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Guest Blogger - Here’s a Question

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Illinois

Well, thoughts have been flying back and forth for two days now since Rich posted about the Pontiac prison guards doing the informational picket about the furlough and budget during the legislative visit at the prison. Now I have a question back, especially for those who don’t work for the state. One thing for you to keep in your mind as you read this - I’ve worked in both the public and private sector, and feel I have a fair grasp on all sides.

Okay, here goes: Let’s say you work for a company that has a several billion dollar budget each year, and the chairman of the board doesn’t always make sense. You have been there a long time and are a dedicated employee with pretty good benefits and what you think is a stable work environment. Then your company starts to have some financial problems and the man in charge decides all the employees of the company (remember this is a private sector company) need to give something back, maybe take a few days off without pay, or better yet, come to work on the days they aren’t getting paid. You’ve already lost other long term employees to retirement and no one took their place, so you have extra work to do and no extra pay.

How would you feel? I’ve seen here people voicing opinions from both sides, but nobody addressing anything like this really. I’ve figuratively seen fingers pointed and somewhat outraged private sector people (Rs and Ds) speaking out against people who work for the state, but put the shoes on your feet and see how they feel.

If something isn’t done, and the gov and leaders in Springfield don’t address the budget shortfall, more than just employees are going to feel the hurt. People we serve, people who get services, the general public needing to contact those smaller agencies, they are the ones going to pay. There’s 6 weeks left until the end of the session and there’s no budget in sight. I, for one, don’t want to pay for another overtime session, but I also don’t want anyone who lives in Illinois to have to pay the price for lack of good services.

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Wednesday, Apr 20, 05 @ 9:29 pm

Comments

I’ve worked in both the private and public sector. My gut reaction is that the private sector employees who are subjected to this type of treatment will have a lot less patience than public sector employees. Instead of staying and complaining, they will just seek a better opportunity and jump at the first one. Job mobility is a fact of life in the private sector; the company loyalty thing is 30 years past its time.

State employees are just now being subjected to the same volatility that has existed in the private sector. They have been used to job security, modest pay but excellent benefits, working conditions, regular raises, etc. and are having a tough time adjusting to the new reality. However, when the state takes away the security blanket AND provides no incentives for good work as in the private sector, here’s what will happen:

1. Many of the good employees will start looking, and finding, better opportunities.

2. Many of the “PBLB’s” (Poor B…’s Left Behind) will go into a mode where they don’t care. No security blanket, no incentives, why should I put any extra effort in? Low morale is like a cancer and it will spread like wildfire if left unchecked.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 20, 05 @ 11:14 pm
It’s not that absurd as people think–for some period of time the University employees had to take vacation time over winter break in Illinois. While they didn’t have to work, they also didn’t get to choose their vacation time. Strictly speaking, they didn’t lose salary, though they did lose benefits.

All that said, such a move is bad for morale and ultimately isn’t fair. The state should clearly state the terms of employment and try to follow those terms only changing terms after negotiation.

The problem this year is no one is going to step up and say–you know what? We need an increase in revenue…….

Comment by ArchPundit Thursday, Apr 21, 05 @ 2:17 am
I don’t think anyone believes that
line employees such as state police, caseworkers, home care workers, should be furloughed, or
even their direct supervisors.

However, the state is overloaded with Public Service Administrators
and especially Senior Public Service Administrators making upwards of $90,000 and $100,000 a year, regardless of their performance. This is not modest pay, in my book anyway. If you disagree, do a FOIA request for a list of Senior Public Service administrators in each agency and their salaries. It’s pretty shocking…and taxpayers are, of course, paying for it, not to mention great health care and pension benefits that most people entering the work force don’t have.

There are a number of ways in which the budget crisis could be solved and the quality of services retained or improved. Rein in overtime costs. Reduce the number of prisons, mental hospitals, and other institutions and put people
back in the community with their families, with support. Reduce the number of children in DCFS foster care and help their families take care of them. Link teacher pay to actual performance not length of service. Etc

By furloughing, the governor and his staff are admitting that they can’t manage the budget or the state bureaucracy, can’t plan, can’t innovate.

In the private sector, they’d be out the door.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 21, 05 @ 2:26 am
The blogger who mentioned the number of SPSA’s and PSA’s was right on target. However, it should be noted that most of the massive number of high level executives are products of the current dministration. For example the dozen or so members of the Department of Human Services Executive Staff from the previous administration were replace with over 50 new Senior Administrators by the current administration.

Comment by ChicagoDog Thursday, Apr 21, 05 @ 5:20 am
“Rein in overtime costs. Reduce the number of prisons, mental hospitals, and other institutions and put people
back in the community with their families, with support. Reduce the number of children in DCFS foster care and help their families take care of them. Link teacher pay to actual performance not length of service. Etc”

Interesting thoughts, but can’t rein in overtime when you don’t have enough staff, and they continue to cut front line employees. Want to be the 1 prison guard with 100+ inmates, just a radio and some pepper spray? Not me.

There’s no money to put people “back in the community” and a lot of families, even with help couldn’t have their family member at home full time. Whether this be a child from DCFS, someone with a disability or a mental illness. And the pay to do this in the community - you make more working at a retail store or hamburger joint. And there’s no room in the local hospital to care for someone with a mental illness who needs the services of a mental health facility. Sad state of reality. If there were money for the community, it’d be a great thing, but there’s not. Human services of any kind is not where the money is.

As for furloughs, yes, they are looking at everyone. Just like Ryan wanted to do. I don’t see this administration excluding any member of its employment.

A revenue increase would be wonderful, but the way Rod wants to do it - with the boats, business fees, etc. - it’s not going to work.

Comment by Tessa Thursday, Apr 21, 05 @ 6:14 am
Once again state employees are being asked to fork over and this from a governor who said he wouldn’t balance the budget on the backs of state employees. What will happen is that people will take their furlough days on Fridays and/or Mondays and make a long weekend out of it, so people contacting the state for services on those days can expect to wait for a response. State employees are stuck all the way around. There are few jobs to promote into and fewer if you wish to transfer within your category. Since there have been no merit comp raises for over 3 years, we are working harder and longer with no incentive to do a good job except our conscience. When you’re close to retirement you just grit your teeth, bite your tongue, bear it and vote the bastards out.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 21, 05 @ 7:04 am
The public sector is under great inflationary pressures these days. The private sector can more nimbly react to rising costs because it has far more tools at its disposal - private financing, outsourcing, mergers, investing in technology, etc to deal with them.

Because of this, private sector employees contribute ‘more’ to the economy. This is not saying the government employee is lazy or anything, but since a private company has more economic tools to work with, it can get better efficency out of its workforce.

The problem we run into is when a government prison guard needs to be compensated, and must be compensated equivalently (we use the term ‘living wage’) even though he is not contributing as much to the fiscal economy, as say, a guard at a bank.

The bank guard’s compensation will go up as the bank’s efficiency goes up (note: not as the efficiency of the bank guard himself goes up). The prison guard’s compensation will go up because the bank guard’s compensation is going up, not because the prison guard is becoming more efficient. He is piggybacking off the efficency gains of the bank.

This cycle is starting to break down in Illinois because the state can’t keep up. This is what is killing the schools and the CTA.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 21, 05 @ 7:25 am
“Rein in overtime costs. Reduce the number of prisons, mental hospitals, and other institutions and put people back in the community with their families, with support. Reduce the number of children in DCFS foster care and help their families take care of them. Link teacher pay to actual performance not length of service. Etc”

As a Correctional Officer, I would love to NOT have to work so much overtime! It kills me when I can’t go to my son’s various games- because Dad has to work mandatory OT. I would love to release some of the criminals that I see every day back onto the streets of Chicago- just not on my streets- as I KNOW what would happen!!

I look around my once proud agency, and I see political hack, former sheriffs, county chairman’s daughters and sons in positions that they are not qualified for, and more restrictions proposed by the State and Feds of what we can and cannot do.

I know of at least two downstate prisons where new Asst Wardens were hired, and the staff has yet to see them, reportedly because they are too busy playing “politics” and chuckling about how its “their turn”. Now, when the prison system fails- and not if but WHEN….it will be almost humorous to see how quickly the fingers are pointed elsewhere.

The one anonymous poster had it right- most professional employees are simply hunkered down, doing their job, and hoping that none of the “good guys” get hurt in the next two years.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 21, 05 @ 8:30 am
It’s hard, as some of the other posters have noted, to make a pure apples to apples comparison of a private and public sector enterprise because of the different reasons for their existence.
However, if you take a look at some of the many private companies, some here in Illinois, that have struggled with many of the same problems State Government faces today, some common themes emerge:

Outsourcing.
Restructure employee benefits.
Remove layers of middle management.
CEO change.

The companies that have stayed viable, though, have not abandoned their focus on serving their customers and taking care of their employees within the limits of what they can afford.

It seems here in Illinois that the CEO and his executive team spend most of their time on managing the CEO’s brand image, if you will, and have given short shrift in particular to the “company’s” workforce with a resulting depression in morale in most agencies. You don’t need one of those advanced degrees like the fella who made the SURS benefit calculator to know that bad morale equals lousy service. (Ask anyone who flew on US Air over the holidays last year.)

Asking for ad hoc furlough days, when the total budget has obviously not been well managed, aggravates the morale problem.

Good leaders anticipate problems, involve all parties in developing alternative solutions, and work to implement the solution that best aligns all interests, even if it involves some negative incentives, like pay concessions, benefit changes, if that is what it takes to save the company.

This particular CEO barely knows his way around headquarters, let alone being able to name “18″ of the company’s divisions and what they do. Time for a change.

Comment by NumbersGuy Thursday, Apr 21, 05 @ 9:09 am
The only effective way to move people from developmental disabilities facilities into the community is to close facilities, take those jobs and resources, and move them into many communities. But a lot of forces resist this trend, some are the employee unions, some are the communities, and some are the families of those with disabilities.

But done right, with planning, and a willingness to move resources not just cut resources, it does work.

It is a shame that good professional employees, whether in DOC or DNR or State Police or elsewhere are stuck with a governor who is as one poster said is now looking to balance part of the state budget on their backs.

Comment by Mongo Thursday, Apr 21, 05 @ 9:13 am
OK. As a dog who was kicked on a daily basis, I can tell you from experience what is going on in our government.

I came in the hard way, no connections, etc., and worked my way to a PSA postion. It took me 14 years of good hard work, but I finally got to that point. Year 15 rolled around an we got a new governor, Bozojevich. Along with the boy gov came numerous kids who were inserted into postions of responsiblity and authority. Most all came from intern programs or were latched onto political donors. These clowns became agency directors, chiefs of staff and the SPSA’s. These people were clueless and did not know the first thing about people management, let alone running any government program.

Anybody who was there prior to their arrival were treated as lepers, on a good day. I watched good programs which helped the state’s economy, the state’s people and small businesses get chopped to bits and spit out. This was because it was in place prior to the new admin. The people managing them, me for one, were minimized and cast aside.

I tried to continue to do my work but I had to spend most of my time hiding under my desk because these newbies spent most of their energy trying to find a way to make the old employees to quit or trying to invent excuses to get them fired.

I am not quite sure what the admin wants to do or accomplish, but it isn’t helping the people of Illinois.

BTW. Morale? If there was low moral amongst the old timers, at least there would be some morale.

Comment by DazedGovernor Thursday, Apr 21, 05 @ 4:11 pm
Tessa. I enjoy your comments. I can tell you are on the front lines as I was. I have more about my 2 years with Blago people to discuss, but thinking about it makes me feel dirty. I need a shower now! More later…

Comment by DazedGovernor Thursday, Apr 21, 05 @ 4:17 pm
Is it possible that the continued tweaking of mid-management employees is a deliberate attempt to get them to leave? Remember, there’s a class of mid-managers who cannot join the union, but are still covered by Rutan and the grievance process. In other words, the governor’s office can’t just fire them like it can (and has) upper management, it costs the state money and requires substantial grounds for dismissal of these folks.

Short of dismissal, there is an alleged systematic plan to thin the ranks by showing these mid-managers the state’s “love”. Here’s the way it works:

No raises, while their unionized subordinates get one. They’re still around? Let’s try something else.

Additional 4% contribution to the pension fund, while their unionized subordinates get pay raises to compensate for their out-of-pocket loss. They’re still around? Let’s try something else.

Quit your job, and we’ll give you double your pension contributions back…but you’ll never see another pension check, ever. OOh, better take it, because there will never be another “golden” opportunity like this. They’re still around? Let’s try something else.

We’ll give you 13 week’s pay to quit, and you can still collect your pension when you’re eligible 10 or 20 years from now. (Hmmm….I thought the state wasn’t going to offer another package…why are they doing this?) They’re still around? Let’s try something else.

Let’s appoint “assistants” to “help” them do their jobs, and generally be a nuisance with no value to the service we’re trying to provide. They’re still around? Let’s try something else.

Let’s tease them with the prospect of finally giving them a raise after 3 years of no raises, only to have them “being reviewed by the governor’s office” ad infinitum. They’re still around? Let’s try something else.

Let’s make them liquidate all their vacation time at the end of each year, while their unionized subordinates get to carry up to two years’ worth on the books. They’re still around? Let’s try something else.

Does anyone care to guess what the next tweak will be?

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 21, 05 @ 11:23 pm
Tessa- I am not so sure that this session going overtime isn’t such a bad thing! If it gets BOTH sides of the isle to have to come to some compromises-possibly that can be a good thing. I do know that the Roddogs budget proposal is certainly not sufficient, and full of holes (and almost one billion dollars more than last year’s inadequately balanced budget)!!

Comment by Roy Slade Friday, Apr 22, 05 @ 8:33 am
I still don’t like the idea of the overtime session, because it throws places like where I work at into a tailspin. You don’t know if or when the food shipment is coming, because the vendor wants to make sure they are going to get paid, and there’s no money.

And then I get to hear from my area legislators that their hands are tied, they can’t do anything, because it’s all up to the governor, and he’s from a different party. They can’t do anything. Uh, that’s what you were elected to do. Do what’s right for the state, for your constituents. Last time I checked, humans had backbones, and these men don’t. They hide behind this mantra - I can’t do anything.

I want them to put their money where their mouths are. They’ll still get paid if it goes into overtime, so will the governor. We don’t even have the money right now to pay staff through the end of the fiscal year without cutting every single line item in our budget. Please. I defend people who can’t defend themselves, and those legislators and the gov don’t have a clue.

Comment by Tessa Friday, Apr 22, 05 @ 3:57 pm
As an individual who rose through the ranks of IDOC and had postings at several very tough facilities I am sympathetic to the line staff of all agencies (Correctional Officers, Mental Health Techs, Nurses, etc). The job is unbelieveably difficult at times. Now add to all of the inherant problems with those types of jobs an administration that just doesn’t care about staff, hired grossly incompentant and uneducated persons to run the agencies and you have a prescription for systemic meltdown. IDOC is literally run by precinct captains with no experience who spend most of their out of the facilities on personal or political business. While other agencies like Human Services have been taken over by absolute street thugs from the Chicago Housing Authority who enjoy terrorizing the staff.

I have a question for you AFSCME members out there. Will you support Blago next time he runs. My guess is that your leadership will endorse Blago rather than telling members to vote their conscience or (the horror of it all) support the Republican candidate.

Comment by Anonymous Saturday, Apr 23, 05 @ 3:24 pm
I am a member of AFSCME, work in IDOC, and have always been a Democrat. With that said I will only vote for a Govenor who can place a true form of revenue enhancement on the table. I believe that a state sales tax increase will encompass all the needs for a better revenues stream. I was at the last negotiated contract for the state Afscme employees and remember that Nancy harped on the insurance package saying that we needed greater usage charges. If the sales taxes were increased then spending would dictate the amount of tax true? If a person makes more money and spends more money then they would pay more taxes. This is the revenue increase that I think would help the most.

Comment by Anonymous Sunday, Apr 24, 05 @ 9:16 am
In response to anonymous on 4-23, I too have noticed a simular theme in my agency. It seems as if all the new hires are totally unqualified. I addition they had to have been told when they assumed their new positions that their only job would be to terrorize remaining staff.

Perhaps a QOTD should be how badly has the harrassment been towards existing employees been in your department.

Comment by Anonymous Sunday, Apr 24, 05 @ 8:53 pm