The pay raise the Governor announced for classified state workers has already begun to disappear from state budgets. This week budget subcommittees at the state legislature began deleting the pay raise from appropriation bills. So far employees at the Department of Corrections and the Department of Health and Environment have seen their pay raises vanish.
Is there a silver lining here? Maybe.
During committee hearings Rep. Sutton, R-Gardner stated it was a “fact” the Appropriations Committee wanted the 1.5% pay raise stripped out of all department budgets because they wanted to explore giving ALL STATE EMPLOYEES A RAISE. If this is true, and it actually happens, that would be great news.
So it appears, for the moment, state legislators want to have a discussion about whether state workers deserve a pay raise, and if so, how much you are due.
If this discussion is going to happen it needs to include your voice and your insight. Please contact your legislator today and tell them your story. Tell them how your work affects your community. Tell them what year after year without a raise has meant to your family. Don’t let them make you just a digit on a sheet of paper.
If you do not know who your legislators are, click here to use your address to look up your legislators and their contact information.
Stand up, speak out, and be heard.