Now that we've done taxes, local aid and gambling, it's on to public employees. (When are we going to get around to religion and sex?) The Republicans want to impose a wage freeze on public employees and a hiring freeze on the state in general. The text of the bill is set forth below:
Mr. Tisei moved that the bill be amended by inserting, after Section __, the following new Section: -
“SECTION __. Notwithstanding any special or general law to the contrary no department or agency of the commonwealth may increase the compensation of any employee in excess of an employee’s compensation rate as of June 30, 2009. In addition, no department or agency may fill any vacancy, unless said vacancy is deemed critical to public safety, and a letter to such effect is transmitted to the secretary of administration and finance prior to the hiring of any new employee and said communication is returned with a signed approval by said secretary. This section shall expire on July 1, 2011.”
A wage freeze is, by the way, probably the right call on the merits. The pro-labor division of the Democrats want the issue to be resolved through collective bargaining, which I think is also correct. Most of the public employee unions have already agreed to a wage freeze. In any case, a wage freeze would be largely cosmetic, as it saves very little in relationship to the magnitude of the budget deficit. It should go without saying that the right thing to do here is for all the unions to simply agree to a wage freeze for FY 2010 immediately and render this issue moot.
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