Is There A Raise In Your Future?

Probably. But working people still lag behind.

HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS

They are smiling.

"It’s been a long time," says Therman Lane, president of Local 3807 (Council 7), who with his wife Sherryion are happy about their paychecks for the first time in almost six years. That’s how long it’s been since these Texas state corrections officers received a raise.

But thanks to the hard work of AFSCME and other members of the state labor coalition, the Texas legislature passed a $100-a-month pay raise for every one of Texas’ 300,000 state employees, including 35,000 COs.

Why the sudden change of fortune for the Lanes?

Texas, and most states in the union, are wealthier than they have been in over a decade. According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), the 50 states combined expect to have budget surpluses totaling more than $20.6 billion in fiscal 1998, which has already started in most states. This follows bumper surpluses of $24.2 billion and $25.7 billion the previous two years.

So flush are tax collections, in fact, that fiscal 1997 budget surpluses may top $1 billion in California, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Alaska, Florida, Minnesota and Massachusetts.

In Texas and around the country, winning pay raises for public employees is particularly difficult at a time when officials may be looking to use their funds for other purposes. At the same time, governments are downsizing their employment rolls and providing tax rebates and other breaks to businesses. As many as 25 states are proposing tax reductions for fiscal 1998.

MAKING ENDS MEET. Jared Bernstein, labor economist for the Economic Policy Institute, points out that while the country’s economic picture appears healthy, in general, "pay raises aren’t broad-based enough, and the groups that continue to be left behind include low- and middle-wage women and minorities."

Ask the Lanes. Six years without a raise has not been easy. Both work part-time jobs just to make ends meet.

Prior to the recent raise, Texas COs were paid 13 percent below the national average. In fact, after their previous pay raise, many workers actually got about $7 less per paycheck because of higher health care deductions. Today, COs like Therman with 20 years’ service are lucky to make $35,000 a year.

"The Texas politicians are always talking about ‘family values,’" says Sherryion, who drives a 1978 car, "but they underpay us so terribly we’re forced to get other jobs just to support our families.

"We all deserve better, so we can spend more time with our children and live a decent American life," adds the 15-year corrections veteran.

PAY LAGS BEHIND. Public employees who receive a pay raise this year will not be running out to buy sports cars anytime soon: Their modest increases will not make up for 15 years of low wages. Brian Roherty, executive director of NASBO, admits that "states are not rushing in" to make up for past inequalities in pay.

In cash-starved Los Angeles County, for example, 400 county courthouse clerks, members of Local 575 (Council 36), haven’t had a raise since July 1991.

Since then the cost of living has risen by 15 percent. While judges’ pay has risen 13 percent, rank-and-file workers like AFSCME member Ruth Gilliland find themselves sinking deeper into a financial hole.

"We know we’re exploited," says the 43-year-old mother of Erin, 15, Alec, 12, and Kathleen, 5.

"The practical effect is that I don’t get to spend a lot of time with my kids," she laments. "I spend my life trying to make enough overtime money to live on."

Average pay for court clerks like Gilliland tops out at about $43,200, and that’s in one of the most expensive areas of the country, where the average home costs $260,000. Her husband Brent is seasonally employed as an auto mechanic inspecting cars imported from overseas, and goes weeks without income or finds himself working hectic 12-hour days.

They drive a 1988 Oldsmobile wagon and a 1981 Chevrolet, says Gilliland, and "our house is literally falling down around our ears because we just can’t afford to take care of it."

As Public Employee goes to print, Local 575 and Council 36 are running informational picket lines at every courthouse in L.A. County for a possible strike vote. AFSCME members wear lapel pins reading "7-91," referring to their last pay raise in July 1991, while county officials obstinately refuse to negotiate pay increases for its public employees.

"We’ll strike if we have to," says Gilliland. Thinking for a moment, she adds, "We have to."

DEPRESSED WAGES. Public-sector workers are not the only ones to see their wages kept low, explains Council 31 Exec. Director Henry Bayer of Illinois. Bayer, who is also an International vice president, says that workers in the manufacturing industries have suffered depressed wages in recent years despite record corporate profits, making it difficult for public employees to ask for more. Low union membership throughout the United States also weakens working people and keeps their paychecks down.

"The lesson for today’s working people is that we’ve all got to be involved in fighting for fair wages in all of the economy," Bayer says. "When one part of America suffers, we suffer too."

It is all the more remarkable that Bayer and other Council 31 leaders were able to win a significant increase in the state pension plan from the Illinois General Assembly in June. Under the new plan, the average state employee will receive a 50 percent pension boost, raising most to about the national average — from approximately $670 to $1,034 monthly — in a state that most recently ranked dead last in public employee pensions.

Illinois’ 80,000 public employees covered by the contract will help pay for the increase by foregoing a 3 percent cost-of-living salary hike the first year of the new three-year contract. Instead, they’ll receive a $560 lump sum, and annual 3 percent increases in the final two years of the deal.

The increase is a boon to AFSCME member Betty Mitchell, a former president of Local 51 (Council 31).

Now finishing her 31st year at the Zeller Mental Health Center in Peoria, Ill., Mitchell has wanted to retire for several years. "It’s not that I don’t like my job," says the mother of six who has 20 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. "But I’m getting tired and there’s a bunch of other things I’d like to do, like take care of my husband and see my grandkids, and maybe travel a little." Betty’s husband John Davis is a retiree and in poor health.

With the pension increase, Mitchell is now planning to retire in January. "Without those improvements, there was no way for us to consider my not working," she says.

WINNING DOLLARS. In June AFSCME Florida Council 79 negotiated pay raises of up to $1,200 for lower-wage earners and up to 2.87 percent increases for those making more than $36,000 annually. The contract, which covers approximately 100,000 state employees, includes better benefits and improved leave.

The contract ended a testy legal battle over benefits that began nine years ago. "It was a heck of a fight," says Blondie Jordan, president of Council 79, who fought tooth and nail for the leave and pay increases.

Wisconsin State Employees Union (WSEU)/AFSCME Council 24 concluded its contract with the state three weeks ahead of schedule. The contract includes a 3 percent increase the first year and 3.5 percent the second; 26 additional hours of sick leave per year; and an increase in shift and weekend differentials.

In Minnesota, the Council 6 state employee contract included a 3 percent increase this year and next, a 5 cent increase in shift differential and other benefits. One new item is a sad sign of the times: Any public employee attacked on the job will be eligible for an additional 260 hours of sick leave. This benefit has typically been granted only to law enforcement personnel.

The lesson in Illinois and elsewhere is that public employees cannot afford to stop fighting for a fair share — for themselves or for other working Americans.

Assessing the full state treasuries and modest wage increases across the country, EPI economist Jared Bernstein concludes, "a few positive signs of fairer wages doesn’t mean the battle is over."

By Ray Lane