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| There is a raging debate online about what terminology should be used to describe 7 consecutive years of 3% pay increases for the county's employees. Some are OUTRAGED that I used the term pay increase, and instead insist these pay increases were nothing more than "Cost of Living Increases" NOT PAY RAISES!! (I disagree). |
Last week I published the MOU's signed with several of the county's bargaining groups. These MOU's allowed these groups to continue to bargain over other employment issues, while simultaneously allowing their members to begin receiving their 3% pay increases immediately. I really thought this was great news--as the alternative would have been no raises until the conclusion of bargaining. Which could have taken a long time.
So I was somewhat shocked at the vitriolic comments that came as a result of this post.
The comments went from (paraphrased) "ho-hum whatever this is what we get every year-this is our COLA (cost of living increase)" to "THIS IS NOTHING, THIS ISN'T EVEN A RAISE"
to even worse than this. One poster on another facebook site stated "Is that like what, a dollar?" others incorrectly stated that the commissioners "were getting 3% pay increases too!" (Which of course is not true)
Commissioner pay is set by the state's office of economic and demographic research. This entity sets the salaries for elected officials, county officials, and school board officials statewide. You can read their report for this year here (page 10 has the table of all elected officials' salaries statewide). And for the record, Escambia Commissioners received a .74% increase over last year--four times less than what we are giving our employees, percentage wise, as a pay increase for the same year-over year time frame. This small of an increase for the BCC, ironically, is much more in line with what a COLA increase looks like.....not 7 straight years of 3% increases which is NOT what COLA increases look like in real life...One way to benchmark a true COLA increase is to look at the average Social Security COLA increase over the last 12 years, which is 1.8% (three years of 0% increase mixed in). Military pay increases for the period from 2013-2019 were even less-they averaged just 1.7% per year over that time frame.
So bringing it back to Escambia County------I just don't understand the vitriol and anger and backlash dished up by some over our giving our 7th consecutive year of 3% pay increases to employees--as if this is somehow massively deficient and cheap on our part. Many in the private sector would KILL to string together seven straight years of 3% pay raises!
So no, I don't understand how folks turn a pay increase given in good faith into an attack on their employer, the county.......
I have to believe those that are attacking and making comments are in the extreme minority.
I truly believe the average employee and the silent majority of employees appreciate the pay increases this board has put forward over the last several years since the great recession.
Apparently these complaints come from individuals who believe that the costs of their needs and wants go up that = a COLA. If they took anytime educating themselves they’d learn what a COLA actually is and wouldn’t want anything of the sort and show appreciation for the 3% pay raise.
ReplyDeleteThe CPI has only risen just over 1% over the last several years. This is the COLA those in this area on social security and many federal workers receive. These are the tax payers who the complainers expect to pay more taxes or higher MSBU.
Yes you are only hearing from the minority. The county has hard working employees who have friends and family not receiving these benefits. It’s appalling that these unions don’t give you thanks for not requiring them to bargain for this raise. If they are so concerned that the department can’t afford it, then they shouldn’t has signed the MOU.
Stay the course in giving the employees a raise when it’s deserved and available while not getting distracted by the games.