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GOP vilifies workers who serve the public

FR7 Baptist

Active Member
Government workers are the latest victims of a GOP smear campaign. Right-wing strategists have revived the tactic of false accusation in a vain attempt to keep voters from noticing that the policies of the current batch of Republican candidates mirror those of the batch who laid waste to our economy.

From Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass, to Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, Republicans are lying about government workers’ wages and work habits in an attempt to convince voters that the source of the country’s economic woes is public sectors workers – the very people who investigate child abuse, monitor nursing homes, enforce workplace health and safety, repair roads, protect our water and air, teach our kids, maintain our parks, clean our schools, and mail Grandma’s social security check.

The United Steelworkers union represents 26,000 public sector workers, ranging from lawyers who serve as public defenders to workers who ensure sewerage treatment plants don’t pollute. The union will not tolerate the GOP’s baseless attacks on our members. USW members who work in service to the public will discuss additional responses during the USW Public Sector
Conference Oct. 21 through 23 at the Pittsburgh Hilton Hotel.

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Don

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Where are the actual quotes from the Republicans that show they're lying?
 

billwald

New Member
It was easy for our owners to cut the wages for the construction and other trades by manipulating the housing market but federal wages are set by congress. They are hoping that the people they already screwed will force congress to screw the rest of the country. Then life among their serfs will be "fair."
 

ccrobinson

Active Member
The article is short on quotes from Republicans as the author provided exactly 0. Do you have any quotes from Republicans on this issue, or are we supposed to just accept this as true because it was posted on the Internet?
 

billwald

New Member
>From Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass, to Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, Republicans are lying about government workers’ wages and work habits in an attempt to convince voters that the source of the country’s economic woes is public sectors workers

Well, If not Republicans, who convinced you all?
 

billreber

New Member
I cannot speak about the sources of much of this rhetoric. I CAN speak about my personal experiences:

1. In the mid-1970s, I knew some Federal civil service employees who spent more time goofing off than doing their job. In fact, I helped "catch" them sabotaging something they were supposed to be repairing! The sabotage would have resulted in these "workers" being called in for overtime! They were able to keep their jobs because they were union workers.

2. I have seen the "pay scales" for federal civil service workers. The pay is ALWAYS higher than what would be paid to private workers. Why? The unions that most federal employees work for!

3. I served 20+ years in the USAF. When I retired, my monthly pay was reduces to about one-third of my active-duty pay, even though it was advertised as being 50% of my base pay. Did you pick up on that? My "base pay" was about two-thirds of my total pay. Military members cannot form unions.

4. Since I retired from the USAF, I have held four private and one public jobs. None of the private jobs paid anything close to what the public one did! In fact, when that temporary job ended, I drew unemployment benefits at a dollar amount nearly a dollar HIGHER than the state minimum wage! (In Washington, the unemployment benefits are paid at about 75% of wages earned. This means that my temporary public job wage was nearly twice the minimum wage.)

5. One of my jobs was a union job. The local union president was getting paid 5 times what me and my co-workers were getting. When we finally "threw out the bums", we got better benefits and better pay raises than what the union had negotiated!

Could it be that it is not "public workers", but "unions" that have helped cause our economic problems? As well as "pork" projects in all states.

Or maybe we should all just look in the mirror to see part of the cause!

Bill :godisgood:
 

billreber

New Member
Just another short comment. The 2010 Federal base pay scales referred to by HankD shows that General Service (GS) Grade 1 Step 1 (the lowest pay bracket, for zero experience) gets $17803 per year. Divide that by 2080 work hours per year. You will get hourly pay of $8.56 per hour. The page also says ALL locations get an adjustment of 14.16% (or more based on location). That raises the GS-1 Step 1 amount to $9.77 per hour! My current job (in which I have 10 years experience!) pays $11.96 per hour. My newest co-worker makes about $9 per hour! State minimum wage is $8.55 per hour. Then you can add in about 50% for benefits (yes, even to private jobs)!

Sounds like overpayment to me!

Bill :godisgood:
 

J.D.

Active Member
Site Supporter
Statistics say what you want them to say. I read something that said the average government employee salaries is $147K+. I don't know how they came up with that but it's preposterous.

Federal Employees do not make the kind of salaries being touted in the media. I know I am one. Even as a GS 11 my pay is less than half of what's been stated as "average". Only base commander-level employees make over 100K. Most employees make less than 60K. Startig pay is far less, about 38K.

There are employees that get by with minimal effort. It used to be worse than it is now. All but one of my workers put in a good days' work. The one foot-dragger can't be fired but she never has and never will be promoted. We have to put up with her until she retires, that's just the way it is.

Military pay is much better than federal civil service especially when the tax advantage is calucated in. It's not even close. Any Air Reserve Technician that recieves full-time federal civil service pay and part-time military pay will tell you that they would trade their civil service pay for military pay in a minute.

If there's a lot of money to be made in fed civil service, it is in Washington DC, where salaries over 100K are the norm. But who wants to live in DC?
 

J.D.

Active Member
Site Supporter
Just another short comment. The 2010 Federal base pay scales referred to by HankD shows that General Service (GS) Grade 1 Step 1 (the lowest pay bracket, for zero experience) gets $17803 per year. Divide that by 2080 work hours per year. You will get hourly pay of $8.56 per hour. The page also says ALL locations get an adjustment of 14.16% (or more based on location). That raises the GS-1 Step 1 amount to $9.77 per hour! My current job (in which I have 10 years experience!) pays $11.96 per hour. My newest co-worker makes about $9 per hour! State minimum wage is $8.55 per hour. Then you can add in about 50% for benefits (yes, even to private jobs)!

Sounds like overpayment to me!

Bill :godisgood:
Bill, I don't know where you are living but it sounds like my home area. In south Alabama/northwest Florida the only people that make a decent paycheck are either state or federal workers. In New Jersey however civil service pay is considered to be less than average.
 
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