Keep Benefits on the Table in State Labor Discussions

Lasee’s Notes

Last Wednesday was the last official session day in the State Assembly. We honored three fallen soldiers and a former Milwaukee mayor. We finished business for the year by approving four state employee contracts. I voted against two of them and here’s why.

For several years, many government employee unions have pushed for pay parity (read as, they want more money). In their minds, public employees are underpaid in comparison to their private sector counterparts and therefore deserve a raise.

Unfortunately, the Legislature played along. Many state employee contracts (including the two I voted against last week) now include salary increases higher than those being offered in the private sector. That is on top of the generous benefits state employees enjoy.

Wisconsin is not unique. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, by the end of the 1990’s average state and local employees were collecting nearly 50% more in total compensation (salary and benefits) than the average private sector employee. Local governments were paying 128% more than private businesses to fund health care benefits and 162% more on retirement accounts.

In the past, government employees accepted the fact that working for the government meant working for a lower wage. They knew a generous benefits package made up the difference. Today, many government employees want to be paid as well or better than those in private business regardless of their benefit plan.

Let’s examine the typical benefits package a new state employee will receive.

According to WISCJOBS (the state’s online employment listing) a new government employee can expect to receive the following benefits:

• Paid Vacation: 2-3 weeks for the first 5 years of service;
• Retirement: The state automatically pays 5% of a vested employee’s salary into the account and matches another 5-10% for non-vested portion;
• Personal Holidays: 3-4 days to be used at the employee’s leisure (on top of the 9 legal holidays with pay);
• Sick Time: the employee accumulates 10 hours of sick time every month (unused sick time is carried over every year and upon retirement is converted to pay health insurance premiums);
• Health Insurance: the employee can choose from a variety of top-of-the-line health care providers for themselves and their family’s medical needs. The average monthly premium for a family plan is $55 (not bad considering the real cost to taxpayers is over $1200 a month, per employee);
• A host of other valuable benefits including life insurance, access to tax-free health savings accounts, income continuation insurance, catastrophic insurance, dental insurance, long-term care insurance, commuter benefits program, deferred compensation, and workers comp.

Many of you reading this in the private sector are probably questioning your choice of careers at this point.

Wisconsin should look at our entire pay and benefits package. It should all be taken into account. We should pay competitively with the private sector, benefits should be included when we decide what we compensate government workers.

Let me say that I truly believe that the majority of government workers are hardworking and dedicated employees. They produce and deliver the valuable government services many of us have come to expect. However, I think that it is imperative for all government employees (myself included) to realize how lucky we have it.

Our benefits and wages are among the best in the nation. We pay very little for the healthcare and other valuable taxpayer funded benefits we enjoy. The least we can do is admit it.

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Lasee’s Notes is a weekly column by Representative Frank Lasee, 2nd Assembly District, covering events in the Legislature and statewide.