PEF: ‘Cut waste not workers
By
KENNETH BRYNIEN
For most of us, summer is a time for relaxation, picnics, barbecues, and
vacations.
However, in the weeks following the Independence Day holiday, the governor
set off his own fireworks. His dire predictions of the state’s fiscal
condition, increasingly urgent warnings on the state’s revenue shortfall,
and his calls for additional cuts in the budget for state operations sent
shock waves through the state work force.
News reports have even raised the prospect of layoffs of state workers – a
predictable knee-jerk reaction to the state’s fiscal crisis by
anti-public-sector interests.
The job security of our members is PEF’s top priority. We have worked to
educate the state’s leaders on how damaging cuts to the state work force can
be, not only in terms of the emotional costs to those threatened by layoff,
but in terms of the costs to state services and to the state’s economic
recovery by taking money out of the economy just when it is needed the most.
I have met with the governor and his staff and have identified more than $1
billion in potential savings and revenue that is achievable if leaders have
the political will to make the necessary changes.
These options include savings of:
• $500-$750 million annually by targeting more than $3 billion in wasteful
contracting;
• $150 million (the equivalent of 2,500 state employees) by reducing
overtime and actually hiring more employees;
• $200 million through bulk purchasing of prescription drugs; and
• $25 million this year, and at least $100 million in each subsequent year,
by passing the “bigger, better bottle bill.”
Enhanced opportunities for telecommuting and flexible work schedules would
save even more.
These are just some of the many steps that can and should be taken before
budget cuts that affect our members’ job security and the services our
members provide are even considered.
No doubt, we all will be asked to sacrifice, but we will not be victims.
As the leader of our union, I promise you PEF will do whatever it takes to
preserve your job security.
We will take our message to the streets, if necessary, to make sure it’s
heard loud and clear:
“Cut the waste, not the workers!
