Kentucky - Activists Save Paid Vacation

TOUGH FIGHTERS | Corrections officers Jamie Lawrence and Joe Blincoe helped defeat a proposal to cut three days of holiday pay for all state employees.

TOUGH FIGHTERS | Corrections officers Jamie Lawrence and Joe Blincoe helped defeat a proposal to cut three days of holiday pay for all state employees.

Photo Credit: David Patterson

Frankfort, Kentucky

In the midst of their campaign to bring a union contract to 9,000 state employees, members of Council 62 learned this summer that the governor wanted to suspend three to five paid holidays for all state employees. The union’s activists mounted a full-court press to defeat the plan—and won.

David Warrick, executive director of Council 62 and an International vice president, says the proposal of Gov. Steve Beshear (D) to suspend three paid holidays for workers making less than $50,000 a year, and five holidays for those making more, was a political misstep.

“The savings he would get—a little over $10 million—sounds like a lot of money, but when you’re talking about a $1 billion deficit, it doesn’t make much difference.”

It would have made a great difference to the thousands of Kentucky public employees, who would have lost the equivalent of $300 to $600 of their annual wages if the governor’s plan was approved.

April Tidwell, a state child protection and permanency worker and a leader in AFSCME’s efforts to bring a union contract to Kentucky workers, said the loss of that money would have been painful. “I don’t get a holiday from paying my bills,” she explained.

Council 62 activists fought back. In just 10 days, they sent 2,000 e-mails and made 500 phone calls to lawmakers. Many sacrificed personal or vacation time to lobby lawmakers directly. Their efforts were rewarded: The House and Senate dropped the governor’s holiday pay-cut plan.

“It proves state employees do have a voice and the power to make changes,” says Warrick.