{"id":413344,"date":"2010-03-10T18:54:54","date_gmt":"2010-03-10T23:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011311622_statevsprivateworkerscompensation.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-03-10T18:54:54","modified_gmt":"2010-03-10T23:54:54","slug":"state-vs-private-workers-compensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/413344","title":{"rendered":"State vs. private workers’ compensation"},"content":{"rendered":"

No comparison between sectors<\/strong><\/p>\n

I would like to commend Drew DeSilver and Andrew Garber on their thorough examination of state and nonstate workers\u2019 compensation [\u201cHow state workers\u2019 pay really stacks up,\u201d page one, March 7]. It should provide a quieting pacifier to the sophomoric whining we often read on the editorial pages. The Times\u2019 editorial staff consistently proposes reducing state workers\u2019 compensation as a simplistic solution to the state budget crisis.<\/p>\n

As the astute authors point out, a direct comparison [of state and nonstate workers] is not accurate. In fact, professional-level employees of the state receive less monetary compensation than their private-sector colleagues. Through the boom times of the \u201990s and until recently, I watched colleagues leave state work for better pay in the private sector. The benefits and gradual-pay schedules of state work was an incentive for me as a family man.<\/p>\n

Now, as desperation sets in with the slowing economy, the editorial board suggests that we \u2014 after committing our careers to the state \u2014 should be denied the maturation of our investment. Conservatives have been accused of underfunding government work in order to attract only the inept, thus strengthening their argument that government is incompetent. Is this approach what the editorial board is endorsing?<\/p>\n

\u2014 Thomas McClure, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

Anecdotal evidence points to inconsistencies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Apparently Drew DeSilver and Andrew Garber missed the story about a Washington State Ferries deckhand who collected nearly $73,000 in travel expenses last year \u2014 $13,000 more than his annual salary [\u201cLimits sought for ferry-job benefits,\u201d Around the Northwest, March 7]. In fairness to them I must have missed something in their story about salaries and compensation that didn\u2019t address health-care and retirement benefits \u2014 especially when the age old credo was \u201cthey get better retirement benefits because their salaries are inferior to the private sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

My daughter works in the Kent School District \u2014 a state employee \u2014 and has a medical-and-dental plan that would cost the private sector employee $1,000 per month and yet The Times\u2019 reporters say it\u2019s \u201cdifficult to compare\u201d benefits and pensions. The health-care and retirement benefits should have been the focus of story and not the state workers\u2019 salaries.<\/p>\n

Please think about the retirement-plan costs of 149,000 or so current state workers and compare that with the private sector.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Drew Popson, Kent<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No comparison between sectors I would like to commend Drew DeSilver and Andrew Garber on their thorough examination of state and nonstate workers\u2019 compensation [\u201cHow state workers\u2019 pay really stacks up,\u201d page one, March 7]. It should provide a quieting pacifier to the sophomoric whining we often read on the editorial pages. The Times\u2019 editorial […]<\/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-413344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413344","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=413344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}