Letters: June 22

Fair wages

It was with sadness that I read the Teamsters wage notice in the Gazette on June 8 and then the article regarding the same from last week.

I worked as a registered nurse at the County for 24 ½ years and while I decided to leave for a number of reasons, the poor wage was certainly one of the main issues.

County employees have fought for fair wages for decades. This is sadly not a new fight. Years ago, one of my co-workers addressed the commissioners at that time with her concerns regarding fair wages and she was told to go get another job if she didn’t like her current one. Does that same mindset still exist today?

To say the wages have fallen further behind is an understatement. They have done nothing but fall behind for the last 24 ½ years.

Insurance? TRUE: Many county employees are working solely for the insurance coverage for their families. Some pay well over $1000 to insure their whole family. The last premium I paid for two of my children to be on my county insurance-years ago- was $691 which came directly out of my check. The county has never offered any dependent coverage. These insurance premiums are huge when one is working within a lagging pay scale.

Public Assistance? TRUE: Many county employees who are working full time qualify for public assistance benefits. It is nothing short of shameful that a full time employee, working faithfully at the county every single day, should qualify for public assistance. I applied and qualified for assistance one time when I became a single, full time working mom of three but just couldn’t accept it. I remember the first time I went to my kids’ school and applied for free/reduced lunches for them. I cried.

Second Job? TRUE: Many county employees have had to take on second jobs to fill the wage gap. I taught piano lessons to supplement my income and many others have taken on a variety of second jobs. When one doesn’t make enough money at the day job, one has to be creative and determined to find a way.

Frustration? TRUE: County workers are hardworking, smart, highly capable, very adaptive, lovely people. To realize they are so unappreciated and undervalued is a slap in the face every single day.

Mediator? TRUE: Last week’s article mentioned a mediator.

I never met this mysterious mediator.

I know Joe has met with him to bring various offers to the commissioner’s ‘table’.

My impression has always been that this mysterious mediator’s job- as far as the wage dispute- was to simply say NO. The county employee’s needs and concerns were consistently brought to the commissioners through this mediator person but the answer was pretty much always NO. On the other hand, the commissioners have a ‘salary commission’ who, from my perspective, pretty much always said YES anytime the commissioners were up for a raise.

Thus, your county commissioners continued to receive lucrative wage increase and the county employee’s continued to trek to the public assistance office.

Wage Step Increases??? Ok here’s what happens: if a person stays at the county long enough they work their way through all their ‘steps’ and reach the top of their pay scale.

For that loyal employee of longevity then, there is no further stepping, no increases, no raises (except for an occasional COLA) and no appreciation.

So then in someone’s great wisdom, here’s what happened: the first five initial ‘steps’ were eliminated.

Let’s see……who benefited from this? Oh yes……the newest employees who immediately passed over steps one through five and landed happily at step six which wasn’t that far below the wage of the employee who had been there for twenty years.

You can imagine what this did for the morale of the faithful employee who had been there for twenty years.

Perhaps the title of the article from June 8 shouldn’t have necessarily been ‘Teamsters Demand Fair Wages’.

Perhaps the title should have something more like, “Your friends and neighbors, who work for Whitman County, are pleading once again for fair wages.” Because it is true, these county workers are your friends, neighbors, sons, daughters, your choir directors, your kids’ piano teachers or maybe they are helping you with your groceries at Rosauers or selling you products through a home business.

These county workers provide vital services to YOU, the Whitman County resident and tax payer.

They keep your roads safe, they give your kids vaccinations, they help you with your septic systems so you can build your house, they make sure your car is licensed, they care for hurting children and families through the court system, they post your tax payments so you don’t get in trouble with Uncle Sam and so very much more.

If you appreciate these services and if you appreciate your friends and neighbors who work for Whitman County, please call your commissioners. YOU are their ‘employer’. You voted them in. If you would like to see your friends and neighbors compensated fairly, speak up and contact your commissioners.

You, Whitman County resident, are really the only recourse for the poorly paid Whitman County employee.

You can make a difference and make it known that this current wage practice is unfair, wrong and just plain mean-spirited.

Finally, I continue to be very thankful that we live in a free society where editorials like this can be brought to the marketplace of ideas without fear of retaliation. As citizens, we will not always agree but we can still bring thoughts freely to the table for clarification and discussion.

Debbie Scheuerman Wolfe,

Endicott