public employees got lower salaries but were compensated by better benefits. What a dirty deal these rightwingers are trying to make by now stealing their pensions. Same deal as looting social security which we have been paying into for decades.

Fuckers, and that goes for the idiots who buy their propaganda as well. :thumbsdown:

[reggie the dog]

6. this myth is international

it exists in the uk and france too from what i have seen

the myth is hard to break, people have been unrecing this

[NobleCynic]

7. Not always a myth. Sometimes very true, sometimes very false

Here in Nevada, we have some of the most underpaid state workers in the country. Our state government is incredibly lean. If we cut anymore, we lose federal funding across the board lean. Our official welfare policy used to be buying the person a bus ticket to California lean (Not kidding). On the other hand, we have some of the most overpaid local government workers in the country. As an example, Clark County's firefighters were paid an average of $172,000 counting benefits last year (mostly through blatantly abusing overtime).

Ya gotta love small state politics... the firefighter's greed is causing major blowback and public employees across the state are going to get hit with collateral damage at the voting booth. The ridiculous thing is people are reacting to this by buying into Republican small government BS when they vote for state offices. But then again, very few people actually pay attention to local government races which is why this kind of firefighter nonsense was allowed to happen in the first place.

[Crazy Dave]

8. Public employees in my city make an average of $200 less per week...

...than employees who do the same work in the private sector. I know because I've worked for both.

They're taking a 3% pay cut this year with no raises the past four years and they will also have to start contributing to their healthcare plans very soon.

They've shut down two departments and outsource them now so no more job security and if not for this recession a lot of the current city employees would be quitting by the hundreds every week in our town.

[Nordmadr]

9. Spreading this info around. N/T