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The Dayton Daily News broke the first big news of current contract negotiations this afternoon when they got hold of a bargaining update issued to OCSEA members.  The update said that the state was asking for, in union parlance, 18 ‘givebacks’ to help the state close its budget hole and avoid laying off many more workers.  Some of the concessions being sought from the state include:

• 5% pay cut
• 35 hour work week
• mandatory days off without pay
• elimination of personal leave, holiday pay and other benefit premiums
• elimination of longevity pay

A couple of things are actually pretty good ideas.  Right now, state workers get a boost in their pay at certain time increments for merely hanging on.  This is pay that has nothing to do with performance.  “Seniority” may be fine when judging who gets first dibs on the cubicle by the window, but longevity pay should have some performance strings attached or go by the boards.

Rumor has it that the mandatory days off without pay would be implemented through not paying state workers for not working on what are now paid holidays such as Monday’s Martin Luther King Day.  Being federal holidays, there is already a diminished expectation on the part of the public for state offices to be open.  If the state is going to furlough workers to save money, you may as well do it when they wouldn’t be at work.  I’m sure that most union brothers and sisters would forego their pay for these days for a couple of years if it meant lessening the numbers of their brothers and sisters laid off.

I can’t see a 35-hour work week, but what about a pay cut?

There are unionized workers in Ohio’s state government with yearly earnings that would put most autoworkers in the dust.  I’m not talking about the overtime commandos in the state’s prison system.  I’m talking about certain IT workers and others who make between $70 – 110k per year.  That’ s not “labor” money.

There ought to be a scale for any pay cutting.  There are plenty of state workers who are not breaking the bank.  Set a bar at say, $50k per year and don’t cut pay at or below that bar.  I don’t know where the bar should be, I’m just conceptualizing.

I do hope the OCSEA negotiators are well aware of the gravity of our state’s and nation’s economic problems.  Do I think the state wants to balance the budget on the backs of its workforce? No.  Will the workforce have to concede some ground and vow to fight for more in better days? Yes, or there will have to be more layoffs.

The national economy is expected by some to shed 500,000 jobs per month for at least the next six to nine months.  It doesn’t do anyone any good to add one single job to those numbers.  Negotiators on both sides of the table at the state should keep this in mind and get creative with this latest contract.

From the Times:

Even as layoffs are reaching historic levels, some employers have found an alternative to slashing their work force. They’re nipping and tucking it instead.

A growing number of employers, hoping to avoid or limit layoffs, are introducing four-day workweeks, unpaid vacations and voluntary or enforced furloughs, along with wage freezes, pension cuts and flexible work schedules. These employers are still cutting labor costs, but hanging onto the labor.

What the state of Ohio has begun in some state agencies, and will make available in most others, is the voluntary furlough.  Known by the dreaded euphemism, “Voluntary Savings Program,” the VSP is nothing more than a voluntary furlough.  A furlough of course is when an employer says, don’t come to work for a particular period of time, we’re not going to pay you, but when the time period is up – come on back, you’ll still have a job.  It’s unpaid time off.

At the state, employees who wish to take some unpaid time off will be able to choose to take a recurring time period off without pay – such as one week per month for a given period of time – or take blocks of time.  The voluntary furloughs are subject to management approval, although management is not able to steer employees to the program.  State managers will be using the ability to provide full customer service in their business units as a major determinant in approving voluntary furlough requests.

The state doesn’t have a great deal of experience with the program.  It’s been one of the tools in the box for some years, and was used to some effect at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources during hard budget times some years ago.

One bad thing about it is its name: Voluntary Savings Program.  This is just more government doublespeak.  Why not call it the “Voluntary Furlough Program?”  That’s exactly what it is.  When I see Voluntary Savings Program, I think deferred compensation or maybe the Christmas Club at the local state credit union.

Here’s hoping the VSP helps out on the budget front.  It certainly doesn’t do accomplish anything on the ‘say what you mean front.’