Iowa state employees being asked to give up raises

[TexasTowelie]

DES MOINES — Hundreds of state public employee union members are being asked to forego a 1.25 percent pay increase they’ve been receiving since Jan. 1 without getting any assurance from the state it would prevent layoffs.

About 19,000 state employees represented by AFSCME will begin voting in early February whether to accept the state’s request to give up the raise agreed to in collective bargaining, according to Danny Homan, president of AFSCME Iowa Council 61.

For an AFSCME member in the midrange of the state pay scale, giving up the raise would amount to about 35 cents per hour or $61 a month, Homan estimated.

Members of the State Police Officers Council and Iowa United Professionals already have rejected the request made by Iowa Department of Administrative Services Director Janet Phipps. A decision on adjusting wages for non-contract employees will be made by the Governor’s Office and the Department of Management, she said.

Read more: http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/iowa-state-employees-being-asked-to-give-up-raises-20170126

[HassleCat]

1. Nope.

Unless they get something in return, why bother?

[procon]

2. First, the state should repeal all their corporate welfare schemes that

stole revenue from the state treasury. Rather than balancing their budget on the backs of the workers that they've already ripped off by diverting tax money into the pockets of campaign donors and cheating their communities out of lost revenues that those companies didn't pay, claw back the freebies, the giveaways, the perks, breaks, scams, bribes, etc.

[rurallib]

4. AMEN!

[IADEMO2004]

3. 2013:Governor, lawmakers brag about largest tax cut in Iowa history

http://www.thegazette.com/2013/06/12/governor-lawmakers-brag-about-largest-tax-cut-in-iowa-history

Branstad followed his lieutenant governor, Kim Reynolds, House Speaker Kraig Paulsen and Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal to the microphone so the magnitude of the tax cut was old news before it was his turn to brag about the capstone of the 2013 legislative session.

However, that didn’t stop the governor, who called the bill the “beginning of correcting a long, long ago mistake.”

“As you’ve already heard, this is the largest tax cut on Iowa history and (the property tax) is the most unpopular tax that we have,” Branstad said.

The bill, which was approved 43-6 in the Democratic-controlled Senate and 84-13 in GOP-controlled House, is projected to provide $4.4 billion in property tax relief over 10 years as well as $90 million a year in income tax savings.

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$4.4 billion cut over ten years.

I guess the cows have come home to roost now.