{"id":345582,"date":"2010-02-19T19:25:41","date_gmt":"2010-02-20T00:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011132550_openingstateemployeecontracts.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-02-19T19:25:41","modified_gmt":"2010-02-20T00:25:41","slug":"opening-state-employee-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/345582","title":{"rendered":"Opening state employee contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robs from the poor to feed the rich<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Times proposes that \u201cstate workers should share medical costs\u201d [Opinion, Feb. 18] and suggests that employees increase their share of medical bills from 10 to 25 percent \u2014 with deductibles increasing from $250 to perhaps $1,000.<\/p>\n

Perhaps United Health Care\u2019s CEO, Stephen Hemsley, will agree with your proposal because he would then get a pay increase from his $1.3 million salary. In the past decade, he has received $1.7 billion and certainly could use some of the increased charges you suggest.<\/p>\n

You complain that the private sector recognizes the pain of increased medical costs and ask, \u201cWhy should we pay more when you don\u2019t have to?\u201d<\/p>\n

Access to health care and high costs are the symptoms of our sick health-care system that ranks 33rd in the world. Our government has tried for decades to reform American health care and the opportunity to modify our system is once again being considered in Congress.<\/p>\n

The Times\u2019 solution to charge the sick works for Rush Limbaugh, but fails for the 65 million uninsured. Perhaps you should include health-care reform in your next analysis of health-care costs.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Bill Taylor, Renton<\/em><\/p>\n

Look at Boeing\u2019s benefit packages<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why doesn\u2019t The Times criticize the Boeing workers\u2019 pay and benefits package? Every time Boeing workers go on strike and get enriched, it costs everybody in the state, including the state workers.<\/p>\n

To cover the higher wages and benefits, Boeing must sell its airplanes for more money. To cover that expense, the airlines must raise airfares. While it is obvious that the state\u2019s fliers are directly impacted, when corporate people all across the country fly, they also have to pay more for their tickets. To recover the dollars they raise the prices of their goods for sale to the people of Washington.<\/p>\n

For example, taxpayers have to pay more \u2014 through taxes \u2014 for the IBM computers they want installed in their children\u2019s schools because IBM personnel have to pay more to fly for business.<\/p>\n

The generous health-care package state workers enjoy is partial compensation for lower wages and a strong motivating factor. Providing good insurance coverage is cheaper than giving large pay raises because pay raises have the hidden 7.65 percent added cost of FICA and Medicare taxes the state has to pay \u2014 as well as the worker.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Byron Gilbert, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

Get benefit costs off my back<\/strong><\/p>\n

Responding to Nate Rozeboom\u2019s letter [Northwest Voices, Feb. 16] and agreeing with the Feb. 18 editorial, I\u2019m a county-government retiree, appreciative that I have my frozen retirement and the privilege of having \u201cpaying-in-full\u201d retiree\u2019s medical coverage and a Medicare premium.<\/p>\n

It troubles me that state employees continue their elitist attitudes in the current economy. Their state employment existence is on the \u201cbacks\u201d of the Washington taxpayers. For them to think they are so above those who really slave on frozen wages \u2014 scrimping just to survive \u2014 and above those who are homeless \u2014 including children \u2014 because of this turndown, reminds me of the financial executives who get bonus payments from stimulus and bailout funds while others suffer.<\/p>\n

The time has come for state \u2014 and federal \u2014 employees to get real, take off their blinders, stop their infernal whining, suck it up and join the rest of us who are striving to rise out of these desperate days. Maybe the taxpayers will be more supportive of them.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Marilyn Northrup, East Wenatchee<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robs from the poor to feed the rich The Times proposes that \u201cstate workers should share medical costs\u201d [Opinion, Feb. 18] and suggests that employees increase their share of medical bills from 10 to 25 percent \u2014 with deductibles increasing from $250 to perhaps $1,000. Perhaps United Health Care\u2019s CEO, Stephen Hemsley, will agree with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-345582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345582\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}