Published: Friday, March 12, 2010
IN OUR VIEW / GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE PERKS
Look beyond ferry workers
Now that the second Port Townsend/Keystone ferry is being built, the state transportation commission is seeking suggestions to name the new vessel.
The timing may not be the best.
Reports about ferry workers’ very generous benefits, especially the lucrative travel-to-work mileage compensation, have citizens upset.
The Swinomish Tribe hopes to call the new ferry “Squi-qui” (pronounced Sk’why K’why), the Whidbey Examiner reported. Squi-qui was a prominent leader of the Lower Skagit Tribe who lived on the north shore of Penn Cove in the mid 1800s.
If “Sk’why K’why” is really how it’s pronounced, it seems a perfect name.
“Perk-Perk” just doesn’t carry the same tone of despairing incredulity as the cry of “Sk’why, K’why.”
Why it possible for a ferry deckhand who earns $60,000 a year to also take home another $73,000 through a travel benefit, as The Herald’s Jerry Cornfield reported Saturday? Another 90 workers — deckhands, pilots, oilers and engineers — collected at least $20,000 apiece in expense reimbursements.
Under agency policies and union contracts, when ferry workers cover a shift away from their homeport, they are reimbursed for mileage and paid their hourly wage during the time commuting.
It’s all so shocking, and yet it’s not. Isn’t this exactly the kind of stuff voters thought would be revealed when they approved Initiative 900 in 2005? The initiative that mandates that all state and local government entities undergo performance audits to ensure accountability and guarantee that tax dollars are spent as cost-effectively as possible?
On Wednesday, the Senate passed a bill giving the governor power to negotiate less generous benefits for union ferry workers in talks on a new contract later this year.
The vote came a day after Gregoire requested State Auditor Brian Sonntag conduct a performance audit of the ferries’ timekeeping, payroll and scheduling processes. She’s convening a panel of experts to look at ferry management practices and offer ideas for improvement. Gregoire also has asked for a report comparing ferry workers’ salaries and benefits with those of other state workers.
Whoa. OK. But let’s not belatedly focus on ferries to the exclusion of everything else.
If the Legislature can authorize the governor to negotiate less generous benefits for ferry union workers, why stop there? Wouldn’t this be the time to examine other pre-recession benefits that now may be considered “too generous”?
Voters don’t believe ferry workers are the only ones enjoying such perks.
A study that compares salaries and benefits of all types of state workers with those in private industry would offer a much better, more realistic measuring stick.
The timing may not be the best.
Reports about ferry workers’ very generous benefits, especially the lucrative travel-to-work mileage compensation, have citizens upset.
The Swinomish Tribe hopes to call the new ferry “Squi-qui” (pronounced Sk’why K’why), the Whidbey Examiner reported. Squi-qui was a prominent leader of the Lower Skagit Tribe who lived on the north shore of Penn Cove in the mid 1800s.
If “Sk’why K’why” is really how it’s pronounced, it seems a perfect name.
“Perk-Perk” just doesn’t carry the same tone of despairing incredulity as the cry of “Sk’why, K’why.”
Why it possible for a ferry deckhand who earns $60,000 a year to also take home another $73,000 through a travel benefit, as The Herald’s Jerry Cornfield reported Saturday? Another 90 workers — deckhands, pilots, oilers and engineers — collected at least $20,000 apiece in expense reimbursements.
Under agency policies and union contracts, when ferry workers cover a shift away from their homeport, they are reimbursed for mileage and paid their hourly wage during the time commuting.
It’s all so shocking, and yet it’s not. Isn’t this exactly the kind of stuff voters thought would be revealed when they approved Initiative 900 in 2005? The initiative that mandates that all state and local government entities undergo performance audits to ensure accountability and guarantee that tax dollars are spent as cost-effectively as possible?
On Wednesday, the Senate passed a bill giving the governor power to negotiate less generous benefits for union ferry workers in talks on a new contract later this year.
The vote came a day after Gregoire requested State Auditor Brian Sonntag conduct a performance audit of the ferries’ timekeeping, payroll and scheduling processes. She’s convening a panel of experts to look at ferry management practices and offer ideas for improvement. Gregoire also has asked for a report comparing ferry workers’ salaries and benefits with those of other state workers.
Whoa. OK. But let’s not belatedly focus on ferries to the exclusion of everything else.
If the Legislature can authorize the governor to negotiate less generous benefits for ferry union workers, why stop there? Wouldn’t this be the time to examine other pre-recession benefits that now may be considered “too generous”?
Voters don’t believe ferry workers are the only ones enjoying such perks.
A study that compares salaries and benefits of all types of state workers with those in private industry would offer a much better, more realistic measuring stick.
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