How are public sector union workers not paying 100% of their own pensions and health care packages?

[vanaken25]

Part of doing a job is being compensated for doing that job. Part of the compensation package for SOME public sector workers is health care and a pension or another type of retirement package. Workers can choose to deffer more of their wages into their retirement funds or take more away in their pay check. In reality public sector workers, just like private sector workers, are already paying for 100% of their benefits by doing the job in which they are being compensated to do.

[osmont]

Unions have contributed to Democrats who in turn vote to give them more and more in compensation and "pensions" to the point that not only is it way out of scope for the quality of the worker, and in relation to a comparable private sector job, it's flat out unsustainable and preventing the hiring of any more.

If it were a private sector company and they could sustain it and stay in business, it would be great. Since we are all footing the bill and we will burden the deficit they've rung up, it's insane.

[burt]

I work for a private power company (nuclear). A year after I joined they put a cut off date on the retirement pension plan because it is going broke. Needless to say, I didn't make the cut, neither did 80%the of the employees. Now we are all on 401K plans. If private companies are having to cut down on benifits that are bankrupting them then public workers should be held to the same scrutiny.

We also did not riot or even complain about it, not a one, even though the new plan sucks compared to the old plan. They said "we're going broke" and we said "ok". End of story.

Are public workers special compared to private workers???????

[joachim]

I'm not sure were the right winger are getting their info, but public sector workers make less than private sector.

Last year, EPI published a paper by Rutgers University professor Jeffrey Keefe, which supplied overwhelming evidence that public-sector workers, on the whole, earn less than those in the private sector.

Some of his other findings include:

–State and local employees are substantially more educated than their private-sector counterparts. About 54% of state and local full-time employees hold a bachelor’s degree compared to 35% in the private sector.

–Public sector employees receive more of their compensation in the form of benefits than private-sector workers.

–Comparatively high rates of unionization in the public sector have helped to establish a floor on earnings for some lesser skilled workers, while the earnings floor for these workers has collapsed in the private sector.

http://www.epi.org/publication/public_sector_workers_earn_less/


Chase: check your source. http://reason.org/trustees_and_officers/
The board of directors includes David Koch.... Not exactly a reputable source.

[merla15]

I don't have a problem with being compensated for a job. That's called earning a paycheck. However, "According to the most recent Employer Costs for Employee Compensation survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of December 2009, state and local government employees earned total compensation of $39.60 an hour, compared to $27.42 an hour for private industry workers-a difference of over 44 percent. This includes 35 percent higher wages and nearly 69 percent greater benefits."

My problem is with overcompensation, especially when it is related to government. The government, unlike a private company has no true limit on spending. We've seen it just this past summer when the debt talk debates went on...and on...and on. All the while I sat back and wondered exactly how we'd managed to rack up 14 trillion dollars in debt without anyone really noticing.

Teachers and other public sector workers are valuable. Insanely valuable. But that doesn't mean they deserve more benefits than everyone else, especially when those benefits are paid for by other working citizens.

[colfre]

EXACTLY!

@jdman13, I am going to let a violent psychopath out just for you. We (my profession, prison guards, police, and fire) took these dangerous professions because they have pensions/benefits, if we don't get them, we will make you pay in your children's blood! You are going to eff me? No we are going to eff you!

Next time you call an ambulance because of a pain in your chest, you better wonder if that EMT is angry about losing his pension.

[regenweald]

Not all unions function the same way, but over the years we have seen increasing contributions by workers of both public and private unions into their health and welfare and pension funds.
In the case of public workers, they not only pay into those funds, but their taxes go to pay part of it too. So they effectively contribute twice.

[coinleain]

It used to be that public sector jobs paid far less than comparable jobs in the private sector. The benefits and security helped to offset the difference.

Today, the salaries don't differ than much, but they still enjoy the phenomenal benefits.

They should join the real world, but, as we're seeing in Ohio's results tonight, that won't happen easily.

[bocley]

Compensation comes in many forms, but it's still compensation. And private sector workers often get better benefits than public sector workers. I don't know why the conservatives want to make it undesirable to be a public sector worker. They're the same people who complain that government doesn't do a good job--you would think they would want to hire the best.

[dacy17]

When taxpayers are on the hook for all the costs of retirement and health care public employees are getting a free ride.

When costs go up for retirement or healthcare, that automatically becomes the taxpayers burden. To argue that is part of compensation is just plain silly.