[eastbay]

http://www.fedsmith.com/pay_rates/

I just saw this. Incredible. Look at the locality pay window. A GS 11 in a Newark, NJ office with a few years experience plus OT will earn over $100,000.

Another good example is this one: I know someone who stamps passports of arriving international passengers in JFK. In a few months she's getting an automatic GS 12 rank. She also gets a 25% law enforcement boost which will push her pay to $102,000/yr and since she expects another $30,000 in OT she'll be getting paid over $130,000. For stamping passports. For standing around. For tossing luggage. We'll all seen mobs of them them in their sharp dark blue uniforms.

Please note: I didn't say they weren't hard working and deserving of adequate compensation, but when private sector workers are happy to get a job paying $20,000 we have a serious destabilizing disparity forming. When entry level cops and teachers are getting $30,000/year in many towns and counties across America.... well, this crazy disparity really must be addressed. $130,000 for tossing luggage and $30,000 for cops and teachers. How did this happen?

[Olaf]

Wow, I'm working at the wrong government level.

Olaf

[rangerone314]

OOOOO! Federalize all teachers and pay them on the GS scale and scrap tenure.

[gollum]

Yea, I would put the federal government in charge of teachers and education, the same people who cant run a budget or win a war...lets give em even more responsibility.

[Roy]

I get an email newsletter called usajobs.

The Federal IT jobs which have similar responsibilities to mine, pay double what I make and have vastly superior benefits. Why? Maybe because we have a gun to our heads (called the IRS) forcing us to pay whatever they say we owe. Do we not?

I can't bring myself to work for them. It would go against everything I say and that I believe.

I worked for a state goverment and the waste I saw there ate at me every day. The lackadaisacal attitudes and everyone knowing that their budgets were never in any real danger. They knew they were getting over and thought it was really funny. Like your buddy Eastbay. F that.

I'm glad I quit. I didn't realize how much it was stressing me until I left.

edit to add: no offense to current state or gov employees... there were many who worked with me that DID care. But the ones that didn't were like the rotten apple that spoils the whole barrel.

[mattduke]

Obama is payed $400,000.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mattduke', 'O')bama is payed $400,000.

[eastbay]

Funny? Nope, Roy, I don't think it's funny at all. I think it's sad. What bears pointing out today, and is the sublect of this thread, is the growing disparity between private and public employee salary.

Sure, I did it for a few decades, and saw some shocking waste and laziness most of which it seemed was just considered acceptable and blown off ... dismissed.... as, 'well, that's the government'.

Another fine example: At the local power plant (federally managed) common laborers (my friend is one) are starting out at $60,000 base pay. They earn $90,000 with OT. Yet we all know people today are queueing up by the thousands for hours to simply get an application for jobs paying $10 to $15 per hour ($20 to $30 grand/yr). Something has gone terribly wrong with this system of ours and it ain't funny at all. Something must be done!!!

[TheAntiDoomer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', 'F')unny? Nope, Roy, I don't think it's funny at all. I think it's sad. What bears pointing out today, and is the sublect of this thread, is the growing disparity between private and public employee salary.

Sure, I did it for a few decades, and saw some shocking waste and laziness most of which it seemed was just considered acceptable and blown off ... dismissed.... as, 'well, that's the government'.

Another fine example: At the local power plant (federally managed) common laborers (my friend is one) are starting out at $60,000 base pay. They earn $90,000 with OT. Yet we all know people today are queueing up by the thousands for hours to simply get an application for jobs paying $10 to $15 per hour ($20 to $30 grand/yr). Something has gone terribly wrong with this system of ours and it ain't funny at all. Something must be done!!!

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheAntiDoomer', '
')This is all pure nonsense. The REAL reason government employees make more than the average person is that the government does very few remedial jobs anymore, such as cleaning crews, cafeteria workers etc. A large majority of governmetn workers are far more educated and experienced that your average person, so OF COURSE they make more than the average worker. Ask any reasonable person like a a IT professional in the DC area, and they will absolutly laugh in your face if you tell them they can make more in gov than the private sector.

[Roy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')unny? Nope, Roy, I don't think it's funny at all

[Olaf]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hile there are federal employees who are specialists who deserve very high pay (who do difficult or dangerous jobs), I just don't buy that the average fed. gommint worker is way overcompensated, when benefits are factored in. Plus, they have a lot more job security on average than the private sector workers.

[Roy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')enefits and job security are why I work in government, but I'm not a fed, and I make nowhere near $100 G a year; and I work in Information Systems.

[Olaf]

So far New York has a stable pension plan. So far. I'm not really banking on it, but hoping to see it someday.

Olaf

[highlander]

What do governments do to circle the wagons when they are in trouble
hire more law enforcement (homeland security)
pay more to their workers
maybe enlist support of labor unions

Look at Zimbabwe.

In the end, it doesn't help.

If you work for the government, consider yourself fortunate. You might be supporting a large extended family before this storm has passed.

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', 'h')ttp://www.fedsmith.com/pay_rates/

I just saw this. Incredible. Look at the locality pay window. A GS 11 in a Newark, NJ office with a few years experience plus OT will earn over $100,000.

Another good example is this one: I know someone who stamps passports of arriving international passengers in JFK. In a few months she's getting an automatic GS 12 rank. She also gets a 25% law enforcement boost which will push her pay to $102,000/yr and since she expects another $30,000 in OT she'll be getting paid over $130,000. For stamping passports. For standing around. For tossing luggage. We'll all seen mobs of them them in their sharp dark blue uniforms.

Please note: I didn't say they weren't hard working and deserving of adequate compensation, but when private sector workers are happy to get a job paying $20,000 we have a serious destabilizing disparity forming. When entry level cops and teachers are getting $30,000/year in many towns and counties across America.... well, this crazy disparity really must be addressed. $130,000 for tossing luggage and $30,000 for cops and teachers. How did this happen?

[eastbay]

Tanada, in a few metro areas food, teachers, and a host of other public workers earn plenty. In San Francisco cops all make $100+. But the federal employees earn huge salaries even in poorer parts of the country. Our luggage searching passport clerk will earn $100 grand or much more even in desolate small towns along the Texas border, for example, where a cop might make $25,000. This is unsustainable.

[shortonsense]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', ' ')Our luggage searching passport clerk will earn $100 grand or much more even in desolate small towns along the Texas border, for example, where a cop might make $25,000. This is unsustainable.

[eastbay]

Yes! The $130,000 luggage searching passport stamping clerk might undergo testing and certifications similar to the $30,000 rural deputy sheriff or police officer. It's just flat out crazy!

[shortonsense]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', 'Y')es! The $130,000 luggage searching passport stamping clerk might undergo testing and certifications similar to the $30,000 rural deputy sheriff or police officer. It's just flat out crazy!