How the GOP sees public employees
State Representative Duey Strobel (R-Saukville) has
heard stories of how public employees, during their last three years prior to retirement, are boosting their pensions by working overtime or getting promoted to a higher paying job as their pension is determined by their average salary in their last three years of employment.
Whether this is true or not we may never know as Rep. Strobel has only heard stories about UW professors and how they have gotten high paying department chair positions just prior to retirement. Which actually makes sense if you think about it, a professor works hard has a long career which is capped off with that professor being a department chair. I guess Rep. Strobel wants freshly minted PhDs to hold department chairs.
There have been no studies, no research, and no facts to back up this bill in search of a problem. What Strobel's bill would do is to average out the last five years of an employee's pay instead of using (as is currently done) the last three years of an employee's pay to figure out that employee's pension payments.
Which means that someone who busted their butt for years as a teacher, professor, or other public servant and who applied for and got a higher paying job towards the end of their career and a few years before they retired would have their pension reduced by this bill—which is based on rumors. This may seem like a small bone to pick; however, it is another assault on the public servants of Wisconsin and without collective bargaining rights is something that the GOP can do over and over to chip away at public employee pay and benefits.
The GOPs new motto should be, "Facts? We don't need no stinking facts!"