The power struggle in CALIFORNIA - Arnold versus public workers

[Judi Lynn]

Article Last Updated: 06/12/2005 09:10:24 AM

The power struggle in CALIFORNIA - Arnold versus public workers

AMERICA has a problem with its public employees. They are not downwardly mobile enough.
Policemen, firefighters, teachers, hospital nurses — they still belong to the one part of the U.S. economy where the New Deal hasn't been repealed. Fully 90 percent of them have defined-benefit pensions as of old. In the private sector, just 60 percent of employees have retirement plans, and a scant 24 percent still cling to defined-benefit plans. Fully 86 percent of public employees are covered by on-the-job health insurance; in the private sector, the rate has fallen to 66 percent.

According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, public employees make on average $49,275 a year. A sub-princely sum, that, but better than the $34,461 that is the average annual income of private-sector workers.

There are a number of reasons public employees have been able to preserve the kinds of benefits and, in some instances, living standards that were once more common to American workers generally, but chief among these is unions. While 37 percent of public-sector workers are unionized, just 8 percent of private-sector workers are. Through their power at the ballot box, public employees have maintained the ability to bargain with their employers, who are either elected officials or their appointees.

But are decent living standards in one sector sustainable when they're dependent on the taxes of an increasingly beleaguered private sector? More and more, conservative political strategists see an opportunity to weaken the Democrats — traditionally the beneficiaries of public-employee union support — by pitting private-sector voters against public-sector ones. That certainly was Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's goal earlier this year when he backed an initiative that would have terminated the defined-benefit pensions for California's state and municipal employees and shifted them to 401(k)s instead.
(snip/...)

http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/oped/ci_2798123

[catzies]

1. Divide and conquer, us vs. them, pit folks against one another. Rovian!

Gov. Groper learns well from those who put him there. And he's trying to pay them back, but California's onto him.

[DK666]

2. Ronald Regan Wanna Be !

RR did the same thing to the Air Controllers and that event started the death spiral of unions. I am a Public Employee in CA and my retirement and benefits are in jepoardy.

[cyclezealot]

3. Does the general public hate policemen, nurses, fireman

all that much..? Like to see it if Police officiers become more demoralized and the jobs attract lower quality applicants.
30 years of service in high risk jobs and nothing to show for it..Gratitude for saving people's lives...
I know of few 401 k holders who think their funds will get them through retirement..

[earth mom]

7. No-I'm rooting for em all!

I'm a big believer in Unions and I have never understood the backlash against them. How can people be against something that is helping other people fight against businesses and institutions that will EXPLOIT them if they can?! My DH has been a union worker for half of his working life, and while some of the unions have not been as strong as he'd like, for the most part it's been a positive experience for him. All people in all jobs should have this kind of protection. Especially since the government, who through their alliance with big business, has, for all intents and purposes, stabbed the majority of workers in this country in the back and allowed them to be exploited! :grr:

[cyclezealot]

9. I agree...

all union workers should have these benefits/protections..taking them away from police/fire,etc is not a good omen for the rest of the working population...In fact, it guarantees that there is no hope for the rest of the population.I fear jealousy is a big motivator to all our own self-destruction.

[earth mom]

10. You hit the nail on the head...Jealousy-Envy

I swear, I've been thinking more and more that this is huge factor in regards to what motivates rethugs to squash other people. They absolutely can't stand other people having what they don't have. Even if a person was living in a cardboard box and now qualifies for section 8 housing-they are insanely jealous! :eyes:

[cyclezealot]

12. but that jealousy only digs their own grave.

[earth mom]

13. So true, because they are NEVER happy.

[Rose Siding]

4. This is part of Arnold's leaked "phenomenon of anger" strategy

snip>
In the latest such call, a few days ago, Schwarzenegger's media expert, Don Sipple, outlined a strategy "based on a lot of polling" to create a "phenomenon of anger" among voters toward public employee unions. Firefighters, police officers, teachers and other state-paid workers have become the governor's harshest critics this year.

"The process is like peeling an onion," Sipple said, describing a multi-step plan for persuading voters that public-worker unions are "motivated by economic self-interest" instead of "doing the best job for the state."
...
Sipple's comments about unions came after a representative of Wells Fargo suggested that the governor sharpen his message to focus on public employees rather than privateindustry labor groups. The banking giant donated $100,000 last year to Schwarzenegger's efforts to overhaul workers' compensation through an initiative that never made the ballot.....

{Sipple} also said: "When you get to the point of … 'These people are on your payroll and they are out to roll you every day,' that creates a kind of phenomenon of anger. But it takes a long time to get there…. As the campaign goes on, we have to articulate that."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-donors5jun05,0,7671231.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[cap]

6. so people are going to be angry with the local cops, firemen,

nurses and teachers of their kids.

Create anger where no anger exists...

[Yupster]

5. My one suggested change

would be to bring all workers back into social security.

I realize that would hurt teachers in 12 states, but I can't see how you can have a universal program and then excempt certain workers from it.

Just that one minor change would ease quite a bit of the burden off of the social security system.

I would at least want all workers to contribute to the survivors benefits and disability benefits parts in social security.

That seems just wrong to say that we should all help kids whose parents die -- well not all of us -- those workers over there don't have to help. The rest of us will.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Hey arnie

remember yuor protection detail comes from the CHP... maybe they should not show to work to show their anger at you ASSHAT

[4_Legs_Good]

11. It's fun to watch him burn!

So many delusions of so many right-wing whack jobs are going to have to melt away with this one.

I ultimately feel sorry for the rest of the country, though! For the past year (and the next 2) we've been sheltering the entire country from this imbicille, but come 2006, you guys are going to have to suffer more Arnold movies.

Poor you!

david