AFSCME challenges Chamber report on government employee compensation

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_4708

11 December 2010

SOUTH ST. PAUL - AFSCME Council 5 has responded to a Minnesota Chamber of Commerce report that attacks government employee compensation by challenging the Chamber to pay its fair share of taxes.

“Tax breaks for the rich are what’s really threatening the sustainability of public services,” said Eliot Seide, director of AFSCME Council 5, the state’s largest public employee union. “The chamber doesn’t want to pay its fair share of taxes and that’s why it’s trying to blame the deficit on public employees. We’re not the problem.

“Cheap-labor conservatives like to pit private workers against public workers. Their real agenda is strip the entire working class of wages, benefits and pensions. That way, rich employers can pocket more profits from our labor. Our union is trying to stop the chamber’s race to the bottom. We strive for a Minnesota where all labor is rewarded with wages that can raise a family, health care if people get sick, and a retirement that’s dignified.”

AFSCME raised several points that it said the Chamber ignores in its report:

• The wealth of Minnesota millionaires has doubled under the Pawlenty administration, as their state and local tax rate has decreased by 4 percent. Meanwhile, the wages of most public workers have been frozen.

• AFSCME members earn $38,000 a year, on average. They’re struggling paycheck to paycheck, just like average Minnesotans.

• Public workers in Minnesota earn 4 percent less than private-sector employees, when matched by education and experience. That’s because public workers have sacrificed wages for better benefits.

• Minnesota’s state workforce is the 10th leanest and one of the most productive in the nation. Minnesota has 71 public workers for every 10,000 residents, according to the U.S. census. – the same ratio as the state of Florida.

• If Gov. Pawlenty fired all state employees, the cost savings would erase only 21 percent of the state budget deficit.

• Minnesota Chamber president David Olson’s concern about public compensation is hypocritical. As a trustee of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, he paid bonuses totaling $415,875 to 33 top administrators who earn six-figure salaries. Phil Krinkie, president of the Taxpayers’ League, and Mike Veckich, chair of the Emmer recount team, are also MnSCU trustees appointed by Gov. Pawlenty.

• Public pensions are modest. The average AFSCME retiree has pension benefits of about $13,000 a year.

• Minnesota’s pension systems pay out more than $2.5 billion, add $3.3 billion to the state economy, and create 22,500 additional jobs.

• State and local taxes collected on public pensions exceed public employer pension contributions by $80 million a year.

• Ninety percent of retired public workers stay in Minnesota. That benefits the economy and keeps seniors self-sufficient.

• More than 20 percent of senior citizens are living in poverty with only Social Security.

• Minnesota taxpayers pay for only 15 cents of every dollar in public pension benefits.

• Most private pensions are 100% employer paid. AFSCME members pay for half of theirs.

AFSCME Council 5 is a union of 43,000 public and non-profit workers in Minnesota, including 20,000 state employees.

[Peregrine Took]

1. The government isn't such a great employer - the private sector is so bad.

Over the last 40 years the "g" has stayed the same in terms of benefits and salary but the private sector has tanked. Now the former looks good but only in respect to the latter.