Blog

Dean Baker

By Dean Baker
Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research

In recent weeks there has been a serious effort by the conservatives and even many centrists to whip up anger at public sector workers over their pensions.  

Their basic line is that public sector workers get better pensions on average than their private sector counterparts.  At the same time, most state and local pension funds have large shortfalls, implying additional government revenue will be needed to keep them solvent.

This is supposed to make people really angry at public sector workers.  The Right Wing noise factory has been whipping up hostility against public employees, sensing they may have another ACORN on their hands.  A New York Times columnist even called on retired public employees to give back pensions for which they worked and have solid legal claims.

 We should recognize the attack on public sector workers for what it is: A sleazy case of scapegoating intended to divert people’s attention from the real villains in this economy, the Wall Street boys and the inept economic policymakers who took the economy — and peoples’ jobs, pensions and home mortgages — to ruin and seem intent on leaving it there. 

The basic facts are straightforward.  Adjusting for education and experience, public sector workers actually get paid slightly less on average than their counterparts in the private sector.  It is likely the lower pay is largely or fully offset by a better benefit package, but it is likely the difference in benefit packages between public and private sector workers is not as large as it may seem. (more…)

Robyn E. Blumner

By Robyn E. Blumner,
St. Petersburg Times Columnist

Let’s be frank. There are contracts and then there are contracts. Those retention bonus contracts held by American International Group executives in its financial products division were apparently inviolate. No matter how many smart lawyers Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner consulted, the contracts were bulletproof, and a default could lead to punitive damages.

Then there are the kind of employment contracts that most of the rest of us have. They’re not explicitly spelled out in a sign-on-the-dotted-line kind of way, and there are certainly many fewer zeros, but they are promises made in exchange for one’s labor nonetheless. The difference is that these “contracts” are eminently fluid and disposable.

Here’s the employment contract we all had in mind when joining the work force: Work hard, be loyal and in exchange you can expect job security, steady income gains, health insurance and a dignified retirement.

But those ideas are so nostalgic today as to be naive.  MORE

First Published in the St. Petersburg Times Sunday, March 29, 2009