Comments on: Bloviating rather than budgeting

By: Sen Hollingsworth Summarizes Closing Session of Legislature – SRCAR

Sen Hollingsworth Summarizes Closing Session of Legislature – SRCAR — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 01:01:33 +0000

[…] To read entire article go here: http://www.calwatchdog.com/2010/09/01/bloviating-rather-than-budgeting/ […]

By: Milan Moravec

Milan Moravec — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:39:51 +0000

The myth that the workfoce carries about employee loyalty keeps employees from being employable. Read on! Businesses are into a phase of creative disassembly where reinvention and adjustments are constant. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are being shed by Lockheed Martin, Chevron, Sam’s Club, Wells Fargo Bank, HP, Starbucks etc. and the state, counties and cities. Even solid world class institutions like the University of California Berkeley under the leadership of Chancellor Birgeneau & Provost Breslauer are firing employees, staff, faculty and part-time lecturers through “Operational Excellence (OE) initiative”: last year 600 were fired, this year 300. Yet many employees, professionals and faculty cling to old assumptions about one of the most critical relationship of all: the implied, unwritten contract between employer and employee.
Until recently, loyalty was the cornerstone of that relationship. Employers promised work security and a steady progress up the hierarchy in return for employees fitting in, accepting lower wages, performing in prescribed ways and sticking around. Longevity was a sign of employer-employee relations; turnover was a sign of dysfunction. None of these assumptions apply today. Organizations can no longer guarantee work and careers, even if they want to. Senior managements paralyzed themselves with an attachment to “success brings success’ rather than “success brings failure’ and are now forced to break the implied contract with their employees – a contract nurtured by management that the future can be controlled.
Jettisoned employees are finding that their hard won knowledge, skills and capabilities earned while being loyal are no longer valuable in the employment market place.
What kind of a contract can employers and employees make with each other?
The central idea is both simple and powerful: the job or position is a shared situation. Employers and employees face market and financial conditions together, and the longevity of the partnership depends on how well the for-profit or not-for-profit continues to meet the needs of customers and constituencies. Neither employer nor employee has a future obligation to the other. Organizations train people. Employees develop the kind of security they really need – skills, knowledge and capabilities that enhance future employability. The partnership can be dissolved without either party considering the other a traitor.
Let there be light!

By: Tylerle13

Tylerle13 — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:35:01 +0000

HAHAHA

“The unions and legislature must not mingle.”

So you are basically calling for 95% of the political contributions to democratic candidates to be cut off?

Keeping the unions out of politics would be wonderful, because if they were not allowed to spend billions on buying politicians, they would have no need to steal “Supplemetal Dues” from their members. Most union members have no idea how much of their money is skimmed off the top of their checks by the unions and sent directly to campaign funds, most of which benefit candidates that the unions members would never dream of supporting if given the choice to choose where their money went. These unions have just turned into a laundering service for campaign contributions for corrupt politicians.

By: A State Employee

A State Employee — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:36:09 +0000

The private sector employee who is complaining about taking a pay cut also profited when times where good. Those with such volatility are often the ones who attain very high profits not seen in the public sector. State employees do not. That is part of the deal. No complaints on my end. Choosing a career is like choosing an investment option-some opt for volatility in exchange for a chance of making it big. Others, like myself, chose stability.

The Little Hoover Commission published a report stating my classification of employee was far underpaid as evidenced by vacancies and high turnover. This was before the furloughs. Address this matter and we might be headed in the right direction.

Currently, wages are often determined by union might and political clout, not experience, education and qualifications. This needs to be addressed. The current system forces unions to play “let’s make a deal” with the legislature, perpetuating government as usual. The unions and legislature must not mingle. The current budget fiasco is an example of a cascade of mistakes on the part of the Governor, legislature and unions. We all share the blame, myself included.

We should be able to do this drill like a well-oiled machine. We owe it to the public we serve. What is needed is a basic Government Quality Assurance Program (don’t laugh, I’m serious), complete with the implementation of corrective actions. Our government is making the same mistakes it has now made year after year. Totally unacceptable.

I never complained about the furloughs, but I am complaining about how this government operates in every other way. No hiring freeze until this week? This should have been the first option two years ago. Yes, such will result in compromising services-we must suck it up. We all must make do with less. We all are.

On a more positive note, we’ll get through this and we’ll be better as a result of it. This is still America after all.

By: DavidfromLosGatos

DavidfromLosGatos — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:58:48 +0000

No jobs have to be lost by cutting the budget. All public employees can collectively take the same percentage haircut. I make 40-50% less (as self employed person) in the present economy than I did three years ago. I don’t like it, but there is nothing I can do about it.

Public employees want to be immune to the economy. Rather than all take a haircut while providing to the public the same amount of service, they force layoffs of the junior (least paid) firemen, thereby reducing service and protecting the pensions of the senior guys. Pensions matter to the unions much more than public service (what’s that?) or the jobs of their junior colleagues. Or this furlough nonsense where, rather than take pay cut, they take unpaid days off, thereby insisting that somehow their actual labor deserves an unsustainable value.

Watch Greece and see our future.