ANCHORAGE CHAPTER’S PRESIDENT’S LETTER
 
This is the opinion of your Chapter president, Larry Rabideau, and not that of the Chapter.
 
 No doubt you have been hearing a lot of “gloom and doom” from our Legislature. No doubt you have been hearing the same story from the Administration. Yet…..you are hearing the opposite story from your union. Who do you believe?
 
 Is there a budget shortfall? Yes…there probably is. The money coming from OIL is not the same as it was. The price of OIL is causing the biggest impact since it makes up the majority of the money source for our state budget.
 
 Should we panic? No!! The state has money. The Reserve Fund with some $3 billion was specifically established for such a purpose as a shortfall. Our Permanent Fund continues to grow and the last time  I checked there was over  $25 billion in that fund. And….there are other accounts that the Legislature and Administration have chosen not to tap.
 
 I find it difficult to accept this state cannot afford to better our wages and improve our benefits when we have so much money in the bank.
 
 The Legislature is threatening us ahead of time to intimidate us. It is an attempt to deter us from asking for a pay raise…even though they know we haven’t had a decent one in 14 years. The Legislature is threatening us ahead of time to not ask for a full COLA…even though we have 20% less buying power because we have never gotten a full COLA. The Legislature is threatening us ahead of time because they know we have the ability to STRIKE and can shut this state down with such a strike.
 
 I have a message for our Legislature:  “We want what is fair.” What will we settle for? That is up to our negotiators and ultimately the will of the membership. Will we ask for the Moon? No…our negotiated positions are well researched and fair.
 
 The study that the Legislature is using as a tool to “beat up on you” is very flawed. (Please read the article that follows my message to you.) It is so flawed that no one should base an opinion on it. Your Legislature spent $225,000 for this “study”. One has to wonder if this study was done in anticipation of these negotiations.
 
 So hang in there folks. We will be meeting with the Bargaining Team at our upcoming Anchorage Chapter GGU meeting. Come on in…bring a friend….and make some friends.
 
 Hear directly from your negotiators on what is happening. If you can’t come…send someone from your office to ask your questions and get informed……….Larry Rabideau.
 

STATE’S SALARY SURVEY IS STATISTICALLY MEANINGLESS!
by Michael Lacey, Information Officer, AFSCME Local 52

February 3, 1999:  State workers are still angry about the flawed salary survey that was recently released by the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee.  The study concluded that, at some pay levels, state employees’ pay and benefits are generous, despite the fact that they have received no real raises in more than a decade, despite the fact that their benefits have been whittled away, and despite the fact that their cost of living pay adjustments – when they have been able to get them – have only amounted to half of the actual increase in the cost of living.

The fact is, during the past 11 years, the buying power of state employees’ salaries has declined almost 20%.  It’s no wonder they get upset when, right in the middle of contract negotiations, the Legislature releases a study purporting to show that a quarter of them are overpaid.

The main problem with the study (for which the Budget and Audit Committee paid its consultants $225,000) is the size and nature of the employer sample surveyed.   The sample is so small that it is statistically meaningless.

The consultants attempted to contact only 200 employers to compare their wages and benefits with those of state workers.  Of that number, only 68 responded; and, of those which did respond, only 41 were in Alaska!  Think about that for a minute.  Of some 16,000 public and private organizations in Alaska, only 41 were actually surveyed!  And only 27 others from Outside were included!

The data reported is unreliable and anecdotal.  To be meaningful, the study would have needed a response rate of 60 -65% with at least 300 - 400 responses -- not 68.

The study also is flawed in that it failed to make comparisons that should have been obvious.  For $225,000, the consultants should have compared Alaska state employees’ salaries and benefits to those of state workers as a whole in Washington, Oregon, and California.  They should have compared them to federal workers in Alaska.  And they should have compared them to employees of the five largest municipalities in Alaska.  Instead, they relied on responses from entities like the County of San Diego, the County of San Joaquin, and the Oak Lodge Water District (wherever that is)!

Besides being too small and too unfocused, the survey was also flawed in other ways.  Take geographic differentials, for example.  The survey included the salaries of state workers in places like Barrow and Kotzebue, where they receive 42% more because of the high cost of living.  But it failed to adjust for that higher cost of living because, it said, "there is no reasonable or consistent data available to make meaningful adjustments."   Well, of course, that skews the results!  If you’re going to count  higher geodiff pay on the plus side, you need to include the higher cost of living that is the basis for it on the minus side!
 
The survey also made a big deal out of the fact that benefits for Alaska state workers amount to about 46% of their salaries, compared to 39% for the others surveyed.  Well, that’s not even worth a response when you consider how very much more we pay in Alaska for health care, and when you consider that the survey failed to account for the State’s recent and radical reductions in employee retirement benefits!

 There’s lots more that we won't go into now.  State employees should be aware, though, that legislators have asked for -- and Local 52 is commissioning -- a detailed professional response to this bogus salary survey.
 

 FROM YOUR NEGOTIATOR- GORDON
 
How can we ask for better wages and benefits when oil is so low?

Because we will accept no less !

If we will accept a continued decline of wages and benefits I assure you that your legislators will agree to comply. If we all agree that we not only deserve a fair wage and benefit… but will accept nothing less…  then your legislators will reluctantly agree. Your negotiations team believes in the latter and appreciates your support.

Regardless of the expensive, elaborate, legislative study that describes state employees as overpaid… the facts contradict this fantasy. Sourdoughs can remember when there were at least two or three applications for every state job.  Anyone who looks at the Workplace Alaska Website will note that the state is unable to fill critical jobs in locations across the state. If we demand that state workers be paid a fair wage, we can ensure not only our family’s security but that we can recruit and retain the state worker. (A more realistic comparison of state wages is available at
 

http://www.muni.org/Services/Departments/Com/Research/Indicate/images/wage94.gif

We are now fully engaged in negotiations with the state. The negotiations are direct, open, and regular. To check out our progress come to our general GGU meeting on the second Wednesday of the month. Check out our web site or ask your local steward. If you don’t have a local active steward… get one now.

This is not a spectator sport. To succeed we need your support. Letters, POM, button wearing, posters and a refusal to accept nothing less than fair working conditions. In the coming months we will try to involve the GGU membership in this process. …..Gordon Glaser/ Negotiator .
 

   

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