Public workers pay taxes and into their retirement plans and for their health insurance premiums.

[Skidmore]

I'm sick of hearing how public workers are just leeches. Public workers also go with out cost of living raises when times are rough and take furlough days. Don't stand and scream unfair if you are unwilling to hand your financial wellbeing and workplace safety over to a greedy employer in the private sector. It is the unions in the public sector that have helped to hang on to the shreds of workers' rights that still exist.

[Shagbark Hickory]

1. If you're sick of hearing it then you need to turn off the fox/msnbc (they're just as bad) and not

listen to nutbagger radio.

[senseandsensibility]

3. It's not only on those places.

It's even here on DU.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. +1

Way too often here on DU.

[Shagbark Hickory]

15. Well anyone who says that stuff on here needs to be banned.

Simple as that. Differing viewpoints are fine once in a while but that's just nonsense talk if someone is suggesting that said benefits are too generous.

[IndyJones]

29. So you don't believe in free speech? Or only if you agree with what is being said?

I'm not saying that collective bargaining rights should be stripped at all. I disagree with your sentiment that if someone disagrees with your perspective that they should be banned. That's ridiculous.

[Shagbark Hickory]

30. I believe in free speech. I also believe in the rules of DU.

Specifically, I'm referring to Rule #2.

[Skidmore]

5. Ever listen to the wording of some of the articles on local news

in some areas? This is a perception that many people have long before these labor controversies.

[Shagbark Hickory]

13. No! That's what I'm tellin' ya.

Quitting watching local news was one of the better decisions I've made in my life. I find myself not know what the weather's going to be like but the plus side is I don't get my daily dose of corporatist propaganda.

[CreekDog]

23. don't forget DU

sadly.

[Shagbark Hickory]

31. If people are saying RW things on here then it's time for a cleanup operation.

DU rule #2.

[speltwon]

2. Not all do. I don't. My employer pays 100% of my health insurance premium

And I am not complaining. I am a proud union member, and I am treated pretty well. That's not a bad thing. I won't apologize for it.

[Skidmore]

4. This is true for some public employees but not for all.

Where it is, that is cool.

[speltwon]

7. I agree. It just sounded like a blanket statement in the OP

The reality is that there is a pretty fair amount of disparity in public worker compensation nationwide. Some IS pretty good. That's nothing to apologize for. Some is mediocre, and some sucks. WI, where they are trying to abolish collective bargaining has a FULLY funded retirement system. It's not in jeopardy. My state, WA is doing very well too. Fully funded.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. I am a public employee and my employer pays my premiums BUT

we have shit coverage with high office visit fees and our prescriptions are ridiculously expensive.

[speltwon]

20. The scripts are pretty reasonable

12-17 for three month supply depending on drug. Deductibles are 10% but there is max payout of $500 per person, then it's 100% coverage so no more fees. It's a pretty good plan. Much better than our last one.

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. $80 a month for three meds

$40 co-pay for an office visit, $100 a day for hospital stay, $500 for an ER visit.

[speltwon]

22. That's insane

$50 for ER visit - refunded if they admit you. Office visit is the 10% copay, so if $150 office visit, would be $15, but again the MAX you can pay out TOTAL is $500 in a year. Hospital stay is the same way. 10% of all procedures, etc. but once the $500 for the year is met, it's zero. I had gallbladder surgery - cost me zero (because I had met the $500 a month earlier).

[sufrommich]

25. Mine was a 2 prong system (I'm retired now) when I first started

with the(Michigan) schools (in 1978),pension was completely covered, we didn't pay into it. As time went on they offered us a pension that we could buy into which offered a 3% raise in pension every year (on your base salary) and you were vested at ten years or we could keep our old pension plan. I couldn't afford the new pension plan and kept the old one. All employees after a certain date had to take the new pension plan and as older employees retire,the unpaid pension plan will have less and less workers grandfathered in. I doubt unpaid pensions even exist in most state employer packages now and if they do, they are grandfathered in for older workers like myself.
As far as health benefits, they have been going up in cost out of pocket for years,although they're still way ahead of private companies.

[speltwon]

26. There are some serious f'ed up plans

in terms of the level of funding they have. In our employee newsletter they mentioned that some are funded as low as 40 or 50% lol. Ours is over 100%.

[senseandsensibility]

6. I'm a teacher

I pay six percent of my salary to retirement and twenty percent of my healthcare costs.

[Hannah Bell]

9. that is part of your compensation. your employer doesn't pay it, you do. it's deferred wages.

check out your contract. it's in there.

[speltwon]

10. I don't concede that

because it makes it easier to justify taxing it ! :)

[Hannah Bell]

27. no worries. the employers get a tax break, but you don't get taxed.

[speltwon]

28. For now. But there HAS been talk of taxing

these benefits we get.

[tularetom]

8. As a public worker I went 4 years without a COLA in the early 80's

But you know what? Most of us were damn glad to have a job and good health and retirement plans.

The question really is, how much value do Americans place on their public services? Whether compensation is made in the form of salaries or benefits or a combination of the two, we'll get the type of government we're willing to pay for.

[BeFree]

18. That's it, sort of...

..the anti-government people are just using this issue as a wedge to shrink government.

Who doesn't want to be paid more for their work?
It is not about being overpaid, it is about shrinking government.

While I believe government can't and shouldn't be everything to everybody, the good government does is worth paying for.

But these people that are fighting against fairly paid government employees are just using that facet of the government to turn everyone against all government.

[Drahthaardogs]

11. The REAL leeches are the folks that

want their snow plowed, their mail delivered, their children educated, their SS and Medicaid checks cut, their fuel piped, their food inspected, their sewage treated, their trash hauled, their wildlife managed, their public lands protected, and their loans insured, and feel that all of this should be provided to them for free. If you do not like providing services for free, do not expect public employees to do it either.

[Shagbark Hickory]

16. Amen to dat. Don't forget they also want their wars fought.

[Drahthaardogs]

17. Oh yeah,

and their reservoirs built, their bridges maintained, and their airports secured, and on and on and on. Who the fuck thinks that they get this shit for free? The egos of these people drive me insane. Even more special are the ones who say "well I CHOSE not to have kids so WHY should I have to pay for their education." Well my folks never lived to retirement, so why should they have had to pay social security? Fuck, if we are gonna play that game, I want my damned check back! This I AM AN ISLAND philosophy is pure stupidity. I suppose it would be okay if a person were truly self sufficient, but EVERYONE has their hand in the cookie jar. YOU DON'T CUSS A FARMER WITH A MOUTHFUL OF FOOD!

[Shagbark Hickory]

19. They also want their danged fences built! Can't forget that one n/t

[Foo Fighter]

24. "I'm sick of hearing how public workers are just leeches."

No shit. For some reason, people seem to think that public workers don't actually WORK for their money. (Gee, could the M$M have anything to do with this?) They think they're just a bunch of lazy bums that are "on the dole." Public workers go to work every day and earn their wages just like anyone else does. The only difference is who they work for. I am damn grateful that, for instance, people are willing to drive a bus so I can hop on and ride to work instead of having to drive. I'm glad the snowplow drivers are willing to get out there under the worst conditions and plow the roads so I can get where I need to go. The same goes for the garbage men, people at the water works, etc. and all the others workers out there that do their jobs day in and day out in the name of public service.

Think of what it would be like if they sacked every public worker and contracted the work out to private businesses instead. First off, it would be a lot more expensive or, if it cost the same (which is unlikely), we'd be getting a LOT less service for the same amount of money. You can pretty much count on the CEO skimming a percentage right off the top to put in his/her pocket. That's money that taxpayers paid out for which they would get nothing in return. And if you think cronyism is bad now, it would only get worse by leaps and bounds if all public jobs were privatized. Unfortunately, that does seem to be their ultimate goal.

BTW, shouldn't employees whose salaries are being paid 100% by a government contract for their company also be considered "public" employees since taxpayers are paying their salaries? How many people complain about those employees being "on the dole?" I'd be willing to bet that the same people that say that about public workers also think government contracts are GREAT. Especially if they're the ones that benefit from them.

[quaker bill]

32. According to the assessment I am sent annually,

All of it is part of my pay. When they compare me to the private sector, they include all of it for comparison. None of it is a gift, my paycheck is reduced for every last dollar of it.

[maryf]

33. K&R nt.