Commentary
A career of public service in Wisconsin no longer seems a good bet
by Jessica FehlenMenomonie, Wis. — I am a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, majoring in human development and family studies with a minor in social work. After college I plan on working for local or state government as a licensed social worker.
At least, that was my plan.
Coming into college, I knew I wanted to help people in my career and be an active participant in bettering the quality of life in my state. After four years at UW-Stout, I have acquired approximately $45,000 in student loan debt. I expected to make $20,000-$25,000 a year out of college. Although the pay would be low, I knew I would be provided with good benefits and a comfortable retirement.
If it passes, Gov. Scott Walker's deficit recovery bill may make me reconsider my plans. I believe this is true for many students across the state.
Everyone knows that state employees are grossly underpaid and understaffed already, due to budget cuts. If state employees' collective bargaining rights are taken away, I may need to work in a different field just to pay the bills.
UW-Stout students and faculty have been rallying and speaking out in opposition to the bill all week. Demonstrations have been dramatic. Students will stand up in the middle of class, say a few words and then walk out. It's great to see everyone come together to stand up for their rights.
Although classes haven't been formally canceled at Stout, many professors have encouraged students to attend campus activities during class time. Protestors can be heard from across campus. They are fighting for a cause that directly affects thousands of students' futures throughout the state.
I hope Gov. Walker will be willing to listen to the students of Wisconsin and let us see a little light at the end of this tunnel. We value the generous contributions that educators and other employees of the state have provided for the community, and believe that it is our moral obligation to fight to maintain the value of these contributions. I understand that these are trying times; however; this bill has the potential to drastically compromise the future careers of many students.
After paying a great deal to learn the professional skills we need to educate and support our neighbors, students are asking for very little in return. This bill won't only affect our ability to receive a top-quality public college education; it will also affect our ability to do the same for subsequent generations.
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Jessica Fehlen, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, is a source in MPR's Public Insight Network.
Comments (11)
Folks headed for private sector jobs typically don't say "if I can't make the money I want in X industry, I'll work in Y industry" as if it were a threat. They know full well that X industry doesn't care.
The fact that so many in academia think that just because they accumulated a significant amount of debt acquiring a somewhat useless degree, the taxpayers now officially owe them a job for life, with gold plated benefits shows as much about the moral bankruptcy of liberal ideology as it does about the bankruptcy of the state.
Unfortunately, as with california, NY, Jersey, and a whole host of other states experiencing the gold shower of reality, it doesn't matter what kind of sappy sob story one creates to justify what ever new entitlement one want's to shunt onto the back of their neighbors, you cannot spend a dollar you do not have (unless you take it from your neighbor by force); nor can one vote away the fundamental principles of economics regardless of the euphoria one feels from being engaged in massive organized group-think and blissfully marinating in a sea of like minded synchophants.,
if ms. fehlen thinks $25000/yr is low pay, she should look at the private sector where this is an average pay.unions may have been needed in the distant past, but now they are, for the most part, self-serving. they demand the highest wages and benefits for thier services, but forcefully excude non-union workers from being allowed to even bid on the same job. they have become dinosaurs. instead of demanding the best wages and benefits, maybe they should demand more of themselves in the workplace to do their jobs better!
I am amazed at how off-base both initial comments are! I read nothing in Jessica's story of her expecting the state to just hand her some gold-plated job. She merely stated (or implied) that such jobs in her field are typically public sector jobs and that is where she expected to end up. The benefits she alluded to are just typical for such jobs, based on past history. She certainly did not come across that she felt she was owed such a job based on her education or amount of debt she's acumulated (the high cost of college educati0n is an entirely different issue). With regard to Mr Mathy's comment, I'm sure his "average salary" comment may be true in the general sense (with all those Walmart workers in the mix), but I am guessing that it is much higher for college graduates. I feel for Jessica - she chooses a career path that she knows will not lead to riches because she wants to help people, and the opportunities are quickly drying up. I hope that those people whom Jessica would have been helping are able to get the assistance they need after their services have been cut.
Yes. I am in agreement with Mr. Garvens. It sounds to me like the first two commenters did not hear the authors points or concerns, but instead reacted to voices already in their minds. I think this is a small example of the disconnect happening in Wisconsin.
Pretty girl, but not a sound argument. Here's a story from the NYPost that just about sums it up for me. And Paul C, I think you're my new hero. : )
Let's be clear about what's at stake in Wisconsin, where the battle between Gov. Scott Walker and the public-employees' unions is now well and truly joined. It's not just about balancing the state budget, nor simply about collective bargaining. It's not even about the future of the labor movement.
It's about the future of the country and who is to be master -- the voters or the "public servants."
Wisconsin is a test battleground in the War of 2012, with both sides pouring in men and materiel in a proxy fight. It's the Tea Party, as represented by Walker and the state Republicans, versus a labor-union/political racket as morally rancid as anything in "On the Waterfront," fronted by the "sick" teachers and abetted by President Obama and his Organizing for America community agitators.
AP
Gong show: Protesters made noise against a bill ending collective bargaining for state workers inside Wisconsin's Capitol yesterday.
Obama and the Democrats understand full well the importance of this fight: Without public-sector union support, they're in big trouble. After all, such unions have only been generally legal since the '60s, and -- given the political will -- can be rolled back.
"For this generation of union members, the attack on Wisconsin's public sector represents our Pearl Harbor," said John Samuelsen, president of local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, who's promised to lead a delegation from New York to Madison. "We in the labor movement cannot allow this to happen."
Nor can the Democrats. Unions such as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the National Education Association and the Service Employees International Union give hundreds of millions of dollars to Democrats -- some $171 million in 2010 alone. They give almost nothing to Republicans.
Where does that money come from? From union members' dues. In what is effectively a criminal enterprise were it not for the moment legal, public-union leaders negotiate ever-larger pay and benefits from the very politicians to whom they then kick back "campaign contributions." All at taxpayer expense.
What Walker is trying to do is break this vicious cycle. He'd limit collective bargaining for most public unions (exempting cops and firefighters) to wages only -- excluding pensions, benefits and work rules. He'd also get the state out of the union-dues collection business and force the unions to be re-certified by a vote of their membership each year.
For his effrontery in trying to close a $3.6 billion deficit, he has been rewarded with hordes of noisy protesters, schoolchildren used as human shields by their teachers and the spectacle of cowardly Democratic state senators fleeing the jurisdiction for the People's Republic of Illinois.
The unions have already capitulated on Walker's demands to start contributing to their pension and health-care costs. But they're digging in on the collective bargaining issues -- which tells you exactly what's really at stake in this dispute: their political muscle.
The outcome in Madison will determine what happens around the country -- not just in Ohio, the likely next battleground, or New York and California, but also in Washington, DC.
It's a fight the nation's private sector can't afford to lose.
"All government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public-personnel management. The very nature and purposes of government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with government-employee organizations. The employer is the whole people . . . "
Walker? House Speaker John Boehner? No, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, back in 1937.
I work for state government. I pay federal, state and property taxes. I AM a TAX PAYER, contributing to the tax base in MN and to the economy of my city and state. It's time to stop blaming public employees for a U.S. economy that was devastated by an immoral, unregulated, greedy PRIVATE SECTOR finance and banking industry. The State of MN would not have an economy--if not for the hard work of government employees, conducted day in and day out. Every day that you heat your home, drink a glass of clean water, take a shower, flush your toilet, turn on the lights, send your kids to school, drive your car on a paved snow plowed road, stop at a traffic light, eat at a restaurant without getting food poisoning, call 911 when your spouse has a heart attack, go to the library, play hockey in a city park, go camping in a state forest, you are depending on the hard work of your friendly public employees. "Government workers" are teachers, snowplow drivers, police officers, prison guards, engineers, librarians, fire fighters, nurses, psychologists, child welfare workers, computer programmers, parks and recreation directors, city foresters, city planners, construction workers, health economists, epidemiologists, financial analysts, nursing home inspectors, custodians, demographers, job counselors, lab technicians, agricultural scientists, and forest service rangers...This work force makes Minnesota a great place to raise a family, start a business and supports a diverse economy!
James Dixon - "Pretty girl, but not a sound argument."
Why do you need this sexist garbage as your introduction? If you have a point to make then make it, but don't start your comment by degrading her as a woman!
I hear the FDR comment trotted out. FDR also knew that the influence of corporations was corrosive to a democracy. The reason we need public employee unions is because it is the only organization powerful enough to defend citizens from the corporate interests that have taken over government. Governor Walker was bought and paid for by corporations to get rid of the middle class in Wisconsin. If this was about the budget, he would accept the concessions that the unions have offered (everything asked for) and leave collective bargaining intact. He won't because he answers to the Chamber of Commerce and not the citizens of Wisconsin. The reason that public employees need the unions, and the state needs the unions is because there is nobody to balance out the effect of corporate money. This is a coordinated attack on citizens by the oligarchs and super wealthy. They want the middle class to pay for and build the infrastructure that makes the elites lives easier without paying the full value of that labor. If the Governor wins, trickle up economics will be firmly established and difficult to reverse.
If Madoff promises future benefits and current input to pay out to earlier investors, then he is basing his ability to deliver on being able to grow his pool of fools. A contract that was explicit about this is not a legal contract and the state would not be required to enforce it. Jobs that promise retirement on a similar basis (as do many public sector jobs) could (IMHO, IANAL) be considered unenforceable. We are now confronting the need to clear 50-70 years of bad promises that are little more than pyramids, based on limitless growth. The Green in me says "be gentle but be firm". Ms. Fehlen, you are about to learn the first lesson of the free, which is money in hand is worth much more than unsupportable promises to be paid in the future. You seem to have already learned the most important lesson, which is to be in control of your own destiny by not relying on unsupportable promises.
The privite sector creates jobs, the public sector can't support it's self without it. They need each other. So what are we going to do? You people think you so smart, what are we going to do?
Yes, Jessica is right to assume that if she prepares herself for a career, and makes sacrifices then the job she goes into does need to give back in an equal, and yes lifelong, fair, give and take arrangement; unfortunately we've too readily accepted the "private sector" model as all-knowing, and often, all taking model. I like what Paul Krugman of New York times said recently about some politicians: they "sneer at knowledge and exalt ignorance!" I think a lot of this "anti-government" talk is along this line.
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