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Metropolitan Water District yanks controversial contracts, for good
October 12th, 2009, 10:00 pm · 120 Comments · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
(Tuesday update: Met employees blast board for abandoning contentious contracts)
Just hours ago, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California pulled controversial new union contracts from Tuesday’s board agenda - for good.
This is the second time the item was supposed to go to the board for a vote - and the second time it was yanked when defeat seemed likely. The five-year contracts would have hiked employee pensions 25 percent, and raised pay up to 23 percent.
In a memo Monday to employees, Met general manager Jeffrey Kightlinger (below) sent negotiators back to the drawing board. ”There is not support for moving forward with the proposal as currently structured and it is in the best interests of the agency to try and determine whether a different proposal can be agreed upon so I am asking the negotiators to continue to try and find common ground,” he wrote.
Kightlinger continued: “I am sure - and, understand - that many of you will be frustrated that this matter has been withdrawn…. As General Manager, I recommended these tentative agreements. They represented a choice for the Board i
n terms of altering the medical retiree and pension benefits as part of a broader, five-year package that resulted from the interest-based negotiating process. We need to continue exploring a labor agreement that is in the interest of Metropolitan’s ratepayers and its workforce which represents some of the best employees in the water business. Such an agreement must also be in the best interests of a board and management team which continues to face tremendous economic and water supply challenges as does the region and the entire state.
“I have heard from many directors that while they do not favor the current proposal, this is in no way a reflection of the high regard in which they hold Metropolitan’s talented and hard-working staff. Rather the Board has come to realize that in today’s uncertain global economic climate, this proposal does not enjoy broad enough support.
“This process is a reminder of the unique role and responsibility that Metropolitan plays in this six-county region. Our responsibility is enormous - to provide a safe and reliable water supply to 19 million Southern Californians in the face of a changing climate, struggling water supply and ecosystems and a growing population. We must meet this responsibility through an open and transparent democratic process and in the face of public scrutiny, some accurate and respectful, and some, unfortunately, not.
“Metropolitan draws its strength from both its size and its diversity. Our 37-member Board reflects and represents the views and wisdom from coastal and inland communities and various political perspectives. We have a proud culture of rich and respectful debate. It brings the credibility necessary to a process that must reflect the collective decision of the entire region. The Board’s democratic process is ultimately what unites Metropolitan and this region. But, key to that is that each and every one of us continue to do what we all need to do to meet our mission of providing a high-quality, reliable water supply in an environmentally and economically sustainable way. We will need your creativity, hard work and good will in the negotiating process ahead. This is yet another challenge that Metropolitan will meet.”
Critics complained that hiking pensions for public employees now - when unemployment is double-digit and water rates are skyrocketing - was deplorable. The most stringent opposition was mounted by Orange and San Diego counties.
Supporters said the deal would save Met money over the long haul, and that Met has one of the lowest pension formulas among public agencies in the area, and was just moving up to the middle of the pack. The biggest supporter were folks from Los Angeles.
Over its life, the sweetened pensions would have cost about $70 million. The hike comes when Met’s pension investments are already down some $400 million.
What’s next? Negotiators have warned that that may lead to a very bitter state of affairs - and perhaps court; and folks in the unions have said they’d see such a rejection as a sign of disrespect.
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Happy?
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!
Now, let this be a lesson to you gov employees that want something for nothing, you got spanked on this scam, and the taxpayersa will do it again and again and again.
The gov pension gravy train jig is up. The taxpayers have spoken.
J Blaze if you looked at the contract we were saving the district 29 million a year. We are giving up alot for the little extra retirement. Why don’t you get your facts straight before you make a stupid comment like that. Why don’t you check out other state agencies and you find that we do not have the best retirement.
WOW!!!!!
Great news, Teri!!!
THANK YOU for bringing this issue to the light of day and exposing these scoundrels!!!
Without your fine work this contract would have passed through unnoticed!!!
Now let the lawsuits begin!!!
HAH HAH HAH!
“First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
To hell with the success of MWD and it’s employee “scoundrels” in dealing with water restrictions and such! They shall be this months pariah.
This is how it begins- take my nieghbor.
You gotta be kidding, this is the same as innocents being murdered, that is quite a perspective. Kinda exagerated don’t ya think?
Now watch them threaten a work slowdown and impede the flow of water to southern California!
hah!
That’s coming next!
Spoiled brats!
Be satisfied with what you have instead of wanting to fill more of your pockets with the public treasure!
If you don’t like it then QUIT!!! There are thousands who are waiting for your jobs!!!
The wife of one of my best friends works for DWP. While she would have accepted the proposed pension increase (who wouldn’t?), I can assure you that neither she nor any of her immediate co-workers are proposing any job action. Granted she is not a represented employee, but she plans to retire in less than 5 years, so the increase would have benefited her quite a bit.
I’m sure there are some that will react as you expect, but there are also many who will just keep on doing their job without complaint. Keep that in mind the next time you start to blast ALL government workers. You might retain some credibility if you limited your derision and derogatory comments those that have actually done something wrong.
What is your definition of a spoiled brat ?? We all make CHOICES in life and just because I decided to work for a public agency and have a secure job, salary and benefts does not make me spoiled but smart.
After being employed at MWD 20 plus years, I have definitely worked hard and deserve to be compensated accordingly and since we do not pay into social security, PERS is our alternative.
As for a work slow down, MWD employees are intelligent and bright individuals who do an outstanding job despite the few who grumble and report inaccuracies to the media.
Funny how many people are critical but probably wished they worked here too !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
denise says:
What is your definition of a spoiled brat ?? We all make CHOICES in life and just because I decided to work for a public agency and have a secure job, salary and benefts does not make me spoiled but smart.
===============
Translation= I am an over paid under worked MET employee whining because my scam was blown out of the water.
Jig is up denise-deal with it.
Johnny, I am not whining and what scam are you referencing?
There are many more agencies that have BIGGER issues than MWD, like the recent pedophiles uncovered at LAPD !!!!!!!!!!!!!
And by the way, what is your definition of being overpaid? If you are going to name call, follow it up with something more than words like ‘whining’
Well, I thought they would put it to vote. But this can’t be a surprise…..
mindless cowards caving in to political pressure from people who have nothing to do with the job. I bet if their 401Ks were doing better, they wouldn’t be whining about the benefits of public employees. Don’t forget public employees pay taxes too! Better yet, they VOTE and contribute to political campaigns. Good luck on the next election.
Nothing to do with the job??
We pay the freight, pal!! Whaddya talking about?
In bad times EVERYONE should sacrifice.
This society cannot afford to have the ‘chosen few’ who are exempt from economic meltdowns, especially when you don’t even generate any GDP!
Be thankful you have a job. Show gratitude for all that you have. Don’t pout because you weren’t allowed to rip us off for even a bigger chunk of the pie!
Honestly, I can see both sides of this. But OCO, there is more to life than producing GDP! Plus, I think you are wrong, if you read the definition of components of GDP it clearly states that government spending on public servants IS a component of GDP. Below is a good explanation that I found:
Components of GDP
GDP (Y) is a sum of Consumption (C), Investment (I), Government Spending (G) and Net Exports (X - M). This results in the common macroeconomics formula Y = C + I + G + (X − M). Here is a description of each GDP component:
* C (consumption) is private consumption in the economy. This includes most personal expenditures of households such as food, rent, medical expenses and so on but does not include new housing.
* I (investment) is defined as investments by business or households in capital. Examples of investment by a business include construction of a new mine, purchase of software, or purchase of machinery and equipment for a factory. Spending by households (not government) on new houses is also included in Investment. In contrast to its colloquial meaning, ‘Investment’ in GDP does not mean purchases of financial products. Buying financial products is classed as ’saving’, as opposed to investment. The distinction is (in theory) clear: if money is converted into goods or services, it is investment; but, if you buy a bond or a share of stock, this transfer payment is excluded from the GDP sum. That is because the stocks and bonds affect the financial capital which in turn affects the production and sales which in turn affects the investments. So stocks and bonds indirectly affect the GDP. Although such purchases would be called investments in normal speech, from the total-economy point of view, this is simply swapping of deeds, and not part of real production or the GDP formula.
* G (government spending) is the sum of government expenditures on final goods and services. It includes salaries of public servants, purchase of weapons for the military, and any investment expenditure by a government. It does not include any transfer payments, such as social security or unemployment benefits.
* X (exports) represents gross exports. GDP captures the amount a country produces, including goods and services produced for other nations’ consumption, therefore exports are added.
* M (imports) represents gross imports. Imports are subtracted since imported goods will be included in the terms G, I, or C, and must be deducted to avoid counting foreign supply as domestic.
That’s as dumb as stating I have my kid $10. With it he purchased a bag of apples and brought it home. Therefore, he contributed to our household wealth. HAH.
Any economist who is not a communist would tell you that, by definition, public workers do NOT contribute to GDP.
They are takers. Not givers.
Any economist who is not a communist would tell you that, by definition, public workers do NOT contribute to GDP.
==================
Come on OCO-don’t let the facts of reality get in the way of the gov employees fantasies!
Thanks for the economics lesson Dr. Bryan. Divide that by the square root of ignorance and you still come up with ‘in a bad economy people aren’t likely to support public employee pension increases’.
“In bad times EVERYONE should sacrifice.”
So what are you sacrificing? Just curious since I keep hearing this argument that everyone should sacrifice. Karl Marx would be proud of you. Are you giving up some pay? Perhaps you’ll refuse to take your social security when the time comes? That is after all a taxpayer funded benefit. Maybe you’ll give up some of your 401k to someone who has less? All for the common good of course.
Your arguments are designed to appeal to people’s sense of self piety, but are not rooted in fact.
oh, I’m thankful that I have a job. I am just tired of being blamed for everything that happens to this world we live in. We have all contributed to this mess.
Thanks John and Ken for keeping these deplorable hikes from going in effect. Keep up the work boys, and keep playing that arnold tax speech at the beginning of the tax revolt hour, it cracks me up every time.
Give TERI SFORZA the credit.
Without her John and Ken wouldn’t have even known about the proposal and it would have been approved under cover of darkness. They even admitted this on the radio.
Spectacular effort, Teri!
The equivalent of knocking one out of the park!
You had little to work with in the beginning and started digging. And your effort successfully cut this proposed taxpayer heist off at it’s knees.
Investigative reporting at it’s best!!!!
A fine example o
These people are blatantly ripping off the public. Some people have no honor or integrity.
Tell you what, find a way to lower water rates and do away with water rationing and then maybe the Met will deserve a 10% pension hike. 25% is obscene.
Thanks to Terri for her investgative reporting and to the Register for keeping us informed.
What were the MWD and Kightlinger thinking for even proposing or considering the increase? They are simply out of touch with the rest of us.
To the MWD employees who supported the increase - you are lucky you have a job and their are many of us willing to work for less. If you dont like it, then quit; I am sure MWD will not have a problem finding new employees. Stop complaining and face reality!
Haters. Jealous, unemployed, government check collecting, welfare and food stamp using idiots! You act like MWD employees don’t pay for water. They don’t get a discount on water. The rate hikes were established last year, well before the MOU went to the board! The misinformed media, who doesn’t share with you all the details has left that out. Along with far many other items that you gullable people are unaware of! I could tell you I’ve found the real fountain of youth and you guys/girls would buy truth in it! Don’t believe everything you read, and know there are always two sides to a story! The media, for those of you who are more intellectual to know how biased they are, don’t tell you everything…you’re missing tons of facts! Thanks for your time. Sorry there seems to be so many ignorant people out there. Don’t pass judgement until you know everything!
its not mwd’s fault of the coming rate increase. blame your own individual water agencies. mwd is not raising its rate for the past ten years and your local agencies keep on raising it every year. mwd is not raising its rate for the pension of its own employees , its because they are buying water on a higher rate!!!
This is great news, but this issue will come up again. It’s time to eliminate the government unions. Professionals don’t need a union to protect them. The unions are there to get the employees more money and benefits than they deserve for their work. Private sector employees compete for jobs and have to produce to get quality compensation and benefits.
There are no controls or real accountability with government jobs. What are he attrition and termination rates of government employees compared to public sector employees? Why should government employees be given lifetime employment with little accountability for performance?
400 million in the hole staring us in the face (pink elephant) and they want 70 more million in pension and raises? Depends on what side of the fence your on! Sure you public employees pay taxes but your also getting a bigger rate in return with pay hikes! Remember you don’t use your own tools, vehicle , gas , to perform your jobs at work. Guess who pays for that? And how many paid holidays you think we the public should get? You get paid when it rains ,vacations, phoney meetings etc. We pay for our own gas, drive on our own time to,between jobs and back home. You guys have been out if the real working world to long. You have any non union or illegals cutting into your trades? No! We just ask that you give back to the public that in fact have given you everything you have for your work. We are done with you getting Auto raises!
A THREAT?!?!?! “PUBLIC EMPLOYEES PAY TAXES TOO!” OUR 401 K’S!?!? FOR YOUR INFO ,MORON ,OUR 401 K’ HAVE TAKEN IT IN THE SHORTS AND UNLIKE PUBLIC EMPLOYEE LEACHES OUR PLANS ARE NOT GARANTEED TO NEVER LOOSE VALUE .OUR 401 ‘S ARE NOT PAYED FOR BY THE TAXPAYERS! WE ALL ARE SUFFERING AND YOU SCUM ARE CRYING ABOUT NOT GETTING A 23% PAY RAISE (AT OUR EXPENSE) AND A 25% PENSION BOOST(GEE ,I SURE WOULD LIKE ONE OF THOSE THAT IS GARANTEED NOT TO LOOSE VALUE!) YOU DEFENDERS OF THIS THEFT OF PUBLIC TAX MONEY FOR YOU WHINY LITTLE BEE-ATCHES ARE REALLY ARROGANT.YOU ARE LUCKY TO HAVE JOBS .IN THE NON TAX PAYER FUNDED WORLD YOU WOULD BE PUSHING A BROOM!
Muadib,
But the taxes you pay are merely taken from the taxdollars that pay your salary and pension.
You don’t create money. You just take it from everyone else.
Yet, at the same time you have manufactured a distorted notion which purports that you are deserving of a bigger piece of pie than those who actually create the money and hand it over to you!!
stop whining, get a real job and learn how to invest your money.
You are the moron if you didn’t switch to other investments when the Dow hit 14,000. If a crummy 401k is all you have, you need to get a higher paying job.
What’s next? Negotiators have warned that that may lead to a very bitter state of affairs - and perhaps court; and folks in the unions have said they’d see such a rejection as a sign of disrespect.
TO THE UNION MINIONS: “TAKE TWO WEEKS OFF…THEN QUIT!
Hello Rodney Dangerfield!
I didn’t know you rised from the grave to be a union hack.
create money! Gee, Sounds God Like! Hand it over??
Congrats to the whiners. MWD just walked away from saving 26 million dollars over the next 5 years. Remember that next year when your rates go up again!
Jack,
Many on this blog from MET have said water rates will go up anyway. Was this 26 million in anyway guaranteed. And I dont think you ever answered my other question Jack. How many private employeers can you name that fund the entire employees pension. Haven’t MET employees retirement been funded in full for about 20 years or better? And isnt that 12 or 13 % of there salary?
This is a step in the right direction regarding these obscene public employee pensions. I hope this is a wakeup call to all the union hacks out there ripping off the system. Good work Teri!
Let’s get the tax payer out of the loop for guaranteeing these pensions…and then public employees can increase their OWN pensions to whatever they want since THEY are ultimately financially liable…why not a 5% @ 50 plan for everybody. Haha.
This made my day!
Where’s Jan Duffy this morning??
Cryng in her coffee??
Quick coffee break here in the field, OC. Geez, you really do care after all, right? I have relearned some lessons about human nature during this debacle. We are all far from perfect and are capable of being downright ugly.
How about time for a CONSTRUCTIVE dialogue, now OC? No more name calling and insults. It gets us nowhere. However, I will take the dialogue to the union as a starting point, not here.
I am getting back to work to my earn my hard earned keep. Not asking anyone to sing Kumbya here, but the diviseness has to stop. It has been known to destroy a few empires along the way.
I agree Jan some are over board
DWP and MWD are two different agencies. MWD supplies water to DWP (who is also a member agency). Water 101
I hope this pension outrage doesn’t have any impact on the cops well-deserved 3% at 50 pensions–they deserve it!
Unless you are clearing IEDs in Afghanistan, nobody deserves a 3% at 50 pension? That is way too generous and will hopefully be reeled in sometime in the near future.
Just because corrupt politicans agreed to the corrupt union demands does not mean it is right. Especially if the tax payers are ultimately on the hook to fund these ludicrous unsustainable pensions.
This is a big win for the tax payer. Hopefully more pressure will be put on these pensions.
wheresthebeef,
You got that right. no one should be able to retire at 50 with 90% of their last paycheck for the rest of their lives compliments of the taxpayer. no one.
This is all about union corruption that has seeped into and tainted influential political offices. Not much different that gangs that shakedown businesses for ‘protection money’. Same church, different pew.
That where the effort has to go. To stop the corrupted unions from corrupting the rest of our system.
OC Radical says:
I hope this pension outrage doesn’t have any impact on the cops well-deserved 3% at 50 pensions–they deserve it!
)
================
Oh brother (rolls eyes
Are you kidding me? Since a lot of people here are talking about equality, the cops should be the first one to be cut, like 1.5% at 70-they deserve it!!! they are bunch of power hungry morons. how can you give them a better pension while most of them are just baby sitting a stop sign. the so called protector of people are terrorizing people. thats their expertise, issuing tickets!!!
Now you will all see, the water reates are going to go UP. The raised rates had NOTHING to do with the new proposed MWD contract.
Yeap, drink and use more water, your still having to pay for it.
Water works because we do, MWD employees are the ones who make sure that when you turn on your faucet, water comes out.
So think us us every time you turn that knob on and water your lawn.
Watergirl,
So what. We could staff the MWD with deep fry cooks from Mickey D’s. They could learn the job in days and keep the water flowing. What makes you think that you’re so special anyway? You aren’t flying spaceships to the moon. All you do is answer phones and turn knobs to open valves. Who couldn’t do that?
ocobserver- your comments reveal your complete ignorance of the mechanics of what it takes to get water to homes and businesses. Maybe if you stuck to the facts instead of personally attacking people you know nothing about we could take your arguments seriously instead of discounting them as the rantings of a moron with the IQ of a demented jellyfish. What’s your occupation? Maybe we can all speculate on who we think could do your job?
bingo!!!! i don’t think observer will recover from that post krunch….he’s k.o’d.
ntheoc-stop stealing MY lines!
coming from someone that knows less than 1% of my job makes a comment like this what a jacka$$! …. ok ocobserver this is a test how does our water get here what source and from what reservoirs and dont cheat … oh too late i forgot your a whining piece of $hit!
excuse me a floating piece of $hit!
I know MWD has some good conscientious employees, and the give us water, when we need it. But what good does that do if we cant afford to pay the bill.If water girl thinks she is not well taken care by MWD she should get a better job!
watergirl says:
Water works because we do, MWD employees are the ones who make sure that when you turn on your faucet, water comes out.
So think us us every time you turn that knob on and water your lawn.
===============
The funny thing is most people think of Enron when they think of MWD watergirl-why is that? Are you the Jeff Skilling of MET??
What’s next? Negotiators have warned that that may lead to a very bitter state of affairs - and perhaps court; and folks in the unions have said they’d see such a rejection as a sign of disrespect.
TAKE TWO WEEKS OFF, THEN QUIT.
The unions have it wrong. To approve this contract would be a sign of disrespect to folks paying the inflated water rates.
Water rates are going up. It has nothing to do with any proposed pension increase. We live in a desert and water is getting harder and more expensive to secure. Add to that the chemicals that are required by law to treat the water, some of which have had price increases of 2 to 4 times what they cost a few years ago and you’ll continue to see the prices rise even if you replaced every MWD employee with Mickey D’s fry cooks like ocobserver wants. Although if we did that I think outbreaks of cholera, dysentery, cryptosporidiosis, E. Coli, and giardia would quickly outweigh any cost savings on the wages.
k krunch says:
Water rates are going up. It has nothing to do with any proposed pension increase
============================
yeah, and the Earth is still flat.
The OC Register has 2 purposes. The first is to be a shill for the RE business. The second is to carry one about govt pensions being that we are really a society of paupers w/o pensions who will be working into our 80s.
I guess this is what a paper does that let go of all their reporters and is waiting to die?
wheresthebeef says,
“This is a big win for the tax payer. Hopefully more pressure will be put on these pensions.”
======================================================
this is your big win beef,hahhh!! this is nothing and the met district will have a good contract sooner or later.. there will always be negotiations with the unions and some contracts will be better than others from one to another. it’s just the way it is pal so deal with it and find another fantasy to dream about…
Good god, your ignorant union rants are ridiculous….get used to it, you’ll have to pay up sooner or later when the union negotiates a contract. Sounds like extortion to me…which it actually is.
I could care less about your union. I want the tax payers to get out of the loop for back stopping these pensions. That is it.
wheresthebeef says:
I want the tax payers to get out of the loop for back stopping these pensions. That is it.
=============================
About 85% of the population wants to get off th ehook ofr backstopping these scams, the ONLY ones that want it guaranteed by taxpayers are those doing the scamming-the 15% gov employees.
rick4us says:
“This is great news, but this issue will come up again. It’s time to eliminate the government unions”
====================================================
poor ricky does not like govt unions,boohhh hoooo! hey ricky put your money where your big mouth is and start with your journey… go to your next city council meeting or better yet higher than that and find a politician willing to back your agenda! oh ya you know nothing about unions or their purpose so you just spout off uneducated comments.
ntheoc,
You don’t listen well, do ya.
I told you a while back that the passing of Measure M by a 75% margin in OC a couple years ago was the first shot over the bough. If you recall, that was the ballot measure which forced all pension increases for public safety to be approved by the voter.
The shutdown of the MWD contract was the 2nd shot over the bough. It should have captured your attention. Ya know why??
Cuz the taxpayer is coming after your nestegg next. I told you to move off those darned tracks. The train is tooting it’s horn. Doncha hear it??? Ignoring it won’t help. It’s still headed straight for you and your stash.
One of these days you will tell yourself “Gosh, that ocobserver really knew what he was talking about. Why didn’t I listen to him?”
You still have a chance. Not too late, friend. Just trying to help you out. I know you’ve been caught up in a greedy, corrupted system and got dragged along for a ride. Nothing personal. In the end nobody will look out for your real interests. Save yourself.
Goldman Sachs is giving each employee roughly $700k per person in bonuses. Only a tool like you worries about the middle class government employees instead of the real people who are looting the country. America burns while people like OCObserver fiddle.
the whole country is full of douchbags like this!
Sidney says:
Goldman Sachs is giving each employee roughly $700k per person in bonuses. Only a tool like you worries about the middle class government employees instead of the real people who are looting the country.
=============
Another GED gov employee with more baloney spin.
So according to this Einstein, since Goldman Sachs is ripping the taxpayer off more then MET is, MET douchbags should get a free pass.
Brilliant deduction Mr. Felon.
Here, how about this-your sorry butt just got canceled, no pension scam, now deal with it loser.
k krunch. Please educate us then on what it takes. Is it managerial incompetence, wasteful projects, pointless legal fights, harassment, cronyism, etc.?
No. The water system was designed and built many years ago for one purpose, and it wasn’t for the ‘goodness’ of humanity.
MWD employees are maintainers of that system…there is nothing left to build.
Water system was designed and built many years ago- for a much smaller population and with much less stringent requirements for treating it. It takes skilled people to maintain pumps, piping, mixers, gearboxes, motors, chemical systems, filters and reservoirs. Skills that cannot be attained in 3 days by a Mickey D’s fry cook. Skills that are quickly disappearing from the American workforce. These same people perform upgrades for capacity (bigger population) and new treatment processes (legal requirements). That’s just the front line guys. Engineers and draftsmen are also necessary to design these upgrades.
Yes, MWD employees are maintainers of the system. It is a huge system and yet is maintained by a very small workforce.
Your statement that there is nothing left to build is incorrect. Many districts such as OCMWD, EMWD, DWP, and MWD are constantly upgrading and expanding systems for the previously mentioned reasons. It also takes someone procuring rights to water for an ever expanding populace that is quick to forget they live in a desert, and planning and storing the water in wet months for the drier parts of the year.
Contrary to people’s beliefs, water does not flow by gravity from 400 miles away and come out of your tap ready to drink. A lot of labor and energy goes into getting it there.
The real reason water rates are going up? There’s not enough water to go around the way we’ve been doing things for the last 80 years or so. It costs more to get it and treat it and there’s not as much available.
Oh yeah, regardless of people’s motives when the system was built everyone in So Cal has benefitted from it.
The good of mankind/common good argument wasn’t mine, that was ocobserver saying we all need to sacrifice during tough times.
Still waiting to hear what everyone’s giving up. It’s like lent but with a socialist twist! I have a feeling that the people who like to say this aren’t giving up anything willingly.
another genius that knows nothing yet finds a need to prove to us all he is a mutual douchbag!
LOL..K Munch just got owned
Does this article from the Sacramento BEE make your blood boil or what????
Legislative Aides (glorified clerks) getting STATE PAID HEALTH COVERAGE AT 50 YEAR OF AGE WITH ONLY 5 YEARS SERVICE!!
I kid you not. READ THIS! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Only in gobblement, friends!!! Only in gobblement!!!
***************************************************************************
Legislative employees still get a sweet deal
jsanders@sacbee.com
Published Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009
First of two parts examining the state Legislature’s budget and spending
California’s plunging revenues have not derailed one of the most lucrative perks of working for the state Legislature: lifetime health care for retiring at 50 after five years of service.
The sputtering economy is sparking efforts to slice pay and fringe benefits for hordes of other state workers, but thus far, records show the Legislature largely has cut around the edges.
The Assembly and Senate, in tightening their belts, have not imposed layoffs or gutted benefit packages that most private-sector employees can only dream about, including:
� Family health care insurance with monthly premiums paid entirely by the state. Five of seven plans require no employee contribution.
� Annual reimbursement of up to $1,500 per employee in the Assembly (not the Senate) for medications, co-pays and other out-of-pocket health expenses.
� Vacations ranging up to six weeks for longtime employees.
� Free dental, vision and long-term disability insurance, including limited orthodontic services, and a free $50,000 life insurance policy.
� Paid leave of up to three months for a new mother and one month of paid “parental bonding leave” for a new father.
� Heavily subsidized public transit passes, free legal advice via telephone, three days of paid bereavement leave, free counseling for personal problems ranging from marital strife to drug abuse, and 12 days of paid sick leave that can accumulate from one year to the next.
Perhaps the most valuable perk for the Legislature’s roughly 2,100 workers, however, is a defined-benefit pension plan that pays off whether the stock market rises or falls.
Key legislative benefits exceed those of rank-and-file state workers, whose fringe-benefit package outshines the norm in private industry, judging from a U.S. Labor Department survey.
The Assembly pays about $32,000 per year in fringe and retirement benefits for an aide with a $100,000 salary who opts to join the state pension system, said Jon Waldie, Assembly administrator.
Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, called the perks ridiculously generous and indefensible in a recession-wracked economy.
“People in the private sector who are having their benefits and their jobs curtailed are rightfully incensed that the jobs in the Legislature are some of the cushiest imaginable,” Coupal said.
Legislative officials counter that Capitol turnover is high � to lobbying or public relations firms � and fringe benefits help retain top-notch aides who provide continuity and institutional memory in a state with legislative term limits.
Unlike other state workers, legislative aides lack civil service protections, receive no automatic pay increases, can be fired without cause, receive no overtime compensation and must try to get hired by another legislator when theirs leaves office.
“With the Assembly averaging a 35 percent turnover every year, and with special interests having deep pockets to lure staff away, it’s important for the Legislature to be able to offer benefits that reflect the workload and help us retain experienced employees,” said Shannon Murphy, spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, in a written statement.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg added that lawmakers benefit when their aides “have been through these battles once or twice.”
“I think it really harms � the institution and the public, when good, experienced people leave,” he said.
Steinberg, speaking of employee health benefits, said the Legislature should be proud of retaining high coverage standards.
“We ought not be moving everybody down � we ought to be finding a way to move more people in the private sector and public sector up,” he said.
Fringe benefits for most state workers are negotiated between labor unions and the governor’s administration, but legislative perks are not � they are determined by the Rules Committee of each house, consisting of legislators appointed by the Assembly speaker and Senate leader.
Capitol aides, unlike most private-sector workers, qualify for a pension based entirely on their salary and years worked, not on interest earnings or fiscal conditions.
For legislative employees, the pension formula mirrors that of most state workers who retire at 55: 2 percent of salary times years worked, a percentage that rises slowly to a maximum of 2.5 percent.
Put simply, a retiree would receive $60,000 annually at age 55 from a 30-year career with a top salary of $100,000. The pension would climb to $95,000 if that person worked until age 63.
State workers contribute 5 percent of their monthly earnings in excess of $513 to the pension system, but the Assembly subsidizes the obligation of its employees, who are charged only 2.5 percent.
Legislative aides do not receive the state’s top pension, however. Pay for peace officers and firefighters is calculated at a higher rate and lower age � 3 percent of salary times years worked for a 50-year-old retiree � a reflection that their effectiveness can wane with age in what can often be physical jobs.
For legislative workers, the most unique perk may be the offer of lifetime health insurance at age 50 and five years of service. If they leave the Legislature sooner � 40 to 49 � they can defer the benefit if their career spanned 10 years in state government, the final two in the Legislature.
“That’s incredibly generous,” said Ken McDonnell, program director for the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan research group on employee benefits nationwide. “It’s exceedingly rare.”
By contrast, most state workers receive fully funded, lifetime health insurance only after a 20-year career. Roughly half the premiums are paid by the state after 10 years and that percentage rises annually.
Matt Ross, a former GOP aide, said the fringe-benefit package made him think twice before leaving the Legislature.
“The money is sometimes better in the private sector, but you may not receive the same sort of benefits,” Ross said.
Statistically, the legislative perks stand out among the overall U.S. work force, according to a 2009 survey by the federal Department of Labor.
Nationwide, only 12 percent of full-time civilian employees with medical insurance pay no portion of premiums and only 35 percent of the work force will receive a defined-benefit pension, the survey found. The Legislature’s vacation, holiday and sick leave benefits also ranked high.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has pushed to curb benefits of other state workers, including a proposal to create a two-tier pension system offering lower pension benefits to employees hired in the future. The governor has no control over legislative employees, however, because of California’s constitutional separation of powers.
With the state facing a $24 billion shortfall last year, prompting severe cuts to programs ranging from social services to education, the Senate made minor cost-cutting adjustments to its fringe benefits: Aides now qualify for only one pair of subsidized glasses, not two, and maximum annual dental benefits have been cut from $3,000 per person to about $2,500.
A standard work week for legislative employees is 35 hours, five hours less than for most state workers. But many Capitol employees often stay late, and virtually all put in extra hours during the year without compensation � many donating time to campaigns, or working nights or weekends during a crisis or in the waning days of sessions.
California’s budget crisis forced elimination of two paid holidays for state workers in other agencies, but not the Legislature. Still, Assembly and Senate leaders are expected to follow suit by eliminating Columbus Day and consolidating the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington into one Presidents Day.
Even with the cut, the Legislature would retain 13 paid holidays per year, plus two personal holidays for the Assembly and one for the Senate. The total, topping that of most private-sector jobs, includes Martin Luther King Day, Cesar Ch�vez Day, and two days apiece at Christmas, New Year’s and Thanksgiving.
Traditionally, legislative leaders also allow an unofficial “Happy New Year” week of paid leave, allowing lawmakers to close their offices from Christmas until the year’s session begins in the first few days of January.
A door-by-door check by The Bee last Dec. 29, for example, found 96 of the 120 legislative offices locked at mid-morning of that weekday. Of the 24 that remained open, most were staffed by just one person to answer phones.
Warren Buffet said newspapers are dead. This is why. Teri Sforza must be bored. She was just on John and Ken ranting on once again without telling the other side of the story. I used to subscribe to the Register. This is why I cancelled.
I keep seeing a lot of posts about how the “private sector” is and how unions are screwing everyone and how if you don’t like what you’re getting just quit. I guess I’m to understand whatever is done in the private sector is right.
Here’s my real life experience in the private sector. Put yourself in this situation: You work at a company for 37 years. For the entire time you were there, part of your compensation was a 2% pension and the option to have your medical though the company during retirement as long as you pay what the active employees are paying. You’re happy with your pay and benefits and work diligently during your career suppoting your family and planning for the day when you can retire early (62 1/2 instead of 65). Then imagine coming to work one day at 59 1/2 and being told your pension is being frozen (you won’t earn anymore credit no matter how long you work) and that you won’t get any medical benefit in retirement. You worked most of your adult life toward a certain goal that was part of your compenstaion only to have the rug yanked out from under you in the home stretch. This came at a time when the company was turning record profits and the pension was overfunded . The company then informs you that they’ve graciously enrolled you in their new retirement plan (401k) where half of the 2% they contribute is in company stock. Guess what? You listened when the company said they didn’t think we needed a union and we could all work together. You voted to de-certify the union you had because you trusted these guys. So there was nothing you could do to stop them when the time came.
Wouldn’t you think it a huge injustice if this happened to you? I guess according to the logic I read here, if you don’t like it you just quit and go somewhere else huh? At 59 1/2? Because the way they do things in the private sector is the right way. Right? And by extension anyone who hasn’t lost these kind of benefits deserves to be stripped of them. Because if I can’t have something no one else should either. Right? Oh well, “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need”, no one should have anything that everyone else doesn’t have, right? That’s what your buddy Karl would say.
True story. Happened to guys I worked alongside everyday. That’s why people have unions. Not to screw everyone, but to have recourse when someone screws with them.
Now you have people trying to defend capitalist ideals with Marxist dogma.” We all have to sacrifice when times are tough”, right? No one is sacrificing anything for the greater good when it comes to their livelihood, they’re having things taken from them. Anyone who tells you different is lying.
Kightlinger continued: “I am sure - and, understand - that many of you will be frustrated that this matter has been withdrawn…. As General Manager, I recommended these tentative agreements.
KIGHTLINGER SHOULD BE FIRED!!!
What I have found with the “news” and “reporting” done by Sourza and her talking bonehead buddies John and Ken is that they make up the news they report, never confirm that their facts are actually facts and act like pit bulls on the attack when anyone with the facts attempts to get them to actually report the news.
For example, Sourza reported that MWD employee X wtih 28.81 years of service whose annual salary is $81,182 would get a retirement under the current 2% at 55 formula of $53,717 for a windfall increase of $13,429 with 2.5%. WOW you all said, greedy union government slugs… Well, when the number looks too good to be true, that is because it is.
There is no way that Sourza could accurately calculate what the pension is under the 2% plan because that would require that she have the AGE of EVERY single person she “reported” on. She did not verify her calculations, because to do so might mean that the truth would get in the way of the hysteria driven crusade she and the boneheads Ken and John are engaged in.
By the time a person reaches the age of 63, the 2% plan increases to 2.41% ….and there is very little interest in an increase in the pension plan of a whopping .09%
Yellow journalist. Libelist. Anti-working class elitists. That is what Sourza and the boneheads are.
As for you OCO… you have the dubious distinction of being a dupe.
Questions that the Board needs to inform the People.
When was the last contract? (5 Years Ago?
If that is the case then that raise is only 5% a year (very reasonable)
Instead of just pulling the item the Board had an obligation to the voters and the employees to discuss the matter and take a full vote.
By pulling the item … it is clearly time to pull their powers.
Do not get me wrong… As veteran readers known I am for a good wage and benefit for poeple and usually do not have issues with reasonable increases. This matter makes me ill in the fact that it was pulled WITHOUT a vote of other Board Members. That is not how our government is designed to work. Too much power to one person.
P.S.. Enjoyed hearing you on the radio this afternoon Terry. I am sorry that I had not followed this issue; however, thank you for throwing (with a little humor) the other side and presenting a possible reason for the raise in benefits.
……
The person to fire is not the GM but the person who pulls this matter from a full vote.
Alan says:
When was the last contract? (5 Years Ago?
If that is the case then that raise is only 5% a year (very reasonable)
================================
Hmmmm….ther have been NO increases in wages in the real world since 1999, inflation is now negative, yet you cliam that 5% annual increases is “reasonable”….only in Fantasyland is it reasonable.
The person to fire is not the GM but the person who pulls this matter from a full vote
===================
He pulled it for a reason-he didnt have the votes-so it would have been futile to vote.
Our government need to follow procedures and take a vote regardless of the outcome. All they had to do is present the bill and take a vote.
So instead of looking like they voted against a bill and lose votes in the next election they simple pull the agenda item….
If they cannot take the heat … time to oust them from office. You can only assume the other matters that they handle the same way without due process.
And I am not sure where you are working without a pay raise, but the majority of people get an annual cost of living increase.
Krunch. Where are they going to get the water? There are no more sources?
Fact Checker. Why didn’t the Union issue ANY information countering this during the last two months?
Agriculture is by far the biggest water consumer. They (MWD) are paying farmers to fallow their fields. These are farmers in SoCal doing it willingly, not the ones up north who have been screwed by the DWR and Federal projects. This makes the price of water almost double what it was contributing to higher rates. They also purchase any extra water from any source they can like paying extra for Arizona or Nevada’s unused portions. This all comes at a premium price. Guess what? It also means less food is being grown.
They are working to construct more conveyance (Inland Feeder project) and storage (i.e. Diamond Valley Lake) to be able to transport and store more water south during the winter when it’s available. Part of the problem until this year was that the infrastucture lacked the capacity to deliver surplus water in the winter and hold it here in SoCal until it was needed. It just goes out to the ocean. These projects cost hundreds of millions in consturction costs. The infrastrucutre is not all built, contrary to waht some have posted here.
MWD’s Diamond Valley Lake holds enough water for all of SoCal for roughly six months. MWD has been using that reserve to supplement dwindling supplies for well over a year now and that lake is half empty.
If it wasn’t for people at MWD who had the forsight to build DVL 10 years ago So Cal would have been hit by the effects of a major drought right now on top of the recession.
As it stands now most people aren’t even fully aware there’s a shortage and can be manipulated into outrage over prices that are still relatively low. Up to this point MWD has been using money they set aside in what they call a “rate stabilization fund” to keep from passing along the higher costs of imported water to consumers. That’s being used up.
Agencies like MWD and others are also partnering up to try new things like seawater desalination and encouraging the use of recycled water for landscape which frees up water for potable use. OCMWD is already using OC’s treated sewerage to replenish the groundwater table there for potable use.
Just a question since you can’t always tell on the internet. Are your questions a request for more info or are they meant as an accusation?
Teri, I join with the many others who congratulate you on a great expose’ job. If anyone deserves to get a raise, it is you!
Kightlinger should either retire or be fired, and all raises/colas in this agency should be frozen for at least a year. I would hope all their employees are thankful to have jobs, especially well-paying ones, in this economy.
Thanks, Ms. Sforza!
If the fact checker thing was for me, the union probably didn’t issue any statements about this because their job is to collectively represent the employees in bargaining with MWD. Not to run a PR campaign. This should have been a collective bargaining agreement between MWD and it’s employees and not a media circus.
Also I find it hard to believe some of these facts weren’t discussed at the workshops held by MWD, but I wasn’t there so I don’t know. I do know that I saw in several newspaper stories that the rate hikes were unrelated to the proposed agreement, but it was only barely mentioned in passing probably as CYA by the reporter.
I didn’t listen so I don’t know, but didn’t John and Ken explain clearly to the listeners that the rate hikes had nothing to do with the proposal and that rate hikes are coming anyway, probably with more next year? I’m sure those shining beacons of humanity weren’t anything less than completely honest and forthright in their depiction of the situation…
Would MWD employees be happy with a defined contribution package or is defined benefits the only deal that will fly with them?
If they want a benefits package then I’m left to conclude that in this economy they are out of touch with the new realities of broken economies and empty government bank accounts. But there’s me being foolish again because MWD raises rates that get passed along so it’s almost outside of the public purview.
On the other hand, maybe we should just give them everything thing they want and when the pension funds can’t cover the liabilities they’ll have to declare BK and start over. I don’t see MWD employees addressing the future obligations or where the money will come from. It seemingly is all about the now moment.
Why does everyone think defined contribution (401k) is the answer? I know my 401k is sucking right now as I’m sure most other people’s are. So do we really think 401k plans provide the best retirement? Or are we really saying “what I have sucks and I’m pissed because you have something better”?
I have a feeling it’s the latter rather than the former.
If we are unhappy with 401k why do we think the answer is for everyone else to be in one? Maybe we should be asking why our social security (which by the way MWD employees don’t get, they get CalPERS instead) doesn’t provide better benefits.
My pension from my former employer is not taxpayer funded and yet people made similar comments. When I expressed disappointment about having my pension frozen people generally had the reaction “I don’t get a pension, why should you?”
401k is not better than defined pension, in fact, its far inferior. Pensions provide guaranteed returns, 401k do not. The problem is, who’s backstopping these pensions? That’s right, the taxpayers. Haven’t you heard, calpers is significantly underfunded and wants to embark on riskier investment strategies. Its responsbile for massive pension obligations that even the best investment managers can’t deliver.
I don’t begrudge you for having something I don’t have. I’m against the idea that I have to pay for your retirement when it is far more expensive than those found in a competitive marketplace. Sure, give everyone giant pensions, but in the end, who’s going to pay for it?
I say let anyone who is upset at not getting a raise or an increased pension switch places with one of us who have been unemployed for almost a year, with NO salary and NO pension. I would be thankful to have any job right now. Come back down to the real world and live like one of the real people.
Very good Patty they just dont seem to get it!
i get it your stupid!
ok go to school while working three 2 private,1 government get a degree in water science then when your done with that go file with the department of health for a water treatment license grade II minimum to do my job, then reapply for a water distribution license grade II minimum after you have the proper amount of college courses, then pass the test with a 70% or higher score, then we’ll talk lady i didnt make your career choice but its nobody but your own fault take responsibility for your career choices and get a trade that is recession proof and go to school to better yourself so you arent in these predicaments in the future. hows that for R-E-A-L! JACKA$$!
so what you’re saying is you made a bad career choice/move and we should feel bad about it?
really?
your a retard!
kevinshut says:
your a retard!
================
GED Boy how many times do I need to correct your sorry butt??
It is “you’re”, not YOUR you moron!
i dont have a ged idiot i have a college degree and your a d*ckhead so go f*ck yourself!
I’m not opposed to people making as much money as they can and receiving the best benefits package available but where I take exception is when the taxpayer is saddled with the guarantee that the payments will be made regardless of financial consequence to the taxpayer.
if the economy was chirping along and we were all wiping our behinds with $100 bills then fine, let’s increase benefits and pay but the reality we’re facing today is rather bleak.
I face the bleakness everyday as a private sector employer. I cannot, under any fathomable set of present circumstances, provide what the MWD feels it’s entitled to have it my expense and the stark truth is that when each of these guaranteed pensions (which can’t be undone by Federal law) start paying out someone has to pay and it’s me, and you and the person next to you and the person next to them.
Listen carefully - now isn’t the time. The state is broke, the county is broke and the cities are broke. We cannot afford everything out of the Sears Christmas catalog. Why is this so difficult for some people to grasp. It’s almost an attitude of getting mine now and screw everyone else who objects.
EatingFool I completly agree, as do 70% of the MWD workforce. That’s why they wrote a 0% contract. Here’s what that means. It means the new contract had to cost exactly the same or less than the old contract. In the process of doing that the negotiators realized they could also raise their retirement if they made even more cuts to their own benefits. In effect, management would not agree to anything the employees did not pay for. Surprisingly, they not only found a way to cover their costs but also saved the district 29 million in the process. I know you’ve heard a lot about what the new contract cost but haven’t heard what the old contract, the one in effect right now, costs. I can explain how they saved the money in another email. This isn’t inside information and I’m not a financial whiz. All the information is in the public domain. So, when isn’t it a good time to save that much money? According to people I know in the unions they were motivated by potential layoffs and furloughs. Saving the district money helps ensure steady employment. You haven’t heard about this though and I can give you a good idea why.
Last year there was a change in union leadership. Employees were sick of the old guard who had strung out negotiations for 18 months in the prior contract. They wanted a change and they got it. At least two od Sforza’s sources are from MWD. Part of the old guard who opposed the new contract because, get this, they thought the unions gave up too much! They started petitions to reject the contract but the membership shot it down. They lobbied the board to shoot the contract down but the board was not swayed. So they turned to the shock jocks and blogs. Feeding misinformation and building resentment. The result…the new union president is receiveing threats to him and his family, his home has been vandalized, MWD employees are characterized as out of touch brats and the board caved in, reinstating the old, more expensive contract.
I’ll say it again, the total new contract, savings minus costs, came out 29 million in the Black.
Patty, hang in there, eventually things will turn. My wife was out of work for almost a year and luckily I had a stable job or we wouldn’t have made the rent. We scraped by until things improved, you will too, just don’t give up!
That’s why I left the private sector. After watching friends and family, like my sister-in-law, work 30+ years and have her job elminated 2 years before retirement…I wanted something I could depend on. The captains of industry in the private sector are pulling a lot of crap and almost crashed our economy. THAT has to change.
Anyway, back to MWD. MWD is required by law to make their board meetings and workshops public - and they have. They are all archived on the MWD website. You’ll also find a memo there, written by the chairman of the board, AN MWD CUSTOMER, supporting what would have been a new contract.
Regarding some of the other comments here:
There wasn’t a big PR push by the unions because, at least what I’ve been told, there wasn’t an increase in cost to their rate payers so they didn’t think it would be a big issue. AND, they aren’t big on PR, they were focused on doing their jobs and trying to negotiate a new contract.
As far as the share-the-pain comrades go - you’re full of it. Five years ago when I’d been laid off and my wife was working two and a half jobs nobody bled for us. There wasn’t any “share the pain” then. The problem isn’t with MWD employees, it’s with the private sector as I’ve said.
Apologies for the long post, I’m not good at the sound bites you’re hearing so much of.
Might be 0% cost on paper but the thing is many of us don’t believe calpers can deliver on these promises. Private sector companies can’t get this kind of returns but calpers can? If you believe they can, once a law is passed taking taxpayers off the hook, go ahead and put any number on paper you want. Just don’t come to the taxpayer or ratepayers when your whole pension scheme falls apart.
http://www.mwdh2o.com/mwdh2o/pages/jobs/apply.pdf
Boy, I sure hope all of those Mickey D’s fry cooks keep turning those little knobs and valves, answering phones, and pushing buttons for us ungrateful local citizens. I tell ya, there’s nothing better than a tall, cool glass of delicious, award-winning MWD water as it hits my lips on a warm fall afternoon. No filter needed, friend! Come join the fun! There’s free food, free water, and MWD’s toilet paper is made from taxpayer dollars! This witch hunt is ridiculous. The “Lord of the Flies” attitude the public has taken since the Pied Pipers of KFI-640 took over is tired and petty. Why don’t they talk about the broken education system here in our “great state”? Healthcare anyone? Please. Fill out an application and stop hatin’.
One success at MWD
On Thursday, September 23, 2009 the AFSCME Local 1902 Executive Board received a validated Petition for Recall signed by 445 eligible voting members for violations of applicable guidelines for the following conduct unbecoming an officer:
On Tuesday, August 25, 2009, the day of the MWD Board of Director’s initial consideration of the 2009-2014 Tentative Agreement ratified by 69% of the 976 AFSCME Local 1902 voting members, Executive Treasurer Mary ***** e-mailed the Metropolitan Water District’s (MWD’s) Chairman of the Board, the Chairman of the MWD Board’s Legal and Human Resources Committee, and the MWD Chief Administrative Officer/Chief Negotiator for the purpose of discrediting and revoking the duly ratified vote of Union members.
SHAME ON HER!
On Thursday, October 15, 2009 pursuant to Article 4.9 of our Bylaws the AFSCME Executive Board in open session voted to reaffirm the members’ intent and recalled Sister Mary ****, thus removing her from the office of Executive Treasurer.
Mary, Group President Theresa, and former AFSME Presidnet Stephanie USED the press to discredit MWD employees. Mary is now removed from office and while we seem to have lost the battle for now, we do have ONE voctory behind us.
Shame on the press for NOT reporting the real news.. the facts. Instead they reported the posion that upset union reps spat in order to get their way and act like grade school children.
Get a life Mudzurack. You and your association goons are looking to blame someone else for your inability to get a contract. Your tatics will never change will they?
You have poisoned the workplace with your anger and inmaturity and now you want to poison the public areana, just go away…
You, Millierner and Shilo embarrass all of the hard working employees at MWD!
Wow…..I post something and what do I get? Threats of assault with pepper spray, being called a plant that works for the MWD, name calling. have you resorted to these levels now, when fact is presented to you? That is a tactic that the left uses when all argument is lost to them and on them.
I was not here to respond to these ugly acts on Friday. The reason? I had made arrangements to tour a water treatment facility, run by the MWD. But before I talk about what I had found, I would like to address a couple of issues.
1. I am not an MWD employee posing as a private sector person. I work for a printing company in Orange County, a non-union shop, I may add. I am an hourly employee with only a 401k. Something you are reading may have been printed by my company and I would like to say thank you for purchasing the service and product we provided, it will help towards my pay increase someday.
2. Threats of pepper spray in response to my post suggesting a scenerio that could happen to your paycheck or pay raise? What an ugly response, I figure if you can read and write, you are also capable of reasonable thinking and discussion. sorry to have been mistaken. May I suggest that you actually think about something to write rather than using vitriol responses. It will honestly help your cause.
3. Enough with one line name calling responses, this is a blog, not a school yard. We are on here to have reasonable debate and discussion on an issue, not play to the lowest common denominator.
As I have said in prior posts, The facts have been presented to you in a well written, articulate manner. If a person was truly trying to find the answers and facts, they would do research, talk with people who are in the business of water and actually do a little investigation work. Please stop relying on one sided radio opinions and please, please think for yourselves and stop being J & K sheep!
I toured the orange county facility for MWD on Friday and was very impressed with the things I saw and the people I spoke with. The engineering that was used to design and build this facility was incredible. A lot of effort and science is going into providing you with clean drinking water. There is constant maintenace going on with the facility to ensure that it does not shut down.
The people that work there are degreed with the knowledge that is needed to provide clean drinking water.
I saw everyone working, not sitting in a cubicle or just turning a knob, as some have suggested ( but then again you were not there to witness people working ).
I now stand in full agreeance with the employees of MWD in thier efforts to complete a contract agreement.
To those of you who still want to cry about feeding at the trough, tax money ( non of which is used in payroll ), etc.. is now going to fall on deaf ears. You have not made the effort to find the real numbers, which have been given to you in these posts but have been completely disregarded.
if you really look at what you are paying for water on your bills, it is just a drop in the bucket (pardon the pun) compared to your other bills. Don’t bother trying to say it is about principle, because your lack of effort to do your own research does not allow you to talk about priciples.
if you cannot make the effort to find out for yourselves without J & K’s help, then your arguments hold no merit and are a waste of everyone’s time.
We all are tired of you blog bullies, get a life and quit wasting your employers money by writing your posts on your employers time, get to work and provide for your own families and stop trying to wreck others lives.
I am sure that I will get more ugly responses from those of you whom I have listed above. But you know what? those of us siding with the MWD employees are right, and you will still resort to name calling and threatened violence
private sector guy says:
Wow…..I post something and what do I get? Threats of assault with pepper spray, being called a plant that works for the MWD
=======================
You’re OBVIOUSLY a MET employee.
And whoever called you a plant was wrong, you’re a STOOGE!
Now go spam another board with the MET BS.
d*ck!
I’ll attempt to translate watergirl’s post, for the non-insiders…..an elected union executive officer was recalled by some of the membership for exercising her constitutional right to free speech.
Whether or not this individual caused the proposal to be rejected, the fact that it WAS rejected proves that it could not hold up to Public scrutiny. If this person actually has the power to do this, then perhaps they should be sitting on the MWD Board.
Shame on all of you that voted for this, for attempting to cash in on the backs of your fellow employees, and for getting cozy with your ‘managers’.
Also, you should let the Executive President know that ‘Pitchfork Media’ is a copyrighted term. (pitchfork.com)
Lastly, while you celebrate that ‘vocktory’, here’s something you can share at the next Executive Board meeting, because I’m sure this will be new to all of you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
Nemo, the day and age of agencies paying the full boat for defined pensions will be ending at some point - I betcha dollars to donuts that a ballot measure/legislation will make it happen and two tier systems will be the norm.
So unless and until there that happens where there can legally be a change such that ALL employees, new and incumbent, would be required to pay in to PERS with an agency match, without the agencies/ratepayers being on the hook should PERS tank, something has to be done to help shore up PERS. While the new contract would not have the newer employees paying directly in to PERS, it would have had them paying 8% of their salary into a separate medical fund to help offset costs. Incumbent employees woud pay 2%, The 6% gap is signficant, and obviously some folks voted against it because they felt it was unfair, and I can understand that. However, the majority, like it or not, felt it was a good deal in these economic times where the public is demanding concessions. There are many things that the old union leadership did that many of us did not like either but we were told to accept it because we had no choice. The shoe has gone on the other foot, and it may be worn on both feet with yet more concessions ahead.
Even so, MWD is still a great place to work in my book, and I believe that we can get through this rough patch. ONLY if the membership starts to work together and stops all the finger pointing. No, we won’t be singing Kumbya amongst ourselves much less with the “pitchfork media,” but cooler heads will ultimately prevail.
I did not vote for Obama, however he IS MY President. I dont complain about it. As an officer, Mary had NO RIGHT to take a letter to the board, She should have honored the vote of the employees… period. END OF STORY.
It has nothing to do with “freedom of speech” it has everything to with winning like a child who did not get thier way. ALL FOUR bargining units PASSED the proposed MOU. ALL FOUR! That says alot.
Again, shame on Mary, Theresa and Stephanie… Again, this has NOTHING to do with FREEDOM of SPEECH!
She certainly DID have a right. As an employee, AND more important, as a citizen.
The Board was aware of the contract proposal, long before any letter. What none of you expected, was the public outcry. You all should have been a little more sensitive to what is going on.
Working with management is NEVER going to help 1902.
You all botched it.
Nemo:
Quite the Monday morning quarterbacking on your part, I should hope you are not taking any glee in this post. But again, this blog is about the pension debate. Unless you have something constructive to say about that, well, why occupy web space?
it’s funny that someone has no originality that he has to copy and paste what people type and make stupid comments! im done you people obviously arent worth my time or anyone else’s time GO DIE!
o-rig-i-nal-i-ty!
Jan.
“There are many things that the old union leadership did that many of us did not like either but we were told to accept it because we had no choice”
So, give me an example or two.
Nemo:
There are numerous things, but this board is about the pension issue. If the OC Watchdog was curious about the history of wrangling in the union, she can start a blog for that, or someone else can elsewhere. and we can detabe those things that many of us disagreed with.
My point here is that we need to start working more together and end the acrimony here and now. Shame and blame are useless. Lessons learned and moving forward are what counts.
Jan. Yeah. I expected you to say that, but you brought it up.
Start working together….do you really believe in that? The management has no interest in that, other than their own personal agendas.
It’s time to fire the management of this organization for incredibly bad judgement.
Gee, Jan, I missed your great reply. Probably because I have to actually work for living now.
Actually, I do take a lot of glee in my post, because once again you responded. And anytime I can get more nuggets of wisdom from you, I’m all in.
But I have to ask, unless YOU have something constructive to DO, well, why occupy cubicle space?
Have you even done anything since you’ve been employed there?
Cheers!