Index of SPPS Budget Discussion http://www.e-democracy.org/stpaul/spps-posts.html _________________________________________ Fat Cats?
Mike, the "fat cat's you're talking about is us; you, me and everyone that pays taxes. Mr. Bell and Governor Pawlenty are negotiating on behalf of us fat cats, they are representing our best interests just as surely as the union is doing so on behalf of the drivers. The fact of the matter is that the drivers currently enjoy pay that is right inline with other major urban centers, and in addition they recieve health benefits that are unheard of anywhere outside of public employ. Lifetime paid health insurance? Never seen the creature in the wild, I had always thought it was the jackalope of employee benefits..but there it is! Unfortunately, we fat cats cannot continue to keep the jackalope alive. It's artificial, can't live without constant intervention in the form of large transfusions of cash from us fat cats. We cannot continue be so generous for the following reasons: We fat cats are already subsidizing each rider's fare by more than a dollar. We only have to much cash to infuse before we get bled white. Bus ridership is stagnant. Employment for fat cats is tight. We fat cats are making sacrifices to enable our employers to retain our services, it is not unreasonable to ask our public service employees to join the real world with us. I'm sorry that we are all finding ourselves having to adjust our standard of living somewhat downward, but if you take a step back and look at the big picture, you'll see that we are still the luckiest, best paid, most comfortable workers in the world. I haven't had a raise in pay in three years, and my health insurance co-pay has not missed it's regularly scheduled yearly increase. But you won't find me complaining, my hypocracy goes only so far before those damn scruples kick in. I got a great job. But of course the public employee unions are free to to as they choose. TSwift Cherokee Park __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you�re looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com _____________________________________________ SPPS Budget Reduction Forum - Feb. 23-27 Co-Sponsored By NEAT: http://www.stpaulneat.org/ _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
