Last week, I read something on Howard Dicus’ blog that really bothered me. So much, in fact, that I’m still thinking about it almost a week later. Howard is an entertaining journalist whom I respect and admire. I often learn a lot from his on-air reports on KGMB9 (some even via Skype!) and his blog. But this time, I absolutely have to disagree with something he said. What was so bothersome? From his post State workers get a taste of what the rest of us experience:
From a state worker: “Every time there’s a crisis we state employees take it in the shorts.” Wrong. Every time there’s a financial crisis, people talk about reopening state worker contracts, but nothing has happened before now, even though payroll is two thirds of all state spending. [Capsun's emphasis in bold]
I immediately recalled two measures instituted in the 1990s, during Gov. Ben Cayetano’s administration, which Howard may have missed because he didn’t permanently relocate to Hawaii yet. Please note, this is not meant to insult Howard Dicus, just to clarify something I think he missed. He remains a hero, inspiration, and on my Blogroll. First, there were actual layoffs of State employees. I know; some of my family friends lost their jobs. Our public library system (Hawaii State Public Library Sytem or HSPLS) has never recovered from those layoffs.
Second and far more long-lasting, is the paylag that sees State employees paid several weeks after they should have been paid. When I worked at a very large State agency, it took eight weeks – yes, 8 weeks – for me to receive my first paycheck. Try doing that in the private sector. You can’t! Why not? Because it’s illegal. I guess the only “nice” thing about this system is that when you leave State employment for a private sector job, you feel “rich” because you get paychecks from two sources – although this was money that was always owed to you anyway.
And now…
…the new buzzword for the month seems to be furloughs. As in the mandatory three-day furloughs ordered by Gov. Lingle of all State employees that she has purview over in light of the budget crisis. I believe this does not include UH, HHSC, Legislative, Judiciary, DOE, and OHA employees. That is roughly equal to a 15% paycut for affected employees. But wait, there’s more. Because Gov. Lingle refused to cover the increase in health insurance premiums, some employees may see their premiums increase by well over $100 per month. Paired with the furloughs, this results in closer to a 20% paycut, depending on the employee’s salary.
True, government service is more stable than the private sector, but there are trade-offs. It’s just the nature of things. In a recent training at work, a co-worker pointed out (and even Rep. Isaac Choy reiterates) in the private sector, you can do whatever the law does not prohibit, but in government, you can only do what the law allows. That’s a big difference and it can be frustrating for those with long private sector backgrounds to make the transition to Hawaii government service.
In government service, one can almost always expect to be used as the public’s punching bag (perhaps not directly, but definitely indirectly or by association). Where else can you be ridiculed and your every mistake on the front page of the newspaper? A small mistake or oversight by a government employee can lead to nasty public hearings.
And finally, as I Tweeted on Friday, for anyone who thinks government employees are lazy, perhaps you’ve never seen me at work. On Friday, I was at the office at 7 am (my usual start time), but I was there past 6 pm, doing work. I routinely work more than my 40 hour work week. I know this isn’t true of all State employees, but I hope my readers will share this with anyone who thinks ALL State employees are lazy. And I’m not the only one, my fiancee, the teacher, works even longer hours than me. After working 8-9 hours at school, she always brings home 2-3 hours of additional work to do at home. Weekends are even worse, she sometimes is busy all day on Sunday. And I know of many more like us.
So please think of us the next time you say every State employee is lazy and we should all be laid off.
Before you go thinking I’m against the furloughs, remember that I supported that idea back in January of this year. However, this doesn’t mean I’m not concerned about co-workers and fellow State employees who would find a 15-20% paycut an insurmountable burden at quite possibly the worse time.
It could be worse. We could be like California. They are expected to run out of money in just over a week.
Mahalo!
Please note: The views expressed here are mine and mine alone. While I am employed by and affiliated with organizations and individuals, permission has neither been asked nor granted to write on the topics discussed here.
[...] I don’t doubt Capsun works his tail off at his state government job.Thus in a way I can understand a lot where he is coming from. However on the flip side it is not [...]