119 Comments - frustrated GOP - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 6:03 am: First off I don’t think your assumption of private employers is completely accurate. Many large private employers are similar to how the State operated. But I think if the govt has an interest to keep people off the roads then it makes sense in not penalizing for not coming in. - Robert M Roman - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 6:12 am: It’s difficult to read Scott Reeder’s column and remain polite. First of all, not all private employers behaved the way Reeder imagines. Those employers who value their employees behaved much the way Illinois did. Just how many did this is an interesting question, but Reeder is setting up a false dichotomy to make an ideological point. Second, most public employees are not rolling in money. Reeder may think most public employees do next to nothing, but if that were the case, most public employees are being paid appropriately: next to nothing. If you’re getting paid less, you’re being robbed. - Lester Holt's Mustache - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 6:22 am: Horace Mann was also closed Wednesday. Perhaps in Mr. Reeder’s next column, he can offer his vaunted opinion of how insurance corporations don’t care about their stockholders, what with employees getting a free day off and all….. - bored now - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 6:30 am: we paid our employees when a hurricane warning made it stupid to expect them to come to work. it never occurred to me (or my brothers) to ask them to take a personal or vacation day. now i realize that a blizzard isn’t the same thing as a hurricane. but i can’t imagine forcing 39,000 people to make a decision like that at the last minute OR forcing people to come to work to make sure the doors are open, building heated, etc — all the conditions necessary to allow people to come to work. but that’s from the perspective of someone who’s had to make these kinds of decisions. i’d bet it’s a lot easier to sit in an armchair and criticize ‘em… - Montrose - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 6:54 am: How would it look to both call out the National Guard due to hazardous road conditions and also penalize state workers for not getting on the road? It is a public safety issue. If Ypu want people to stay home, you don’t create disincentives to doing just that. - wordslinger - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 7:02 am: –Private sector workers faced with this predicament generally were told to take a vacation day or go without pay.– I doubt if that’s accurate for salaried employees. With hourly workers, it probably varied. State workers were ordered to stay home under a public safety emergency measure, so no, you don’t take their money for that. - Ken in Aurora - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 7:04 am: Like the above commenters, I disagree with Reeder’s premise. My employer shut us down for two days with pay - Wednesday due to the condition of the roads, and Thursday because the parking lot and entrances were still impassible. I see Reeder’s piece as creating “facts” to support his position. Pretty shoddy. - Palatine - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 7:18 am: I say no work NO PAY - titan - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 7:19 am: Many also did a fair bit of work from home - making calls or using email to correspond, and catching up on paperwork (like document review). - Downstate GOP Faithless - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 7:23 am: The Eisenhower was closed, part of the east-west closed and my train line went to a partial Sunday schedule. Even if I wanted to come to the city I couldn’t. - Aldyth - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 7:30 am: I had to use benefit time to cover the time that I was late getting into work. That’s how it is in a lot of businesses and I make a point of saving some time just in case. - amalia - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 7:33 am: Scott Reeder has been a Statehouse reporter for ten years…bottom of the column….and a cranky person for the last few weeks, apparently. waste of column space. - Fed-Up - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 7:38 am: The majority of voters hired Quinn to make these decisions and given his background no one should be surprised that he leaned this way. That being said, I think he made the correct decision and may have saved a few lives in the process. - Esteban - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 7:42 am: In addition to the “public safety” question, I would think that the “snow day” made it MUCH easier to get the mess cleaned up at and near State offices so that they could accomodate the public when they re-opned. The snow on the streets and on the parking lots had to go SOMEWHERE for this to happen….it couldn’t be just left there in the hope that it would melt away. - Excessively Rabid - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 7:50 am: It is always amusing to hear observations about how the “real world” of the “private sector” works coming from people who are either employees or self-employed self-promoters. In either case, they don’t really have any idea what they’re talking about. - William - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 7:54 am: I don’t know about any other State agency but I work for the Department of Corrections and if I can’t make it to work because of the weather I am forced to use vaction time or other earned time. I don’t get a free day… - CircularFiringSquad - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 7:59 am: Most of the private sector folks I know got paid and were told to heed the warnings to stay off the roads Wonder if ole Scotty paid the folks who work for him? Ben ???? Ben ???? And remember no one ever accused Scott of being the brightest bulb in the lamp - Justice - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:06 am: A little common sense goes a long way here. It is best to give folks the day off, with pay, than to risk them and others getting into accidents, getting in the way of cleanup, and creating havoc generally. If this becomes an issue, perhaps the state, or private businesses, can permit the individuals to contribute some small overtime each month toward a storm day. If it isn’t used that year, they get paid for it. We all must work around nature, both public and private sector. Raising Cain about something like this is a waste of ink. We value our employees, and the safety of others. - tomhail - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:07 am: In my 31 years of commuting to Springfield for state employment, I can only remember this happening about 2 times. Yeah, let’s take their pay away now. Mother State seems into takebacks these days. - cassandra - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:09 am: ABsolutely. They should have been given a chance to come to work too. Many probably would have made it. Those of us brought up in colder climes (like me-New Hampshire) can’t keep from giggling at Illinoisians’ reactions to snowstorms. We went to school with six feet of snow and 25 below temps. Plus, I imagine state employees’ contract (remember, over 95 percent of Illinois state employees are unionized) has provisions for taking benefit time when weather is bad. But our Pat is heavily indebted to AFSCME, so he had to give more than was required. This seems to be a trend (no-layoff agreements come to mind). I doubt we taxpayers will lose much by state employees not coming to work for a day. What we have to worry about is that contract coming up for renewal in 2012. This will give Quinn a chance to really reward AFSCME, at a cost of many billions in perpetuity. And, of course, an opportunity to create the fiscal conditions for making that income tax hike on the middle class permanent. - MrJM - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:12 am: Private sector workers faced with this predicament generally were told to take a vacation day or go without pay. This was not my experience nor the experience of anyone I’ve spoken to about it. – MrJM - soccermom - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:13 am: Yeah, that’s just what we needed — 39,000 more people on the roads during the blizzard. And it would have been no problem for the people whose kids were not in school… I am in the private sector (sorta — long story) and they closed the office. we were told to stay home and stay safe. and we got paid. - downstater - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:20 am: I believe most, if not all, local government employees (city workers) that serve “non-emergency” roles were given the option of attempting to come to work or use vacation/personal leave. - OneMan - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:22 am: Yes, how dare a state employee or any government employee be given any consideration in any way shape or form. They should be happy they have jobs. At what point are we going to decided just to turn government into the employer that no one wants to work for. - How Ironic - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:25 am: Quite simply, Scott Reeder is a moron that can’t do his homework. I’m employed by a large corporation in Springfield. ALL of our workers were instructed to stay home on Wed, and ALL were paid their scheduled hours. That’s over 2000 employees. The decision was made that it was better to have employees home, safe and off the roads. Also considering that Sangamon County (Springfield) had declared a ‘level 3′ snow emergency, and you were not supposed to be on the roads early Wed, it would have been very bad to require workers to report for work. Sounds like Mr. Reed has an ax to grind, but doesn’t know which end to grind. Both public AND private industry called off work, and it appears that MANY private companies paid it’s workers ‘to stay home’. - Dead Head - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:26 am: Rich, apparently most of your readers have heads on their shoulders and don’t fall for the mouthings of one reporter. Couldn’t you come up with a better question than this? Still hung-over from yesterday? - Beowulf - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:28 am: Another good example as to why Pat Quinn sought state government for his career choice. He could not have made it in the private sector.Maybe he is driven by his need to be loved? His motovation can’t be his need to find respect. - dave - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:30 am: I believe most, if not all, local government employees (city workers) that serve “non-emergency” roles were given the option of attempting to come to work or use vacation/personal leave. Not in Northern IL. Most, if not all, of the municipalities in N. Illinois shutdown except for emergencies. All of the counties completely shut down. Most, if not all of the cities/towns did the same. - Way Northsider - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:37 am: I don’t know of ANY salaried private sector employees who were told to take a vacation or personal day on Wednesday. Employers simply shut their facilities and told people to stay home. There was nowhere for people to brave the blizzard and go to work TO as the buildings were shut. - Jellybean - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:42 am: IIt’s time the state started running like a business and the world of laptop computers and high speed internet connections, why not allow state employees to work from home? My company has a contingency plan for situations similar to the one experienced last week. Employees take their laptop home each evening and in emergencies, employees work from home. Those who could not work from home and report to work were given the choice of taking vacation or a day without pay. - jerry 101 - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:46 am: Maybe someone should tell Mr. Reeder that most private sector workers don’t work hourly pay jobs at Jewel stocking groceries. My private sector employer was on lockdown on Wednesday. Since it’s a very busy time of year, we were expected to bring some stuff home on tuesday to work on, but no one was told that they had to take a vacation day or anything of the sort. The pictures of the Loop from wednesday (one of the chicago papers had a lot of pictures of snowzilla on its website) made it pretty clear that the loop was a ghosttown, and it wasn’t just because all the public sector workers were missing. - jerry 101 - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:48 am: Also, I wonder how many of those 39000 state workers got pay cuts in the past couple of years due to “furlough” days. Everyone I know who’s been stuck with furlough days will tell you that it just means you have to do that much more work in that much less time. So you have to work late the rest of the week. I wonder if Mr. Reeder would like to get a 10% pay cut? - Bond_player - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:49 am: Staying home is one thing; being paid to stay home is another. Do employment contracts contain a bad weather clause? If not, enjoy the day off without pay. Think of the savings on transportation costs that were saved - mariam - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:51 am: Jellybean….when high-speed access makes it to EVERYONE…even those living in rural areas you can make your point about working from home. Also, I doubt everyone working in State government (or the private sector for that matter) gets a laptop to take home every night. Finally, do you really want to get an advantage to the higher-paid broadband-enabled laptop-carrying workers and kick the rest to the curb? - train111 - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:52 am: Way Northsider. I was forced to take a vacation or personal day for last Wednesday–so yes it did happen. That being said, I don’t have any problems with the public employees getting paid for the day off. The paperwork to straighten it all out on vacation and personal days parobaly costs more than just paying people for the day. train111 - umm - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:52 am: == At what point are we going to decided just to turn government into the employer that no one wants to work for. == I think we’re already there! State employees are ragged on for everything. There’s this image that we sit around polishing our nails or reading the sports page all day. No one points out that most people who work in State government would make more money in the private sector. No one points out that many, if not most, State employees are actually covering 2 or 3 jobs since others retired or agencies stop hiring to save some cash. Many, if not most, spend their entire days dealing with people who are so fed up with the bureaucacy that they take it out on the very people attempting to help them (state employees). Those who think state work is lucratic might want to spend a day in state employment. Instead of Take Your Daughter To Work Day we need Take a Taxpayer To Work Day. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:54 am: snark Usually when a government employee gets paid for not showing up to work its called … Tuesady. Look, this was a once in 20-25 year event, so pay ‘em. - One of the 35 - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:56 am: I work for local government. Our office opens at 8:30. I arrived at work last Wednesday morning at 8:10. I worked for about 2 hours and then took work home to finish. Even though I only worked at the office for 2 hours on Wednesday, I still logged 49 hours of office time last week. That does not count the additional time I worked at home. I suppose I should take a vacation day for last Wednesday because I am so overpaid. - OneMan - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:57 am: == There’s this image that we sit around polishing our nails or reading the sports page all day. == The difference is when I see the SOS employee in the Thompson center (a cashier) working on Sudko in the Sun Times (as I did two weeks ago when I renewed my plates) as I am waiting to drop something off I notice it more than when it happens at my insurance agent. - Secret Square - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:57 am: Having once been a newspaper reporter myself, who was obligated by virtue of my job to go out in bad weather (blizzards, floods, tornadoes) to cover stories, and who at one point was doing this on hourly pay at not much above minimum wage, I can’t help but detect a trace of jealousy in Reeder’s comments — “If I can’t take time off during a blizzard then no one should.” - James Madison - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 9:00 am: If you force them to take a personal or vacation, you are essentially penalizing them for the 3rd worst snowstorm in history. We were under a civil order to stay off the streets on Wednesday. If employees had attempted to come to work to avoid the “penalty”, it would have created more problems/liabilities for the local first responders. - Way Northsider - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 9:02 am: train111 - Thanks for the civil answer and you make an excellent point about the cost of managing the one time policy about vacation days. - Name/Nickname/Anon - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 9:04 am: University of Illinois employees were just told this morning that if they were not at work last week when a portion of the campus closed, they have to use vacation or a floating holiday to cover their absence. - Southwest - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 9:19 am: Are state employees given a large number of personal days each year to cover these types of emergencies? Also, I can understand giving the employees the day off in central and northern Illinois, but why were the southern offices closed? - Ahoy - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 9:24 am: State workers should have been paid. This once every 3 years occurrence is not the problem with employee compensation. People should be focusing on the real problems such as the over market wages that some employees get ,the sick day golden parachute that government workers get at their retirement and the out of touch pension benefits. - Willie Stark - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 9:25 am: Besides just focusing on the “substance” of Reeder’s column, it is also worthwhile to note what his column reveals about the mentality and purpose of his enterprise - Illinois Statehouse News. It is part of a network of similar operations across the country (the coordinating entity is the Franklin Center for Government & Integrity). They refuse to reveal any information about who funds them, though it is reasonably thought to be right-wingers with an anti-government agenda (Koch, Scaiffe would be good bets). As the regular media continues its tailspin and increasing slide into irrelevancy, SNS is happy to fill the content gap - giving away their product for free to struggling local newspapers, radio and TV stations. It’s my view that this is a long-term endeavor, like many right-wing projects. Working their way into the media firmament and slowly creeping a greater and greater ideological bias into their “news” stories. Insidious. We just got another peek into the mindset of the guy who runs their IL shop. The fact that they claim to follow the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics I do not find reassuring. - Pot calling kettle - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 9:29 am: I would guess that, as suggested above, many employers provided a day off without pay. I have worked in both the public and private sector and have never had to take a sick or personal day for a blizzard. I have had supervisors who suggested work be taken home on the eve of a forecast blizzard, but most us us would have done that anyway. As was pointed out above, the work would need to be made up anyway. - Secret Square - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 9:36 am: “Are state employees given a large number of personal days each year to cover these types of emergencies?” If you consider 3 a “large” number, yes. They cannot be carried over from year to year like vacation or sick days, and once you use them up for the year they are gone until next Jan. 1. - Jellybean - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 9:38 am: Marian - This is not for everyone but I do live in a rural area and while my area does not have broadband, I pay for WildBlue highspeed via a satellite connection. I did have to clean the snow off of the dish. - Springfield Skeptic - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 9:48 am: I’m sorry, but in order to reach a 75% pension level you have to work 45 years for State Government. I don’t see that as “out of touch pension benefits.” - IL Yeezy - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 9:53 am: Sounds like someone’s grumpy that their employer made them go to work while the rest of us got the day off. - Both Sides Now - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 9:56 am: Why is this even an issue? The state offices and many other private businesses closed due to a “natural disaster” that potentially put them in “harms way”. Just like a hurricane, flood, or (though not natural) a terrorism attack. When schools close due to weather that may risk our children’s lives, no one complains that the teachers continue to get paid. Why is it then that the public and Reeder (who didn’t have anything else to talk about since even the LEGISLATURE called off coming to the Capitol due to the weather emergency) feel the need to blast the state workers?! - Southwest - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:00 am: Thanks, Secret Square - I don’t consider 3 personal days excessive. Many are quick to complain about state benefits and pensions, but I don’t know what they are. I know they get a lot of holidays, but how many vacation and sick days? Also, I think it was wrong to close the southern offices where there wasn’t much snow or ice. - Loop Lady - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:01 am: Many state workers like myself can work from home, as I did on Tuesday. As a matter of public safety, I am proud that Quinn ordered offices closed on Wednesday. Additionally, keeping folks off the roads and rails, allowed clean up crews the luxury of cleaning up the mess with less interference from traffic. I would gladly use a personal day for last week, but think that other workers outside of State government will be paid, so Mr. Reeder can, as I like to say, bite me… - Southern voice - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:09 am: I agree this is just some more hate on public employees. The story here is why did Gov Quinn give workers in the southern part of the state free time off. The weather was just fine Vandalia south. Don’t blame public employees for this! - Peter Snarker - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:10 am: Scott Reeder: master of the populist “lowest hanging fruit”… not everyone can “blog” in their work from their pajamas in bed, but whatever. His point is fair to make, although as a person who has spent double the time in the vaunted private sector as compared to the public sector my own 2 cents is that he is not entirely correct. Specific case-in-point… working in the private sector the morning of 9/11/2001, my employer and many many others (private) in my building and area (the Loop) sent employees home without forcing vacation time. Others did not, but my recollection is more did allow people to go home than not. More to-the-point, I went to a nearby mall on Tuesday evening about 7 pm, and MOST stores (all except one) were closed… … that said, we gov workers DO have it pretty good, benefit-wise, compared to the private sector, and, peace of mind for employment security. - Downstate Illinois - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:10 am: Another complaint to keep in mind is that it didn’t snow everywhere. Some state employees got a day off despite the fact that there was no snow and schools were in session. I’m not complaining about Chicago or Springfield area, but the blanket ban was just another example of state government clueless about the extent of state’s geography. Not to mention Quinn’s comments about the heroic state workers who deserve a medal gags me. I have no problem with praising the state police, IDOT road crews, national guardsmen, etc., who actually worked, but to praise all state workers when you gave most of them a paid holiday shows just how empty the governor’s comments were. - Secret Square - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:11 am: “I know they get a lot of holidays, but how many vacation and sick days?” This may vary by agency but I will tell you what I get: We get all the federal holidays — Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, MLK Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Columbus Day, and Veteran’s Day. We also get two state-only holidays: Lincoln’s Birthday and Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving). General Election Day is a holiday only in even-numbered years when there is a presidential or statewide election taking place. As you can see, many of these holidays are also days when schools, banks, and post offices are closed. Vacation time accrues each month at the rate of 10 days per year; the maximum number of vacation days you can have saved up at any time is 20. Sick days accrue at the rate of 1 per month. I’m not sure what if any limit there is on sick days. They can get used up fairly quickly, however, if you or your kids get sick or if you or members of your immediate family have frequent doctor/dentist visits. - Kyle Orton's Neck Beard - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:11 am: The county closed the building where I work my public sector job. Had the building been open, I would have found a way to drive the ten miles and come in, or I would have driven two miles and taken the train. The following day, my workload was roughly 60% greater because of carryover from the previous day. I receive a generous allotment of vacation time and would have lived with losing a vacation day. Count me among those who are “happy to have the job.” However, when the building isn’t open for me to do my work, I don’t see how my employer can penalize me for not being present. - Anon - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:13 am: All the private sector people I know were either told to work from home, or (more likely) got the day off (with pay). At the University of Illinois we had to take vacation time if we couldn’t make it in. - nieva - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:14 am: I am a retired IDOT Highway Maintainer and we never got a day off when it snowed. Does this mean I should have been paid an extra days pay when I worked through a blizzard?? - D.P. Gumby - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:19 am: Mr. Reeder does identify a significant “class” issue. In many cases, this will boil down to a distinction between rank and file “hourly” workers v. “salaried” workers. For the salaried class, there likely is no issue, but for the minimum wage worker, if you’re not present, you don’t get paid…let alone if you are line worker and are hanging on to your job in a bad economy. The notion that one could be fired for not appearing at work in the midst of a Blizzard is an unethical concept, but legal under Ill. law. - Secret Square - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:22 am: Also, regarding sick days, there are provisions in place for state workers to transfer unused sick days to fellow employees who need extra sick time due to a prolonged illness or other extraordinary medical crisis (for example, a spouse or a child undergoing cancer treatment). - Peter Snarker - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:25 am: All those identifying the “salary” vs. “hourly” distinction are on the right trail… … I would even take it a step further, whether salary or hourly… the REAL distinction of relevance is SHIFT work vs. non-shift work. For almost all positions that are not along the lines of health-care providers, prison-guards, stocking the shelves at jewel (shift work), etc. etc., - ie, SHIFT WORK that needs to be constantly mainatined, regardless if you are private or public nurse, etc., someone has to cover bc you cant make up double the work the next day. Those are hourly based shift jobs (whether paid salary or not) that the time simply cannot be made up if no one shows up to the prison, or to the hospital, you dont get that day to do-over. Compare with someone who is processing paperwork or similar. You can and do make that up. Having wednesday off is irrelevant really, b/c you are paid based not on hours, but on work completed, in any practical sense. Having off Wednesday means double the work thursday. Shrug. - Emanuel Collective - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:29 am: If I remember correctly, two-thirds of the state consisting of over 90% of the population were under warnings not to even be on the roads for parts of Tuesday and Wendsday. If Mr. Reeder is upset about employees not taking personal days, fine, but the way he phrases his column, he seems upset that employees wern’t asked to come in at all, which is a ridiculous thing to be upset over. It would be totally reckless to make state employees come in just because a small number of private companies did the same. - Boone Logan Square - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:29 am: My private sector employer sent us all off with pay, and that’s true of most of my friends and neighbors. What’s Reeder’s take on the thousands of public sector workers who put in extra time to rescue stranded people or clear streets last week? - John Bambenek - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:34 am: I was told that if I didn’t work during the blizzard, to take paid time off or take the day unpaid in my private sector job. I simply worked from home. When I worked at the University of Illinois, I was told the same thing. They also had a habit of closing the University the week between Christmas and New Years, giving you one “free” day off and the other non-holidays you had to take paid time off (or unpaid time). I also showed up to work then too. - Soccermom - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:34 am: I hate to raise issues of reality but — does mr reeder know how much it would have cost to pay emergency crews to come in and plow the Parking lots for all of those state workers? Or does he think they should just abandon their cars in the drifts on the street? And is he suggesting that all teachers be docked a day’s pay when their schools were closed? Where was he when I was working nights weekends and holidays with no comp time? And did he get socked with 12 furlough days last year? I am not complaining. I loved working in state government and I considered it — wait for it — a privilege to serve. But I left because the hours were wrecking my health and the pay was destroying my family finances. So I went to the private sector where I work about 30 percent fewer hours and get pad abt 30 percent more. Reeder should see how hard my old colleagues work and how much they Carr about what they do. And one more thing — if governor Quinn had told everyone to come on and there had been a fire or other serious problem at JRTC or the Capitol — and yes, stuff like that happens more often during extreme weather — would he have applauded Quinn for being tough? Or would hr have slammed Quinn for making a decision that put first responders at risk needlessly? And is there anybodywho really wanted to take their drivers test during that storm? Really? - Concerned Voter - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:37 am: “Southwest - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:00 am: Thanks, Secret Square - I don’t consider 3 personal days excessive. Many are quick to complain about state benefits and pensions, but I don’t know what they are. I know they get a lot of holidays, but how many vacation and sick days? Also, I think it was wrong to close the southern offices where there wasn’t much snow or ice.” We get 3 Personal Days, unless you can go a whole calendar year without taking a sick day, then you get a 4th day the next year. We get the federal holidays, we get election day in Presidential and Gubernatorisal election years, we get Lincoln’s birthday in addition to President’s day in Feb. If any of those fall on a weekend we get either the friday or monday whichever is closer. If a holiday falls on a regular day off, you get equivalent comp time to take at a later date. We get 1 sick day a month. You start with 10 vacation days a year, it goes up incrementally every 3-5 years of service, maxing out at 25 days after 25 years on the job. As for the pensions, they vary. Many get 1.67% for every year of service, so as previously mentioned, at 45 years you get 75%. More dangerous jobs, State Police, Corrections Officers/Guards, Highway Maintainers, can get anywhere between 2.2 to 2.5% per year. - Cheryl - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:37 am: I got sent home early Tuesday, we were closed Wednesday, we were open Thursday but told if we couldn’t get here don’t come in. I get paid for all of that time w/o using PTO. And I don’t work for the state. This guy’s crazy. - Peter Snarker - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:44 am: Reeder doesnt cite anything in regards to his assertions about “private employers”. Some private employers gave the day off with pay, others didnt, it varied. That is my take anedotally. Some govt jobs had day off with pay, others didnt (nurses, prison guards, state police, etc). That is my take FACTUALLY. But… you see… to have FACTS cited as a “reporter” as to what actually happened in the private sector vis-a-vis pay last Wednesday would have involved probably, let’s face it, much more actual leg-work than Reeder is willing to put in. This isnt the Atlantic or the New Yorker or Watergate reporting here… it’s low hanging fruit from a guy who couldnt be bothered to report any facts. Anyone want to, on this blog, take the time to figure out the “facts” that either support or dont support Reeder’s, ahem, “reporting” on the priavte sector? Hell, maybe I will if I find the time today… … below is Reeder’s naked statement about the private sector, unatributed and unsourced: “Private sector workers faced with this predicament generally were told to take a vacation day or go without pay.” Not gonna be holding my breath for Mr. Reeder to attribute or source that statement, hahaha! - Irish - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:48 am: Now that everyone including our GA and our Governor has made it Chic to bash State employees nothing surprises me. However I would think that somneone like Mr. Reeder who probably “phones it in from home” more than 95% of the working population would understand that the employees staying home saved money by not putting them out on the roads and streets and making the cleanup much easier. Why is it that everyone is so quick to point out that a benefit for a State Employee is unfair because it takes taxpayer’s money; but they never seem to understand that benefits/raises given to most private sector employees end up raising costs for all consumers also. Why don’t we hear public outcry when auto workers, or trades people, or utility workers, get benefits or raises? Because people don’t take the time to understand that all of those costs eventually are passed on to all consumers. Understand I am not bashing on any of those workers I am just trying to illustrate that we all pay for everyone’s benefits not just State Workers. Finally, I have worked for State government for 35+ years and this is only the second time I can ever remember getting an inclement weather day. And I believe that other time was the storm of 1979. There were several days that we in the Northern part of the State got weather where employees could not get to work. But the tradition is if Springfield can get to work then everyone should be able to get to work. BTW I came in to work on Wednesday because there are employees of a non-State facility that could not get home and their relief could not get in until my facility’s road was plowed. That road is 2.5 mi, long and runs for a distance only 5′ from the edge of a major river. I was by myself with no way to get assistance if I needed it. There are also private citizens who cannot get out of their residences until the township opens their road or we plow out another of our facility’s road. The township was a no show. I have yet to hear if I will get credit for working or whether it will be “donated.” Maybe Mr. Reeder would want to trade me places on that one. - anonymous - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:50 am: I work for a Cook County governmental agency. A memo went out on Friday saying we needed to use personal time for the Wednesday. Needless to say, it caused an uproar. Seems unfair, but I dont expect a lot of sympathy from the public. - Comerford - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 11:06 am: Scott, just for the record, none of these were written by me. To everyone else, welcome to the world of Reeder spin. - Jaded - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 11:10 am: No, however if you are an employee required to take furlough days then you should have had to take a furlough day or a paid day off. Forcing people to take furlough days and then giving them an extra paid day kinda defeats the purpose of the furlough days. - Peter Snarker - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 11:17 am: Did Reeder attribute or source his “facts” he reported on what the private sector did yet? Keep me posted! - point taken - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 11:23 am: My husband works at a major Chicago law firm, with 1000+ employees. All of them, including support staff and hourly workers, had the day off with pay Wednesday. But I didn’t read anyone suggesting that the legal community would suffer grievously as a result of that down time. Reeder’s comments fall into the “race to the bottom” ethos common of late: let’s get all workers to compete to accept the worst possible conditions. Wouldn’t a better approach, for those who work for a living, be the opposite: to congratulate the Governor for doing the right thing here, and suggest that the fault lies with those employers who insisted their workers risk life and limb or lose a day’s pay? And let’s put those who employ hourly workers, who can least afford to lose pay, at the top of the list to criticize. Let’s not forget that most schools and day care facilities were closed, so parents of young children had to stay home with them. But right now if there is any opening to attack public employees and suggest that the union protections they enjoy should be stripped from them, it seems to happen. At least Reeder didn’t argue that state workers caused the blizzard so they could enjoy a day off. - Wumpus - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 11:24 am: This is worst than Egypt! Really, just make them work an hour extra or short lunch until they make up the time. Otherwise, it was a friggin emergency, give them the day off. - jwscott72 - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 11:28 am: Does Reeder realize that if we state employees were forced to take a vacation or personal day for Wednesday, we would still get paid for that day? We just lost some benefit time. - Secret Square - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 11:28 am: “Why don’t we hear public outcry when auto workers, or trades people, or utility workers, get benefits or raises?” I believe the difference is that the consumer can choose whether or not to finance a private company’s employee pay or benefits by buying its product or service, whereas they have no choice about whether or not to pay taxes. - jwscott72 - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 11:29 am: Sorry, would have just lost some benefit time, not any pay. - Peter Snarker - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 11:36 am: Reeders’ whole column can be summed up Premise: (1) most govt workers were given day off with pay; + (2) most (he uses the word “generally”) private workers had to take a vacation day. = Conclusion: We are being ripped off as taxpayers. He doesnt even attempt to show any facts supporting his second premise, which is half of his argument. That obviously annoys me to no end, but really, that he doesnt bother to do his job, but I should let it go, standards are falling everywhere. Sigh. But really, he doesnt even need Premise # 2 to make his conclusion… he can be angry as a taxpayer whether everyone else in the world got the day off with pay or not. It’s just a way to ferment anger without facts, b/c regardless of what the private sector did or did not do, he as a taxpayer is still being “ripped off” paying for no work. - How Ironic - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 11:37 am: @Secret Square, Really? So if I live in Chicago I can ‘choose’ to use a different electric company than ComEd if a managment decision ticks me off? And how bout those parking meters? I guess I can just choose another parking meter company to park at downtown if I’m not happy with them? Give me a break. Unless you are shopping at single owner/operator shops for all of your buisness the average consumer in the USA has no more/less ability to ‘vote’ with their dollar than the taxpayer when it comes to changing corporate behavior. If we did then every ‘boycott’ would cause instant panic on wall street. - cermak_rd - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 11:43 am: We were allowed to work from home. For the poor souls who actually came into the office, the cafeteria was closed, the coffee shop was closed, and all the local restaurants were closed. The problem with having state workers work from home is that some of them deal with confidential data and so it may be a little more complicated than just having them use their home dsl/cable/satellite broadband. - Pat Robertson - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 11:47 am: The column is simply wrong. If an office is closed after the start of a shift, state employees who came in and are sent home get paid. That happened Tuesday. When the employee never comes in at all, including days when the offices are closed in advance, they must use vacation time or they don’t get paid. - lincoln lover - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 11:48 am: In my 22 years with the state, this is the first time I have ever been told to stay home. Usually, weather related incidents are handled by “If you can get to work, do it. If you can’t, then take a vacation or personal day.” I expected that to be the option on Wednesday, so I brought work home anticipating using at least part of the day for work and taking the remainder as personal. In fact, I worked the entire day - getting a great deal accomplished, I might add - so do I get paid overtime, Mr. Reeder? Of course not. It was my decision to work, so that is just donated time - as it should be. The state got its money’s worth out of me, snowstorm or not. - Plutocrat03 - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 11:59 am: It does not seem unreasonable to be asked to take a personal day for events like this if you are unable to do your work off site. Secondly, for those whose work is done on a computer, it should be a no brainer to continue to do your job from home. In fact, it would make sense to encourage more telecommuting where practical on a regular basis. I know in our household that work was able to continue unabated with the assistance of remote network access and conference calling. As usual, those with an interest in getting their jobs accomplished were able to find a way to work through the challenges. Those who treat their jobs as a necessary evil debate on how to receive compensation without working. - Irish - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 12:03 pm: Secret Square - @ 11:28 am: Construction companies and other vendors that are hired by public sector entities and purchase equipment, ie: vehicles, tractors, etc. don’t charge to cover their overhead? When your school system buys computers, tv’s, other electronic equipment, those costs aren’t passed on to you? When your local public entity hires trades people to do work you don’t pay their going rate? What hospitals, other public services, pay for equipment, services, transportation, isn’t passed on to everyone including your insurance? Which is then passed on to your rates. Don’t kid yourself you pay for all of those costs eventually. It’s just that most people don’t follow the money in those costs. - VanillaMan - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 12:08 pm: If we take Mr. Reeder’s consideration to heart, then there should be no rent paid to office landlords on these days, no utilities provided towards government buildings on these days, no insurance paid for government properties on these days, no interest on government bonds or loans on these days, and probably several more “possible savings” on government do nothing days. Reeder’s stand here is one to take if one was a misanthrop. A foolish misanthrop. His stand immediately is exposed the moment we take it and actually consider it’s application. Mr. Reeder wanted to say that he believes that his neighbors employed by governments earn too much money and that he is willing to see them not paid even if it meant a costlier waste of taxes to accomplish his sick Scrooge-like mentality deranged vision of coin operated efficiencies. - Secret Square - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 12:11 pm: How Ironic, I’m not saying I AGREE with that idea, just saying that’s an argument commonly used to justify why public employees are less deserving of raises, benefits, etc. than private employees. Once in a while, you will hear people claim that certain privately produced items like U.S.-made cars, etc. are overpriced due to the lavish pay and benefits given to union workers, or (less often) due to the huge bonuses given to CEOs and stockholders. I do agree that it is NOT always possible to totally avoid footing the bill for “excessive” employee/CEO pay, stockholder profits, or other corporate actions one might find objectionable (e.g., investments in certain countries or donations to causes or organizations one opposes). You can’t just go out and find another power company or cable company, for example. Nevertheless, the argument that taxpayers are only “forced” to pay for public employee benefits continues to be made. - anon - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 12:12 pm: these are also the same workers that have taken 24 unpaid days to help balance the state’s budget. - Chicago Cynic - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 12:15 pm: Sorry, but other than hourly and per diem employees, every employer I know of paid their employees for last Wednesday (including myself). It wouldn’t have occurred to me to say “coming in would be impossible or at least dangerous, but if you don’t come in you don’t get paid.” That said, I do appreciate the spirit of Cook County asking people to use personal time for it, if only because it’s such a radical departure from the Cook County attitude of old. As for the state, I have no problem with it. - Objective Dem - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 12:18 pm: If Scott wants to compare private sector compensation and benefits to the public sector that is his right. But I hope he also writes an article about government employees never getting bonuses, commissions, stock rights, expense accounts, etc. etc. - Peter Snarker - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 12:31 pm: Objective Dem @ 12:18 - The ironic thing is Reeder doesnt actually manage to compare anything factually… … he certainly wants to do just that, but is too lazy (?) to see or report what happened in the private sector. Anyone know where Reeder got his information from on the private sector’s payrole practices from last Wednesday? Oh, wait, I forgot, it was made-up to fit his conclusion. Duh. Plutocrat put it best above - in any sector, at any time, those that work find a way, those that dont find a way. Shrug. For example, some reporters would have data to support their statements about the private sector… others wouldnt bother… you know, that sort of thing. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 12:31 pm: The biggest problem I have with Reeder’s logic is thatif state employees had utilized their prerogative to declare last Wed. one of their furlough days, the state wouldn’t have saved a penny. And who, BTW, thinks “Oh, a life-threatening disaster…great, maybe we can screw government employees out of even more of their paycheck. BTW, I’m pretty sure that 39,000 is inaccurate…That includes state police and high way workers, who were both most certainly working. - Southern voice - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 12:32 pm: It’s biased reporting such as this that lead Hamos and Sen Schoenberg to believe that public employees can be used and punished because of their (politicians) mistakes and greed in the G.A.! Yea, let’s just raise their health insurance premiums from zero to $400.00 per month. it doesn’t matter that some people will lose their homes… because thay are just greedy public employees. - Rich Miller - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 12:40 pm: Peter Snarker, you’ve posted enough here. Move along. - Former State Employee 2 - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 12:55 pm: Not only State Police and highway workers. Let’s not forget the Building Engineers and maintenance staff too. - question1 - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 1:16 pm: I wonder if Reeder wrote this story while sitting in his taxpayer financed state house office? If Reeder is so concerned about the budget perhaps he should start paying for his office space like people in the real world do? What do you say Scotty? Where is your check? We the people are tired of footing the bill for you! - Judgment Day - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 1:38 pm: Private sector. Salaried staff got paid. Hourly and part time get paid on hours worked. If they took work home that they could work on or had other work to do remote, they got paid. Our problem was that we had some power outages and client access failures, so some folks couldn’t work from home. And the roads out here (Far West Chicagoland) were closed, so in those cases, no work was possible. But the watchword was for all our people, was first, last, and in between - Stay Safe! - carbaby - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 1:44 pm: What really is the controversy? Even if you use a vacation day or personal day- you are still being paid for not being at work. We were told that we WERE NOT allowed to have work at home time approved for Wednesday (even if we had work we could do) and that we would have to take a personal or vacation day. I believe that adjustments had to be made around here due to a significant amount of staff here work in CILA homes and other day programming- and thus a majority of employees are hourly- with many being part time. However I don’t work in that half of the agency. I gave my staff a choice of taking personal/vacation day or making up the time on Saturday as that is what I decided to do. Since we are salary- truly what difference does it make?! My sister and her husband own a company in Central IL in the middle of nowhere. They also gave their employees the choice of taking vacation days. People who lived in town who could make it to work, were able to do so but were not going to be “penalized” for not making it in. They couldn’t make the drive themselves from Champaign to Fisher- which is always a taking your life in your hands drive when there is any snowfall as they don’t plow down there like they do up here in the Chicago area. It’s like being in another part of the world yet just two hours south. - wordslinger - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 1:48 pm: I’ve lived here all my life — including ‘67 and ‘79 — and I don’t recall this question ever being raised before. From Rahm to Reeder, it’s pile on public employees time. This private sector entrepreneur ain’t buying it. I know for sure is that it was wise, practical and decent to tell folks to stay home in this emergency. I haven’t run across anyone in the private sector who got nicked for staying home. I’m sure it happened for some hourly workers, and that’s lousy and unfair, but I doubt it was widespread and those Scrooges who did so can live with themselves. I wouldn’t go fishing with them. Everyone lost money on the storm, plenty in the private sector. But that’s the cost of doing business. It’s an act of nature. Our ancestral knuckle-scrapers were inspired to form communities to deal with these situations. Once again though, here’s to the folks who worked in around the clock in the dark, cold, dangerous wind and blinding snow to bring things, certainly in Chicago metro, back to normal in remarkable time. Splendid behavior. And here’s a raspberry to that gasbag Kass, the self-proclaimed no-tax, self-reliant “conservative” (I hate the perversion of that word), who complains and complains about LSD and the fact that some Chicago alleys aren’t plowed. If my alley had been plowed right after the storm, we’d all have broken garage doors or worse as tons of snow would have been pushed against the structures. Instead, the neighbhors got together and shoveled out. Then, we drank beer, had some laughs and listened to tunes. What a concept. - wordslinger - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 2:11 pm: –They should have been given a chance to come to work too. Many probably would have made it. Those of us brought up in colder climes (like me-New Hampshire) can’t keep from giggling at Illinoisians’ reactions to snowstorms. We went to school with six feet of snow and 25 below temps– Cassy, did you walk to school uphill both ways, too? I think you’re probably exaggerating a wee bit. I’d be curious as the last time NH had 72 inches of snow in one day followed by 25 below temps. Even if your hyperbole were even in the neighborhood, our economy and infrastructure are a little more complex. Selling firewood, maple syrup, hubcaps from cars on blocks in the front yard and providing leaf-peeping to Hubsters ain’t what’s going on here. We’re kind of a big deal. - Deep South - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 2:28 pm: ===It’s like being in another part of the world yet just two hours south.=== Try being six hours south. Shoot we didn’t get any snow…as far as I know state workers did get to work. SIU was open, so everyone worked there. Same with all the local community colleges. But for whatever reason, some people seem to think the WHOLE STATE was paralyzed by the storm. - Elmhurst - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 2:57 pm: So, if I take the column at its face, because some unnamed private sector employers chose the worst option in terms of treating their employees, the State should do the same? The notion that anyone should have to use a personal day on a day where conditions were so bad even the postal service sat it out is absurd. A government employer can’t very well advise people to stay off the roads and not include its own personnel when saying that. - Langhorne - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 3:59 pm: sending people home, with pay, was the right thing to do for all the reasons given. reeder was on cap view program this past weekend spouting the same gripe. for someone who has been around ten years, i never heard of him. he accomplished his goals, which were to show he is a sourpuss cynic, he can dump on state employees with attitude rather than evidence and especially to call attn to himself. yeah for him. future credibility: zero. - lincoln lover - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 4:15 pm: Carbaby - Most of the time I just shrug off the snide comments from Chicagoans about those of us south of I-80. . However, you happen to hit on my home area and I just can’t let it go without taking a swipe at our cousins to the north. To wit, at least the folks in Champaign County had the good sense to close the road BEFORE 900 vehicles got stuck in the snow. And, yes, its like being in another part of the world just two hours south of Chicago. Thank god. - 3 beers to Springfield - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 4:31 pm: I work for a municipal government in a city that saw 16-17 inches of snow. In order to get paid for the blizzard day, we had to show up or take personal or vacation time. - Thoughts... - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 4:31 pm: Our company’s more-than-3,000 Illinois employees, both salaried and hourly, got Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday, and Thursday morning off, with pay. I have heard of hourly employees, including my brother-in-law, who didn’t get paid, but I have yet to hear personally about a salaried employee who didn’t get paid. No matter, as Willie Stark pointed out, this column says much more about Statehouse News Service and Scott Reeder as a person than it does about any issue. FWIW, I love deleting Scott’s/SNS’s spam every morning. - Wensicia - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 4:36 pm: Why is it every time some extreme event or political money subject comes up, it’s used to bash public employees in some way. Isn’t it about time to stop scapegoating us? I’m an educator, I’ll make up these days in June. - waitress practicing politics. . - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 5:25 pm: A few years ago in the 90’s, I worked for the state. My supervisor called me and told me to stay home it was too bad to drive. I interpreted this as a direct order, but when I came in the next day, was told to take a vacation day. Silly me. I would have been able to get in. It was my supervisor that should not have been allowed to make that call on her own. - steve schnorf - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 5:29 pm: I’m GUESSING that the northern/southern Illinois thing may have been a contract issue. If some unionized employees get a paid day off, the others (where weather would not have prevented them going to work) probably would have been entitled to one also. - Northerner - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 6:14 pm: I am a state employee from Northern Illinois. I have worked at my office for 20 years. The only other time this happened was on 9/11 when jets were attacking the Pentagon. We were ordered to go home on Tuesday. Yes, I agree we should not have used our accrued time off. Workers at the Chrysler Plat in Belvidere were forced to come in 2nd and 3rd shifts, placing those employees in danger of getting stranded and dying of hypothermia. Many DID get stranded, and had to be rescued. One woman was rescued TWICE on the way home. Thanfully,no injuries were reported. How ridiculous is that? THEY MAKE CARS, for Pete’s sake. The UAW is rightfully filing a lawsuit. - Jimmy James - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 6:50 pm: idoc (facility employees) had to use benefit time, even non-security. - Pete Mitchell - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 7:49 pm: Scott Reeder works in the statehouse. Correct? Guess he didn’t have a problem with legislative staffs being given Tuesday off as well. I guess he forgot they are also state workers. I don’t blame him though because nobody else media or otherwise seems to get that either. - Rick - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 8:57 pm: I work for state government and was one of those that had to come to work to get the roads cleared of snow for all you private enterprise slackers to sit around and complain about state workers. - Question? - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 9:01 pm: –Steve Schnorf– That’s not the case…. incompentence is. - Michelle Flaherty - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:04 pm: Thank you Rick. - wordslinger - Monday, Feb 7, 11 @ 10:32 pm: Rick, no complaints here. Thank you, brother. Splendid behavior. 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