Pawlenty wants furloughs for state workers

Gov. Tim Pawlenty wants state employees in Minnesota's largest unions to help save the state money by taking about a month of unpaid leave in each of the next two years.

[frontpagemag dot com]

Out of his theoretical musings Obama is imposing a failed ideological strategy upon an anxious and reeling nation. It should by this time be obvious that, for all his undeniable charm and apparent rhetorical facility, he is an unqualified rookie, a “leader” with no experience in governing, immature in his enthusiasms and prey to faddish socio-economic theories with a distinct leftist stamp that have never worked wherever they have been tried.

[PGF]

Actually, at this time not much is clear about President Obama and what effect his policies are having or will have. I say wait a couple of years. After all, Mr. Bush had eight years, so I think we can give President Obama a little more time.

[MooDog33]

Another example of why unions are a disaster. The CEO of the state has made a proposal/decision on cutting costs that retains jobs for his employees. But, that's not good enough. The employees say 'no'...and will probably win. Where is the money going to come from? We can't raise taxes...well, we could, but what is this, Canada?! You want that it's just a quick trip straight north (or jump over to Detroit and go south...one of my favorite little bits of trivia). Furloughs for everyone or complete job losses for some? Furloughs seem more equitable to me. My company called them 'forced vacations'...sure sounds better than 'furlough'. But, in the end its the same thing. We've squeeze all the water out of the rock.

[Jim]

. It is about time that government workers sacrifice a little, for the good of everyone. Many of these folks are members of the ( ULOA ) United Loafers of America. and thus will only be giving up some of their thumb twitiling time. I know these folks will tell you how hard they work and for less money than out in the private sector, but they have to do this, to maintain their membership in the B.S .Society of America. They are mostly underworked, over paid and have saddle sores from seating on the lunch break bench for to long. Now this is a good start but lets not stop here. Lets have the legislature limited to 60 days paid a year and prorate all their per diem accordingly. I also know that Governor Pawlenty needs more time recapturing his youth, so lets buy him a few hockey sticks and give him about 6 months off a year. I know they will scream, they have so much to do , but thats just much ado about nothing. Each day they are not at the capitol, is one that the rest of us can quit clutching our wallets, to stop paying more taxes and instead clutch a ice cream cone. Good licking!

[Jim]

PGF wrote:

Actually, at this time not much is clear about President Obama and what effect his policies are having or will have. I say wait a couple of years. After all, Mr. Bush had eight years, so I think we can give President Obama a little more time.

With your suggestion of waiting a couple years I would suggest everyone wait in the soupline, This Pres. and his administration are a disaster. If his policies don't make a 180 turn, we are headed for an inflationary depression and the destruction of the dollar. George Bush was not gods gift to America, but this administration has caused so much financial destruction in 90 days that it is now the OBAMA COLLAPSE. The next shoes to drop are the credit card collapse and the commercial real estate panic and collapse. Watch for major shopping center companies , like General Growth Properties, Macherich, Taubman, Simon and DDR to file Bankruptcy in the next 6 months, leading to the Major Insurance company failures, as in Met and PRU. Most of my liberal friends are parroting the "give him more time" phrase, but doing so will only let him hang all of us out to dry! I think thats exactly what this administration wants as an excuse to install their socialist agenda. Remember, they are already on record saying a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

[Sharon - Eagan]

Is the Governor going to take a furlough or a pay cut!

[Tired]

Jim, understand like any business we have our poor performers, and we have our good ones. Like the many who are with me in Moorehead right now and have been up all night working in emergency services. And I'm not even against the four weeks a year, but lets talk and look at options to equate to the same savings. Then again your in Florida, what would you know about Minnesota. People are willing to sacrifice but lets set some target goals instead of just dropping some big demand on the opposition.

[Government is the Problem]

This is a great idea. Obumbler keeps talking about "shared sacrifice" why shouldn't government employee's share some pain?

Instead, we are implementing the same policies that got us here, higher taxes. enough already.

[Just Glad]

I'm just glad that all the banks will understand this and suspend mortgage payments when the employees are on unpaid furlough! Just think! No debts to pay for two months over the next two months! Is this a great state or what?!?

[And Just Wondering]

I hope that before Governor Tim puts the Minnesota National Guard on unpaid furlough he stops to consider the amount of firepower they have. On the other hand it could be a lot of fun watching them lay seige to his office.

[white city girl]

I was a state employee for ten years and I agree with Jim. Most of my co workers were lazy slobs who came to work and did their church work or kids school fund raising or selling products from their side jobs. They always complained about being over worked-what a joke. I walked away a few years ago-could'nt stand the UNION bullshit-it just kept alot of lazy cry babies on the payroll. I'm glad the Gov. has finally figured it out. I worked at one of our MNSCU operations-a Technical Institute that was turned into a "College". AFSME employees have great insurance benny and nice wages but they will still cry and whine about not having enough...

[Some People Are So Naive]

I can't speak for many of the state agencies but putting Dept. of Revenue Employees on furloughs is idiotic. Where is additional revenue going to come from? Maybe we can all build pirate ships and steal boxes of tea from supply ships off the coasts of Somalia. Maybe that will help balance the budget, this proposal is in essence-RIDICULOUS!!!!

[Jim]

Tired wrote:

Jim, understand like any business we have our poor performers, and we have our good ones. Like the many who are with me in Moorehead right now and have been up all night working in emergency services. And I'm not even against the four weeks a year, but lets talk and look at options to equate to the same savings. Then again your in Florida, what would you know about Minnesota. People are willing to sacrifice but lets set some target goals instead of just dropping some big demand on the opposition.

Glad you asked about my Minnesota knowledge. Born, raised, and educated & live there. I leave for a couple months every winter to clear my head and get away from the winter winds, as I am over 3 score and ten , and retired. 4 weeks a year is a very specific target goal. Better for everyone to take a little cut than for the lowest seniority, and probably the lowest paid to be totally out of work. In fact I am for a progressive lay off system , similar to the state income tax tables. The more you make the higher % time off, without pay, you get! Progressiveness is a long time Minnesota trait. I certainly have sympathy for those fighting the Floods. I have been flooded out of my home on 3 occasions, at two different locations, twice in a no flood zone. It will take considerable time to recover. Glad you are able to help with the emergencies service. I have worked for years in some of the poorest countries of the world, at no pay to provide minimal health care to starving people. We all need to give somethin back to mankind!

[THE Radest Rethuglican]

Sharon - Eagan wrote:

Is the Governor going to take a furlough or a pay cut!

Good question. Pawlenty's really got some 'nads. How many days did he spend last year campaigning for Vice President and then McCain? Someone must know the answer to that question and it would be really interesting to know in light of his latest idea.

Timmy "Do as I say, not as I do" Pawlenty.

[ktsmom]

It is about time public employees joined the ranks of what has been going on in private industry for months now. I do not know a single person in private industry who has not been affected by either pay cuts, benefit cuts, layoff, or all of the above. Does anyone, anywhere, think they should be exempt? We all need to face reality here, and every little bit helps and adds up.

[Porkulus]

Pension gap divides public and private workers (2007 article but timely)



http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-02-2...

You can bet the politicians will be looking for ways to steal the 401k savings of the non-government retirees to fund the bloated benefits of the government retirees. The former group has nobody to defend them. The latter has politicians and unions feeding at the trough.

[Fidlft]

MooDog33 wrote:

Another example of why unions are a disaster. The CEO of the state has made a proposal/decision on cutting costs that retains jobs for his employees. But, that's not good enough. The employees say 'no'...and will probably win. Where is the money going to come from? We can't raise taxes...well, we could, but what is this, Canada?! You want that it's just a quick trip straight north (or jump over to Detroit and go south...one of my favorite little bits of trivia). Furloughs for everyone or complete job losses for some? Furloughs seem more equitable to me. My company called them 'forced vacations'...sure sounds better than 'furlough'. But, in the end its the same thing. We've squeeze all the water out of the rock.

Furlough. A great idea. But let's have everyone take one. Not just the two largest state employee unions. They would probably be happy to join in the line. Right after Pawlenty and all his staff, the Senators and Representatives and all their staff, etc. The big auto companies had the same idea and everyone was up in arms about how much the UAW were being paid. No one, apparently was up in arms about how much the head honchos were being paid --$10,000/hour. The biggest problem with unions is that they're not powerful enough!

[Bob the Bilderberg]

Maybe state employees could start paying $600/month health insurance premiums like the rest of us do. That would probably represent enough money to pay for a lot of jobs.

[Fact Check]

10 percent of employers have instituted involuntary UNPAID vacation and 11 percent have instituted voluntary ones. Many of the posters here want 100 percent of government employees to take involuntary unpaid vacations. How is that fair? Do you realize some of these government employees HAVE taken wage freezes and HAVE suffered lay-offs? Many of these folks are probation agents keeping track of sex offenders and other criminals, not to mention the obviously needd law enforcement and correctional employees. I believe if the governor would ask for voluntary UNPAID vacations or early retirement incentives that ther employers have offered, he would get the savings he is looking for.

[Jim]

I am not a state employee, never have been.

Great idea, lets drive down the wages of Americans more. This is a good example of the lunacy of the right wing -- we have a problem in this country -- no demand, far too much supply, so it is pure stupidity to drive demand down even more. Governor, you are a deliberate moron.