From
Susan Kniep, President
The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations,
Inc. (FCTO)
(860) 841-8032
fctopresident@ctact.org or fctopresident@aol.com
Website: ctact.org
February 6, 2005
The following Op Ed, written by Susan Kniep,
President of FCTO, appeared in the Waterbury Republican
today.
TOUGH CHOICES ON LABOR COSTS
AWAIT
BUDGET MAKERS
Governor Rell and
Legislators Must Fix the Widening Divide
They Have Created Between "At-Will"
Private-Sector Employees
and Government -Sector
Union Employees
With Budget Season upon us and taxpayers facing a $1.3
billion State budget deficit,
Governor Rell and all State legislators
would be wise to freeze the salaries of all state employees, to include their
own. They should also extend the legal
authority to freeze salaries to municipal leaders, while instituting changes to
the state’s Binding Arbitration laws.
Understanding that leadership must come from the top,
Governor Rell, in her continued effort to bring
Connecticut out from under the cloud of corruption, should concurrently dismiss
many Rowland political appointees making unjustifiable salaries who will soon
be ready to retire at the taxpayer’s expense.
Next, Governor Rell would do
well to purge the State’s quasi-public agencies of appointees who are managing
these agencies as political fiefdoms. CRRA’s loss of $220 million is history. What’s new is the revelation of the Lottery
Corp’s double-digit "incentive payments" totaling $160,926 to 17
lottery officials.
This should then be followed by Governor Rell’s termination of gubernatorial appointees to the MDC Commission who supported
William DiBella’s hand picked political operative to
a $110,000 MDC job without posting the job, while creating for his friend an
assistant position at over $70,000. The
Governor and all State elected officials should
join former Democrat State Chairman George Jepsen’s
call for DiBella to step down from his position as
Chairman of the MDC to avoid, as Jepsen stated, “the appearance of impropriety, after
allegations by federal authorities that he accepted nearly $375,000 in a deal
involving now imprisoned former Treasurer Paul Sylvester.”
And, finally, Governor Rell and
all State legislators must fix the widening divide they have created between
“at-will” private sector employees and government sector union employees. We have a two tiered employment system in Connecticut
between the haves and have nots. Government sector unions who have the elected
officials wrapped around their finger, and as such, they refuse to change state
Binding Arbitration laws
versus “at-will” employees who are trying to pry the fingers of
their elected officials from their wallets as more of their tax dollars are
channeled to fund union contracts, which account for 70% to 90% of local
budgets.
The majority of Connecticut residents work in the private
sector under “at-will” conditions wherein they can be terminated at any time,
for any legal reason, or for no reason at all by their employer. They work in a state of flux knowing that
their employer on any given day can demand that they pay a greater share of
their health care premium, take on a greater workload, receive a minimal salary
increase, no salary increase or have their pay cut. There will be no debate, no bargaining, no
arbitration, and no elected official waiting to defend them. The words “out-sourcing” and “visas” have
become a part of the Connecticut worker’s vocabulary as the agenda of many
corporations is to put their stock at the top of the portfolios of Wall Street
analysts.
The “at-will” employee is an unprotected class. They are losing their jobs, their homes and
their health insurance. They are being
forced into jobs which are below their educational and skill levels and at
salaries which are a fraction of what their previous jobs paid.
Yet, the American dream is alive and well for those whom
the “at-will” employee is forced by elected government officials to financially
support. They are the state and
municipal government workers. In contrast
to the “at–will” employee, government workers don’t have to accept what their
employer tells them. Taxpayers are their
employer. Whether it is working
conditions or salary, healthcare or pension issues they exercise their State
given right to force negotiations and push their agendas, behind closed doors,
under state Binding Arbitration laws, which leave taxpayers powerless. Unions vote to accept or reject their
contracts. Taxpayers do not. Instead, taxpayers are simply presented with
the bill for these lucrative union contracts, through their property
taxes.
State elected officials like Edith Prague, Chairperson of
the State’s Labor Committee, and her Democrat colleagues, work to protect the
interests of government employees to the
detriment of “at-will” private sector employees. She opposes any changes to State Binding
Arbitration Laws. She refuses to support
proposed changes being brought before the full General Assembly.
Throughout the 169 Connecticut towns, 70% to 90% of
municipal budgets pay for salaries, health care and pensions of municipal
employees. In
several Connecticut towns, pensions for personnel are determined by what they
earned in three of their final five years on the job, with overtime factored
in. In Hartford, a wage earner took
home $131,706.46, or $71,533.14 more than his base
salary. In East Hartford, police can
elected a program which will allow them to work 5 years prior to full
retirement. While collecting their pay,
96% of their pension is deposited into a savings account up to 5 years. With pensions at $50,000 and greater, they can
leave the town with $250,000 and more if they elect this program, and then
begin collecting their full pension.
The Wall Street Journal on January 13 in their article
“No Teacher Left Behind”
labeled the Teachers Union as the most powerful in the country
contending they promote their own interests to the detriment of public school
systems.” Yet, our State and local
elected officials continue to oppose any form of competition in education to
include vouchers.
Volunteerism, once a noble cause, has been trampled on by
union leadership, whose power is
cemented in State law. Firefighters
working in towns and cities throughout the State were forced to incorporate a
provision in their labor contracts which prohibited them from volunteering for
fire fighter duties in the towns in which they lived.
State taxpayers pay approximately $300 million for State
employee healthcare and $155 million for State retiree healthcare. Some state and local retirees pay little to
nothing. Locally, property taxes are
increasing to pay the
85% to 95% of healthcare premiums for municipal employees. This equates to taxpayers paying between $12,750 to $14,250 for each union member’s family
healthcare policy . But that wasn’t
enough for the unions. They wanted more
and went to court to get it. They sued
the taxpayers to take possession of the $100 million in stock received by the
State from the Anthem demutualization, as well as the Anthem stock distributed
to individual towns. Many “at-will”
workers in Connecticut who pay taxes have no health insurance.
In summary, the increasing divide between “at-will”
employees in the private sector versus government sector unions must be
immediately addressed through changes to State Binding Arbitration Laws. The cost of union contracts has helped Connecticut to attain
our status as the highest taxed state per capita in the nation, with the
highest bonded debt. Out debt is $12.4
billion, which taxpayers pay $1.3 million in interest annually.
State costs can be brought under control. If our elected officials don’t have the
wisdom or courage to do so, then we, the taxpayers, are at fault for electing
them.