Lame Duck with a Hatchet

Here come the state job cuts – again. Needlessly.

The State Employees Union has been twisting itself into pretzels to find alternatives to cuts, coming up with creative ideas to spread the pain among members. VSEA came to the table offering 4 furlough days, 3 unpaid holidays and use to medical plan surpluses to plug the $7.4 million hole. Putting the lie to Douglas’s claim that the Union refused to look at longer term cost savings, the VSEA even offered to eliminate the dental plan, wellness program and tuition reimbursements for more than $5 million in savings for the next 2 fiscal years. These proposals actually exceeded Joint Fiscal’s “workforce reduction” goals. This is astonishing compromise.

But Jim Douglas is doing what he always does. Digging in on a predetermined, ideological agenda (slash jobs, quash the union, erode government services with an eye towards killing them off entirely), refusing to give an inch as his “opponents” (no, he does not look at anybody else as a “negotiating partner”) meet him 50, 60, 70% of the way. He sticks to his agenda and takes to the press to denounce how unreasonable the other side was and how intractable they were, forcing him to do what he always intended to do from the outset.

It’s sleazy. Dishonorable. Especially when dealing with real peoples’ lives. Apparently to Jim Douglas, state workers’ humanity begins and ends with their Union cards.

I’ve received a couple responses on this. One of them solid, another – good, but a bit concerning.  

From the combined press release out of the Speaker’s and Senate President Pro Tem’s offices:

We are gravely concerned that the impending layoffs of up to 300 state employees could have a devastating effect on state services. We will work with the Union and the Administration to lessen the impact that these layoffs could have on Vermonters.

“Lessen(ing) the impact” sounds dangerously close to rolling over, given that the new law requires Joint Fiscal to sign off on large scale job cuts. This game’s not over – or at least it shouldn’t be.

From a few miles up the road, the Racine campaign had this to say:

Putting more people in the unemployment line cannot help our economy, and cutting services when Vermonters need them most makes absolutely no sense. State employees were willing to make sacrifices, but the governor failed to negotiate a settlement which means more Vermont workers will be out on the street.

Let’s be clear. If the Administration wanted a deal, they could have had one. They kept changing the rules. It didn’t have to be this way.

And it doesn’t have to – yet.

11 thoughts on “Lame Duck with a Hatchet

  1. The Douglas crew wants to look tough, talk tough, and — most of all — permanently shrink the size of government. This has something to do with their view of the future revenue picture; but I suspect it has more to do with simple ideology. For all his (mainly past) attempts at appearing moderate, Douglas wants his legacy to be a leaner, meaner (in both senses) state government.  

  2. And this from a Governor who has bumped his own salary up 50% since taking office.  Small State, high salary, makes a lot sense!  

  3. sorry, the panties on a pig comment threw me a little…  Jim has indeed =Jobs but the growth in government that he seems to decry is growth in Middle Management…   rough numbers at this point seem to indicate that since 2003, Jim has watched mid level managers numbers grow by about 50% and if you take an average salary and add in the benefits of those positions, we are talking about, or in the neighborhood of…..5 million bucks…  We have administrators supervising – program managers – supervising line managers who are supervising 2 employees in some divisions.  while the folks in the field are carrying caseloads of 700+ Vermonters…  There are still some offices in Montpelier where the actual employees dont know what the occupant does when Jim isn’t running for office… which apparently isnt that often…

  4. Jim Douglas and the rpublicans are more interested in busting the unions than in keeping Vermonters employed.

    Or even more simply:

    Jim and the Republicans = Jobloss.

  5. “as lace panties on a pig.”

    Now that’s a good one, Sue.  I would pay to see that happen:)  

    I wonder how many of Douglas’s friends are there with their hands outstretched waiting for the endless flow of taxpayer dollars for them to replace the state workers who got the axe.  He did that with Catamount, contracting a private company to handle the phone calls and info.  You break the back of the unions, hire a private firm to do their jobs, and smiling to the bank pocketing the difference, which is what the GOP is all about.  And now Salmon wants to cut unemployment benefits. Another one cut after Douglas.  

  6. It’s so very tempting to pretend like the recent developments fall entirely on Douglas, because I can’t stand the man, but I sat in the Joint Fiscal Committee’s hearing as one VSEA member after another gave testimony to the radical change in their ability to provide services to Vermonters after the last round of cuts and the negative impact they’ve had on their working conditions. I also witnessed many others in the community give testimony to the JFC that services wouldn’t survive. BUT WHAT HAPPENED, with the exception of Rep. MARK LARSON, every D on the committee voted with Douglas. Sure, there was a meager attempt to say “Do it with no layoffs,” but it was weak and everybody in the room knew it. — I couldn’t help but to ask myself, “Where is the leadership from the Ds on labor issues?”  ISN’T THIS A PARTY FOR LABOR? We have good allies. Mark is one of many, I know, but there is not enough. The Ds on the JFC are now shocked that Douglas didn’t work with VSEA to resolve the issue without layoffs?!! Are they kidding? – I saw that the party issued a statement. GOOD FOR THEM, but it’s time for D politicians to pay more attention to labor issues, especially when they hurt state services.  

    So while it’s safe (and let’s face it, fun) for us to comment about Douglas on this blog, we should also take a minute to ponder – What happened with that JFC vote? Why didn’t more Ds stand up?  

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