Fair
pay key for engineers
To the Editor:
I read with interest the article appearing in the Dec.-Jan. issue of The
Communicator regarding privatization and more engineering hires at the state
Transportation Department (DOT).
Believe it or not, PEF has contributed to the continuation of the contracting
out practices in the state by not successfully negotiating with the state
prevailing or industrywide pay rates for engineers.
PEF has tried to have the salaries for state engineers adjusted, and some
movement in their pay grades was achieved.
However, state engineers remain the lowest paid government engineers in New
York.
DOT has had a continuous recruitment and retention problem with engineers that
the department has not recognized openly. When it has another available
workforce — outside consultants — to use, DOT has no need to make or retain new
hires.
PEF calls consultants “pricey” or “costly,” but this is a distortion of the cost
issue. The consultants are actually being paid the fair market value that the
rest of the public and private engineers in New York earn.
The problem with proposing permanent funding for increased hires at the DOT is
that once the new engineers work for a few years and gain experience, many are
out-the-door seeking industry pay rates.
You can not expect the DOT to design and run bridge and highway construction
projects with inexperienced engineers. Thus, DOT’s dependency on consultants.
It is known among DOT engineers that a makeshift DOT region exists on Long
Island, comprised of former DOT engineers who left state service to work for
consultants on DOT projects.
I am a former DOT engineer, who is now working for an engineering firm. I’ve
asked young private-sector engineers if they would like to work at the DOT.
They all say yes, but they feel the wages are too low and would not make such a
move unless they could earn reasonable salaries.
A sure-fire way to reduce contracting out is to negotiate for equal pay for
state employees who do equal work when the state contracts out for services.
This policy has worked in other states with the result that contracting out is
done more judiciously.
In 2001, my final act as a member of the PEF Executive Board was to introduce a
successful resolution directing the PEF Legislative Department to draft
legislation amending the Civil Service Law section on Equal Pay for Equal Work,
which is limited to the state workforce.
The amendment would expand the law to require state salaries be at least equal
to those paid by the contractor whenever the state contracts for services
traditionally and routinely performed by state employees.
If you truly wish to control the amount of contracting out and retain a quality
staff of state engineers, then make sure they are as fairly compensated as their
fellow professionals across the state.
DAVID BERKE
Melville
The Communicator
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Editor or Darcy Wells, Editor-In Chief
The Communicator Feb. 2007
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