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San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Yikes... I starting to type like Johnny V. My typo hero... time for a respite.— February 12, 2009 8:01 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
puissance.... love learning new words.. thanks Don— February 12, 2009 7:56 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
You also said in the post above ...[Is it really reasonable to pay firefighters in excess of $100k in salary and "overtime" (sometimes spent sleeping, shopping, watching golf games, or playing cards) as well as gold-plated pensions along with guaranteed job security?] Why don't you submit a FOIA request and discover how much of the overtime you complain about is reimbursed, at a profit to the City, rather than raising bogus, they're sleeping, they're eating, no one pays me to sleep whine. As JF and others have pointed out, the City decides how many FF it wants to hire, not the Union. It's the City that WANTS to PAY overtime RATHER than hire permanent employees. Why? Because it saves the taxpayers money. I'm sure the Union wants it the other way, and I suspect the citizens, who would benefit from improved response times, would want it that way too. Then you go on with other nonsense about going after folks. Isn't that the people's prerogative? If I remember my gov-ment classe, it's the people who elected these folks, it the people who can recall them, ala former Gov. Gray Davis. Pointing a finger playing the blame game rarely accomplishes anything. Boy I sure glad I had my caffeine this morning....I on a Johnny Vegas roll...— February 12, 2009 7:51 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Fred... you said in post #805 above [...SOME people can elect their bosses and thereby dictate their labor contracts.] This argument seem weak, considering the recent historical record and here's why. The context of your statement pertained to Council members. But it's the Mayor, his staff, and or hired consultants who negotiate labor agreements, not council members. If ALL POWERFUL labor unions you allude to have such control over their contracts then why were FF: 1. Denied a wage increase 2. Forced into a new health care system where benefit were reduced and costs to the employee increased. 3. Required to contribute more towards their retirement costs which is net take home pay reduction. Just Wondering...— February 12, 2009 7:37 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Another interesting comment is #804 is about killing off this thread after post #500. Well you certainly have opinions. Of the 300 or so posts since, you offered your thoughts 75 times, or 25% of the posts past number 500. So I guess you're 25% responsible for this thread continuation.— February 12, 2009 7:22 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Johnny, in #804 above you've asked about full salary. The question needs clarification. But in checking the City HR website, there are salary schedules for "recruits" which are lower. But you already knew as a person who attended an Academy. You also mention competition. I assume you meant in the context of public safety positions. Which, I suspect, is a pebble in your shoe, since these public safety jobs are NOT competing against private sector jobs. I'm not sure why you continue to attempt to contrast them. SD public safety jobs compete against offers from other municipal, county, state and federal employers and their compensation packages. So if Agency A is offering $100 to fix a widget but Agency B pays $200 to fix the same widget, what rate of compensation would you want? Go on...it's okay, you can admit it, you'd want the higher one. This is driving force behind most every profession in our culture. Whether its overpaid sports athletes in "Free Agency" to a guy or gal digging a ditch, to a Wall Street CEO. Everyone of them would pick the higher rate of compensation. So until you can get EVERY agency to adopt your proposal, or we slide even deeper into a depression and have a 25% unemployment rate - the idea might sound good here but is unworkable in the real world.— February 12, 2009 7:12 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
I love how Johnny always gives us HIS part of the truth and not the whole truth. In the article he cites above: http://ecoworld.com/blog/2009/02/08/calculating-e… Johnny skips over the private sector analysis... "In the private sector, this “overhead” that is actually compensation that directly benefits the employee can vary, with the 10% figure representing the low end of the spectrum. At the higher end, a private sector worker who makes, for example, $65,000 per year, may also have several benefits that increase their actual compensation. They will earn the employer’s payments on their behalf, which amounts to an additional 10% for social security and medicare. They will also potentially have their health insurance paid for, adding as much as another $12,000 per year or more. Sometimes there is an employer’s matching contribution to a 401K plan, possibly adding up to another 5%. If you add this all up, these lucky employees actually earn not $65,000 per year, but $86,750 per year ($65K times 115% plus $12K). In addition, the private sector employee may not work 2,080 hours per year - they may have 10 paid holidays and 10 vacation days, meaning they only work 1,920 hours per year. If you normalize this for a full year that totals 2,080 working hours ($87K divided by 1,920 times 2,080), you get a real annual compensation of $93,979 per year, or an “overhead” of 46%." You see I can pick and choose too. In reading the paragraph above it sounds like private and public sector compensations are comparable as cited by the author. I have concerns about "comparable" i.e. job tasks, between private and public jobs. But the point is they seem to be within the ballpark. With that said, I strongly suggest each of you follow the link above, read it for yourselves understand it and reach your own conclusion taking into account whatever bias the author may add. For me, I agree with our President when he says, "Change is coming". As we've seen in Vallejo, two of the four labor groups, have reached new agreements. Starting down the road of responsibility, while reining in, what others have called unsustainable costs. This will happen in San Diego too.— February 12, 2009 6:51 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
For those keeping score in Vallejo's BK proceedings... more news... "The Vallejo City Council voted 5 to 2 Tuesday night to approve an updated contract with the city's managerial and office workers. The Confidential, Administrative, Managerial and Professional Association of Vallejo (CAMP) employees are the second of four labor groups to reach a deal. The council, by approving the negotiated deal, removed the 40-plus member employee group from a pending federal bankruptcy court decision on the same issue...." As I mentioned before, labor groups can read the writing on the wall too. With this second group "falling in line" Vallejo has exempted two of its four labor groups from the Bankruptcy Court's actions.— February 11, 2009 12:13 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Fred, no personal offense, but I must file for immediate dissolution of "our" partnership. Maybe I should consider Mr. Vegas' services to dissolve it. Then again, maybe not. Regarding volunteers the PD has been "in front" of this issue for years. With more than 400 volunteers, some with hundreds of hours every month. Unfortunately, the "reserves" program doesn't draw what it used in the 60's and 70's... I believe there are fewer than 35. This is most likely due to the required training as mandated by the state as well as ongoing educational requirement. Not to many folks can meet the training requirements while holding onto a "regular" job to feed themselves and family.— February 11, 2009 12:02 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Seems salary issues are everywhere, including Vegas, no not Johnny Vegas. I'd give the media consultant responsible for this print add, published in response to criticisms about public employee’s salaries, an "A" for effective creativeness. http://media.lvrj.com/documents/salaries_comparis…— February 11, 2009 6:56 a.m.