Just when I thought politicians couldn't get any dumber...

**keith720** · #1 06-26-09, 04:45 AM

The Democrat controlled gov't. of Wisconsin just signed a "budget." As a part of the "budget" all pay raises for non-union employees are suspended, and each employee, union or otherwise, has to take 16 "furlough" days in the next 2 years. The authors of this brilliant peice of legilature sold it on the cost benefits and how much it will save the taxpayers.

I work full time in a prison. There are 400 officers here in 24-hour a day positions. These are positions that have to be filled. What that means is that when an officer is on "furlough," someone else has to be there to do the job and take the position. As a reasult, for every day that an officer is on "furlough," another officer will be in their place, earning time-and-a-half! In essence the estimated 51,200 hours of furloughs at my institution alone will end up costing the state 76,800 hours of pay! At over $30.00 an hour for overtime, the state is losing almost $1,000,000! WHAT FRICKEN SENSE DOES THIS MAKE?

**Ducky** · #2 06-26-09, 05:04 AM

For politicians who don't live in the real world, it makes perfect sense.

**Shoestring** · #3 06-26-09, 05:30 AM

Ahh see Keith you are missing the point

They are going to expect the management to not fill those man hours and put your life at risk because they will not want to pay over-time to fill the gap.

See they thought about it, they basically told you, that you are not worth crap and funding stupid ideas like a commuter railroad in Madison to Chicago is much more important than you having the man power to back you up when the riot occurs in prison.

Dont worry, when you get put on disability from getting hurt at work because of the lack of staff, you will have plenty of time to ponder your suit against the state.

Flippin Idiots,

Dane County workers just took a pay cut (voted on) so that way they would not lay off over 100 workers (which included the sheriffs department)

**mavriktu** · #4 06-26-09, 05:53 AM

Keith,I 100% agree with both the responses you have received so far,Hmmmmm can I do that??

**mack** · #5 06-26-09, 06:14 AM

I heard Ohio is trying to do the same thing, and in Cincinnatti they have already cut back in the jails and several Corrections Officers have already been hurt and hospitalized. Still they want to do more cutbacks in emergency services. Dispatchers are on the chopping block right now and they are making more cuts in Fire and Rescue and Law Enforcement. They are making officers pull their cars over and walk a beat for an hour per shift to save on gas. Now, I don't want to get anyone angry but wouldn't it be wiser to pull some officers out of their cars and put them on a beat every shift for the entire shift? I'm not saying all but maybe a couple cars and alternate beat cop and car cop? Wouldn't that save on gas costs which in turn would save money? They could leave the beat cops car nearby in case they needed to respond for back up but the rest of the time be on the street? My dad walked the beat for years winter and summer. He also had shifts where he was in a squad car and times when he worked in the station itself.

Any opinions?

cwtlady · #6 06-26-09, 06:25 AM

My husband works for the county. When the roads need plowing or there's a road emergency on one of those 16 days off, he gets overtime. Bonus if it happens on a holiday, cause then it's holiday pay.

There's another part of the bill that says the county can't bid on some types of work over 25,000 which means shutting down the county, which means my husband may be out of a job. I sure hope not.

**Morris** · #7 06-26-09, 11:41 AM

What you have are politicians riding on short term gains, praying that the long term costs will be obliterated or absorbed by a rebounding economy. The reality is that it won't and we are in a slow death spiral. Seems that you need to write to the editor of your local newspaper to bring up this issue. Then again, with the news media outlets having a cozy, in-bed relationship with politicos . . .

**Car 4** · #8 06-26-09, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keith720

The Democrat controlled gov't. of Wisconsin just signed a "budget." As a part of the "budget" all pay raises for non-union employees are suspended, and each employee, union or otherwise, has to take 16 "furlough" days in the next 2 years. The authors of this brilliant peice of legilature sold it on the cost benefits and how much it will save the taxpayers.

I work full time in a prison. There are 400 officers here in 24-hour a day positions. These are positions that have to be filled. What that means is that when an officer is on "furlough," someone else has to be there to do the job and take the position. As a reasult, for every day that an officer is on "furlough," another officer will be in their place, earning time-and-a-half! In essence the estimated 51,200 hours of furloughs at my institution alone will end up costing the state 76,800 hours of pay! At over $30.00 an hour for overtime, the state is losing almost $1,000,000! WHAT FRICKEN SENSE DOES THIS MAKE?

With politicians, there is NO lowest common denominator. Once they get a whiff of that power, the game is over for you, buddy.

Car 4

**CTR man** · #9 06-26-09, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Car 4

With politicians, there is NO lowest common denominator. Once they get a whiff of that power, the game is over for you, buddy.

Car 4

Politicians, especially liberal ones = Greedy, money hungry, grabbing fools.

**ChesCopPodz** · #10 06-26-09, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Just when I thought politicians couldn't get any dumber

There's a phrase one never wants to lead a sentence with, you'll just keep getting surprised.

**keith720** · #11 06-26-09, 11:10 PM

The positions that I am talking about are positions that HAVE to be filled 24-hours a day. In order to staff the institutions minimally, there is no choice but to fill them. There are at least 20 other prisons as well as numerous hospitals that have to be staffed, yet The talking Heads in Madison think they are saving the taxpayers some money.Why the unions continually support Democrats is beyond my comprehension. In 30 years of working for the State and or a County, the best raises I ever received were when a Republican was in office.