Unlike the deal cut in 2005, state workers who did not work during the Shutdown 2011 will NOT receive back pay though they were eligible for unemployment pay (and benefits, of course, like health insurance). It is unclear what would have happened if the Shutdown had continued into the fall. We were told that Governor Dayton did not even ask for back pay. That is good news. He wanted this Shutdown and came to regret it.
Legislation was passed, however, protecting pensions:
State Government Finance bill: this language ensures that employees’ retirements will not be impacted as a result of the shutdown.
46.33 Sec. 45. SERVICE CREDIT AND CREDITED SALARY.
47.1A state employee as defined in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 43A or 352, who was
47.2laid off or placed on unpaid leave during July 2011 and accepts recall during July 2011
47.3shall receive service credit and credited salary in a retirement plan as if the employee had
47.4actually been employed during the period of layoff or unpaid leave during July 2011.
47.5 EFFECTIVE DATE.This section is effective the day following final enactment
47.6and is retroactive to July 1, 2011.
Here is the posting from AFSCME 5 You can read the post but here are a few things we noticed. The website has a campaign button for Mark Dayton right on the front page. And the post has this promise to Minnesota:
“AFSCME Council 5 will ramp up our “Tax the Rich” campaign at the Minnesota State Fair, which is expected to draw a million visitors from Aug. 25 to Labor Day.” AFSCME, which has been spending big advertising dollars, represents 18,000 state employees.
So we are not done with that tiresome, intellectually dishonest and flabby attack on income, savings and investment. I think I’ll stop by their booth at the Fair and have some fun !
The Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) is singing the same old tune, as well. The website has a photo on their front page of state employees (wearing matching T Shirts) holding professionally printed signs that say “Tax the Richest 2%”. Hmmm…wonder what that cost.
We need to reach out to state employees and convince them that life without class warfare might actually be rewarding and a lot more professionally satisfying. More on that later!
David Strom: The Republicans Need More Backbone
David Strom
David Strom, policy fellow, had an opinion piece in the Star Tribune this weekend, “ Republicans Play Hardball Because They See the Light”.
Sadly, not even David Strom can make us smile. There is no humour here unless it is gallows humour. Please read the entire article (here are a few teasers.)
“The crisis is not that we are having a hard time lifting the debt ceiling. The crisis is that we have to raise it by $2.4 trillion just to pay our bills through 2012.”
“The United States is well past the point where we are spending our children’s inheritance; we are now spending their future paychecks to maintain a higher level of government spending than we can afford.”
“Despite the claims that Republican proposals are too draconian, if anything they are too mild. The much-vilified Paul Ryan budget does make what appear to be drastic spending cuts — until you realize that even those cuts don’t get us to a balanced budget until 2063, more than 50 years from now.”
“Far from being too radical, it would merely be a down payment toward the spending reforms necessary to get our fiscal house in order.”
“When the inevitable reckoning comes, the solution will not be so simple as raising the amount of money we can borrow; it will be a crushing austerity that makes the Ryan budget look like a socialist paradise.”
“The bills will come due, sooner rather than later. We can either make modest adjustments to our spending now to soften the blow, or keep living beyond our means until our creditors call in our debts.”
“The Republicans, if anything, need more backbone.”