I want to express my gratitude toward Student Senate under the leadership of Kyle Triplett in its decision to not castigate Issue 2 and Senate Bill 5. That legislation is important for not only keeping costs down for local governments but also preserving jobs of the hardest working and most-effective public workers.
For too long, “showing up” to work and doing a decent, not necessarily excellent, job was all that public employees needed to do for job security. It is not fair for hardworking new employees to get the axe simply because they have not worked for the community as long as another member of the union.
I want the best, not the longest-serving, employees retained and continuous performance, not attendance, reviews to determine who keeps their jobs. Who would choose a C+ worker who has worked for nine years over an A+ worker who has worked for eight years?
We need to do the best and hardest-working employees a favor and keep them employed. And if you think about it, this is also a huge favor to the citizens who will have the most capable public servants working for them.
The second thing I want to make clear for SB 5 skeptics is that the allegations saying that the legislation will lead to mass layoffs is false. In fact, SB 5 will save jobs. Times are tough, but that doesn’t reduce the need for hard-working police officers, teachers and firefighters.
However, funds are limited; taxpayers don’t have as much money for the government to tax as they did five, 10 or 15 years ago. The only solution for governments that face shortfalls under the current system is to layoff public workers because unions make it virtually impossible for school districts, etc., to limit the very generous benefits of public employees.
SB 5 remedies that problem by giving local governments greater abilities in adjusting benefits to public employees. Though this sounds cruel, it is actually a huge gift to public employees. Without this legislation, local governments would have to layoff many hard-working employees.
You must ask yourself, “Would I rather take a $10,000 cut in benefits and wages, or take a $60,000 cut because I lost my job?” And as I said, under the current system, you are fired based on how long you have worked, not how good you are at your job.
In summation, if you truly care about both the hardest-working employees whom we taxpayers hire — as well as ensuring that our hard earned, or future-hard earned, money is spent as ethically as possible — please support senate’s decision as well as Issue 2 by voting “yes” Nov. 8.
Adam Brown is a freshman studying political science.
