Posted on 12/21/2010 8:17:23 AM PST by WOBBLY BOB
Governor Pawlenty ignited a firestorm of public employee outrage and indignation this week when he rightly called them out for their oversized paychecks and gold-plated benefits.
So what's the truth regarding AFSCME employees? What kind of pay and benefits do they get? Should they indeed be exempt from furloughs?
(Excerpt) Read more at anokacountywatchdog.com ...
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/111819879.html
This is also the case in New jersey where I live(until I can convince my spouse that we must leave ASAP)!!!!
To begin, it is true that AFSCME employees are among the lowest-paid in
state government. There are many thousands of state employees who make more. For our case study, it thus more than fair to examine the compensation of a senior AFSCME employee.
Our hypothetical employee is Tom. Tom is a senior AFSCME employee who lives in Owatonna and works at a state facility in the south Metro. Tom works full-time for a Minnesota state agency. Tom has two children and a wife who stays at home with no outside employment.
Tom’s contract may be found here.
PAY
Tom is in the Craft, Maintenance and Labor unit and receives pay of $27.52 per hour, or $57, 462 annually. By comparison, per capita income in Minnesota is $29,027,just about half of what Tom earns.
The federal poverty threshold for a family of 4 in Minnesota is $21,200. In short, Tom’s family lives a comfortable, if modest, lifestyle on his income alone.
HOLIDAYS
According to Tom’s collective bargaining agreement, he gets 10 paid
holidays:
Independence Day
Labor Day
Veterans Day
Thanksgiving Day
The Day After Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Day
New Year’s Day
Martin Luther King Day
President’s Day
Memorial Day
VACATION
As a senior employee, Tom earns 9 hours of vacation per payroll period.
Given that the state operates on a bi-monthly pay roll period, there are approximately 26 payroll periods in a year. Hence, Tom accrues 234 hours of paid vacation each year, which equates to over 29 workdays in a year.
SICK LEAVE
The contract allows for the accrual of 4 hours of sick leave per payroll period, which is 104 hours or 13 days per year. In total, if Tom were to take advantage of every hour of vacation and sick leave in a year, plus the paid holidays, he would be paid for 52 days of work where he didn’t have to show up. There are 2080 hours in a standard work year. Tom’s 418 hours of paid time off are equal to
about 20% of his work year.
HEALTH CARE
Among a menu of health care options, Tom has selected the “Advantage”
program from Blue Cross to cover himself and his family.
For purposes of illustration, let’s assume for just a moment that Tom is single. If Tom were single, he would pay zero out of pocket for premiums, while the state would pay monthly premiums of $447.28 on his behalf.
To cover his family, Tom pays $130.20 in monthly premiums, while the
employer share of his monthly premium is $1315.34.
RETIREMENT
As a government union member, Tom receives a “defined benefit” retirement from the state. By contrast, most private sector workers receive a “defined contribution” retirement.
A “defined benefit” plan gives Tom a guaranteed retirement benefit based on a mathematical formula. This benefit is primarily provided and guaranteed by the state as a fringe employment benefit, although Tom is required to contribute a small part of his pay each month to his retirement account.
A “defined contribution” retirement plan provides benefits based solely upon what an employee contributes to the plan. If the employee is lucky, his employer will match a certain percentage of what the worker invests.
Since Tom is a senior state employee who was hired in 1980, he may be
eligible to retire at any age, as long as he has at least 30 years of eligible employment. For many state employees, full retirement eligibility starts at age 65, with at least three years of state service. However, some state employees hired prior to
July 1, 1989, are eligible for full retirement with 30-years of service, regardless of age. Here, there is a similarity with the private sector, where General Motors has a similar retirement plan.
In sum, AFSME employee Tom has an annual salary of over $57,000, paid time off in the neighborhood of 378 hours, a defined-benefit retirement package, and monthly health care premiums of $130 per month.
DO YOU think Tom is fairly compensated? Should he be spared a furlough?
Tom should have his “contract” terminated and be offered something more inline with what someone with his talent and experience would be offered in the private sector. If he does not like it, There is 16 weeks of unemployment with his name on it.
And I would GLADLY tax his job at half what he’s getting.
You forgot to mention that Tom probably only puts 3-4 hours a day into any kind of actual work.
You’re missing that we have Mark Dayton (”Senator ‘F’ “)
for guv, not Chris Christie.
Years ago the MN road workers wanted an epidemiologist to study their workers as they were certain working outside repairing roads required more medical compensation. Well, the lady who crunched the numbers found that because the workers were outside in all sorts of weather, did heavy lifting, and got relatively fresh air tended to be much healthier than the regular MN resident. The union and governmental leaders were pissed and dismissed the study.
Sounds like a “rich” guy to me. I think the democrats should tax the living crap out of him. It would only be “fair” considering he makes over 2 times the average there, right?
Didn’t say it would happen. Just that it should.
Tom and those like him could take a 10% cut ;and those in government getting even more ought to be cut more!
Depending on the nature of Tom’s job duties, it would seem he is somewhat overpaid. When you roll in the benefits, there is no question. Either lower his pay or reduce his overall compensation. Whatever it is he’s doing, I can’t afford it.
Thanks for posting and I encourage all to post these stories about public employee salaries and benefits.
Until public employee salaries and benefits becomes the squeaky wheel, nothing will be done to curtail it.
On a related issue I was driving in our town this morning and saw a fancy pedestrian crosswalk that had a faux-brick paint job in lieu of the much cheaper white stripe.
As the intersection is also a US highway I am not sure who gave the ok for this expensive paint job. I could have been the Feds, the State, the County, or the City. But whoever the bureaucrat was-—we, the taxpayers, are paying for it.
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