(Chuck Muth) – UNLV workers and students continue to send emails moaning and groaning about how bad their lives are because almost all Nevada state employees have been given one-day-a-month furloughs rather than laying off a bunch on the non-essential ones.
I continue to publish some of the worst of these to demonstrate the disconnect these government workers have with the real world, as well as demonstrate the entitlement mentality many of them have come to embrace.
Here’s one from Casey Hall:
“I am the manager of the Genomics Facility at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. As a classified employee, I am voicing my concerns regarding the proposed budget cuts to state employees in the form of an additional mandatory furlough.
“I am a UNLV graduate, mother of three and have worked as a classified employee staff research associate here at UNLV for over four years. The proposed budget cuts of an additional furlough day would be devastating to my family. Due to the budget cuts, I have lost my merit pay increases, step and grade increases, had a 4.6% reduction in my salary and my health insurance premiums have doubled over the past year.
“I absolutely can not financially withstand another mandatory furlough day, which will decrease my income by another 4.6%. I am currently supporting three children, with one of them entering college this fall semester, and am also paying off my own student loans. If this additional furlough is approved, I will have to look for employment elsewhere and more than likely have to move from the state of Nevada.
“…I truly hope that legislature will come up with another viable alternative, such as increasing hotel and gaming taxes for example. These large corporations can afford tax increases and still remain viable…we can not. Cuts to education should not be a consideration.”
And here’s a real gem from Veronica Knight , an Administrative Assistant III at the College of Science Advising Center:
“I’m writing regarding the state workers. We had to take a furlough day, a day without pay and the unemployment is not that good right now. I have been working for the state for about 14+ years and my medicine has gone up from $40.00 to $150.00 a month. That is a big difference. Considering I have M.S. (Multiple Sclerosis) I do not have control of my medication that I have to take 3 times a week. That one day for furlough could pay for my medication. I feel that I have to live.”
That’s right. If the Legislature expands the furlough program to two days a month rather than lay off non-essential government employees such as, well, Veronica Knight, PEOPLE WILL DIE!
And finally (for now), Jim Robinson, Event Center Tech II-Steward at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center and COX Pavilion belches up this tear-jerker:
“When I re-located to Las Vegas from Utica, NY in July 1998 I had hopes and dreams of one day owning my own home, working for a company that would provide the security and comfort of a ‘retirement plan’. Which I have found in UNLV.
“It still does not mask the fact that I am not receiving my yearly ‘cost of living raise’, our building is supposedly run by ‘soft monies’- meaning we generate our own revenue, and should be allowed to drop the furlough. My rent (still not in a house) is $890/month, my takehome pay each payday is roughly $1100, also with a $395 truck payment each month leaves very little to be spread around utility bills, household needs and most importantly food and new clothes for two quickly growing adolescent boys.
“I am pleading to you my case of hardships in order to resolve this furlough issue to a building that should have been exempt from it to begin with. Just asking someone to step-up and ‘do the right thing’ for ‘the right reasons’. Thank You for your time, and hopeful understanding.”
Now, this is not to make light of the plight of these folks. The point is that such misery and difficulties are NOT limited just to government employees who still have jobs thanks to Nevada’s taxpayers. Many families in the private sector continue to suffer similar challenges during this recession….and worse. Indeed, many have no jobs, no insurance and no hope of getting either any time again soon.
Maybe a little less bellyaching and a little more gratitude for what they have is in order?