Labor
This has got to be my favorite argument that labor reps are making now that the problems are no longer deniable: “If you incentivize and stop burning your overtime, you’ll get $6 million in the blink of an eye,” [union lawyer Joseph] Rodio said Tuesday. Officers see the loss of prized overtime as a concession.…
If you skipped the historical essay to which Marc linked on Monday, give it a read. It concerns the making of the pension mess in Providence, and its most valuable insight, in my view, is the light that it shines on the entire dynamic created by public sector unions. The defining statement comes from firefighter…
Some last-minute budget amendments that Governor Lincoln Chafee has submitted to the General Assembly are telling with regard to his attitude and priorities: In another budget amendment, [Budget Officer Thomas] Mullaney announced a “medical-benefit holiday” for state workers, that will spare them, for one pay period, of having to contribute to their health insurance benefits.…
When traveling the state and talking to various union groups, it’s understandable–politically, yes, but also pragmatically–that General Treasurer Gina Raimondo is refraining from playing the blame game (well, except for various “politicians” of the past). She needs unions on board to make reform happen and if the rank and file can understand the scope of…
I’ve had occasion to drive through the construction site of the new Sakonnet River Bridge in Tiverton quite a bit, lately, and no matter how many times I see it, I never fail to be impressed with the structural inefficiency of the work habits. The other day, I saw three employees gabbing over two who…
RI General Treasurer Gina Raimondo uses an apt metaphor to describe the significance of the state’s public pension problem: “If you remember one thing from me this afternoon, remember this,” Raimondo said, speaking bluntly: “fixing this state’s pension system is not an issue, it is the issue. Our state retirement debt is an anchor holding…
Providence Journal reporter Mark Reynolds dipped into the pension situation in Johnston, on Sunday, focusing on this case: Fire Lt. William R. Jasparro was 41 when he ended his 20-year career as a Johnston firefighter in 1990. Jasparro’s retirement package paid him about $18,255 per year [with cost of living adjustments] — based on half…
A whopping 300 union teachers and organizers showed up for a weekend event at URI’s Ryan Center to back the opinion stated, as follows, by National Education Association Rhode Island President Larry Purtill: In Rhode Island, he said, many teachers distrust state Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist and her aggressive approach to changes that echoes…
Obviously it will be, if the goal really is for Pennsylvania’s children to participate in “good citizenship, free expression, fairness and thoughtful deliberation” and not that they are blatantly being used as pawns on an egregious scale to advance a selfish agenda. On Tuesday, across the state of Pennsylvania, unions and other Left-wing organizations will…
Cranstonite John Sauro was a year and some older than I am when he retired from the Providence fire department with a disability pension in 2000. Now 48, collecting a tax-free disability pension of $45,600 per year (on top of $1,800 that the city pays for his health care each month), Sauro spends his time…
