County Employees and Raises

Giving Manatee County Deputies and EMS workers (and the other county employees) is a nice idea in light of their pleas in front of the county commission (and i'm not gonna look gift cash in the mouth).

BUT dipping into the  capitol reserves is a bad idea because that means the county ain't got the money. Giving the employees a 3% increase is a ZERO raise because of the 3% Rick Scott is taking from us alredy...(guys who i bet when the CC was going to hand out raises would give 3% and no more and call it a raise...i'll take my 5 bucks now).

I cant believe that they didnt know about pay compression and they NOW wonder why the worker bees are talking about a UNION?

While i am not opposed to it, I remember the last time EMS voted to get a union, the county froze their salaries and gave every county employee a punishment raise for not joining a union which "raises" the question, IF THE COUNTY DIDNT HAVE THE MONEY TO GIVE RAISES, WHERE DID THEY GET THE MONEY  TO GIVE OUT THE PUNISHMENT RAISE TO THE NON JOINERS?

People unionize just to keep what they have.

A raise is not going to help long term but a Cost Of Living Adjusment (COLA) would be best. People complain when they hear about a deputy or paramedic whose salary is completely over the top. What they never print is the person(s) in question has been on the job for 25 years and STILL makes the same salary as somebody (with no experience and just got hired). I know this firsthand and have been told that I should be grateful to have a job, which is BS if I have 20 years over some wet nose and he or she walks in and starts at what i'm making currently, THAT is way wrong because my pension is connected to my salary and since i spent 20+ years doing a job, should i not be able to bank on my expierence and service when it's time to retire?

Unions have no power in Florida but they do what they can-(lol) and if you youngsters want to go union, remember that when the county is flush with cash, YOU will be locked into a "contract" that the county will be only too happy to point out that it specifies what you WANTED and AGREED to be paid for "X" amount of years. But we could let you have the raises "if you drop the union" — which is like a slave giving the master a new whip and saying beat me. Bottom line, if you're gonna go union, STAY UNION.

There are so many secrets in county government, all connected to money and votes and we are in an election year