Just Compensation

Public employee salary, benefits and pensions are becoming a contentious issue in just about every City in the U.S. and particularly in California. Here is an excerpt from an editorial in Tuesday's Los Angeles Daily News:

"...And for the city employee unions, it's time to face the reality of California in 2009 and send this message:
We cannot afford to support the lifestyle you have become accustomed to. We can't afford the generous health benefits package. We can't afford the automatic 3 percent raise you'll get this year - or the additional 2.75 percent "step" increase due some employees. And we certainly cannot afford to pay the entire, looming half-billion dollar bill to secure your pension.
Public service is honorable and important work. But public employees can't live in a bubble, unaffected by the world and the economy around them..."

Click here to read the entire editorial.

The sentiment expressed is very similar to that given by the members of the Council's Budget Advisory Committee. It is imperative that we in the public sector ensure that our employees ARE aware of the world and the economy around us. I'll be meeting with all of our employee bargaining groups over the next week. I hope that we can have a fruitful discussion that acknowledges the financial challenges we face in local government and the financial challenges that our citizens are facing as well.