Last week, public employees in the State of Wisconsin received their first paychecks where additional funds were taken out to pay for health and retirement benefits. A good friend and classmate of mine is a state employee, as is her husband. Below is her story. Sally (the names have been changed to protect the innocent) is a wonderful writer—we are both in the same writing/communications program at the University of Wisconsin. Her words will tell this story and I will leave some commentary to frame the issues.
This week I got a pay cut for doing a good job. I am one of the thousands of state employees who have been affected by Governor Walker’s budget bill. I know that state workers have a better situation than many others out there, and I know I am fortunate, but it still feels like I’m being punished for a crime I didn’t commit. My husband works at the same organization, so we’re both getting hit.
Between the two of us, we will be taking home $500 less a month. That’s Five. Hundred. Dollars. What would happen to your family if you took home $6,000 less a year?
How many of us could absorb a $500 a month pay cut? I know I could not.
Because of this pay cut, everyday living will erode our rainy day fund. We’re already frugal. We already don’t vacation. We already aren’t able to afford repairs and maintenance for our home. We take home-packed lunches, ride share, and rarely eat out. We don’t even have cable. If we weren’t already always careful...if we had kids...if we were to have one big emergency...we’d be cooked.
I wonder how many people this moves to the one paycheck from disaster category. People who never thought they would be in this position.
I work in my organization as a department associate. Basically, that means I have all the responsibilities of running the department office without a fancy title or decent salary. I’ve been working in this job for a little over two years, but have worked for this organization for four years. I spend my days solving people’s problems, dealing with everything from life-threatening medical emergencies to requests for office supplies. Last year I only supported one person, but my boss retired, and the duties were split between three people, Now I have triple the number of people who I directly support—along with any request, question or emergency that walks through my door.
This happens in both the private sector and the public sector these days. Job responsibilities increase—yet pay stays the same or, in the case of Wisconsin workers, decreases.
My bachelor’s degree is in communication. I worked as a marketing professional for fifteen years before being laid off. I took the state job exam and landed a permanent position after working six months as a limited term employee (temp). Because of my experience, 30% of my job duties entail communication tasks. I am halfway through a master’s degree in communication. It is not unusual for people in a similar level position to have advanced degrees—and still be working an office job. It’s a classic case of being over-educated and underemployed. Taking a lower wage was worth it because the benefits made up for the lack of pay. Not anymore.
This is the case of many people in public service. They were willing to take lower pay for better benefits and to have the ability to help people in our state by providing essential services.
I belong to the support staff union (WSEU) which is a part of AFSCME.
I grew up in a union household. My dad helped form a union at a company where he was laid off—because he was promoted to management and wasn’t covered by the union. My mom was the union steward for her organization for many years. She fought tooth and nail for people to be treated decently and to earn a fair wage. When people are stripped of more than 10% of their take home pay in one fell swoop, it makes it seem as if my parents fought for nothing.
According to the Census Bureau, there are 56,957 state and local workers in Wisconsin. We’re looking at more than $20,000,000 in disposable income vanishing all at once. Taking that much spending power away is going to hurt every single community around the state. It might look like savings, but it’s just making every business in every town take a hit and vilifying state workers in the process.
Emphasis mine. The point Sally makes in her last paragraph is an important one that shows how shortsighted Scott Walker's austerity measures really are. You cannot take $20,000,000 out of the economy and expect lollipops, sugar plums and rainbow fairies to boost spending. This will have a detrimental impact on Wisconsin's economy.
I have very little hope for the state system. I am already looking for other jobs out in the corporate world where I can get paid twice as much as I do in my present job. With as little incentive as state jobs now provide, all of us overeducated underemployed people are going to be back out on the market. And we’re going to have the competitive edge.
I admire Sally's optimism; however, with the unemployment rate being what it is I do not know how successful she will be in moving back into the private sector with the job market being in shambles and now with even more consumer demand being taken out of the mix due to government austerity measures.
I close with this: Ask yourself, what would you do if you had your income cut by $500 a month?
