This entry by AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee is cross-posted from Huffington Post and Firedoglake.

For more than a generation, America’s working families have been under a constant assault from the CEO’s and extraordinarily wealthy members of our society. While median incomes in the U.S. have stagnated since the mid-1970’s, incomes for those in the top five percent have more than doubled. Since the beginning of our new century — and aided by record-breaking tax cuts — incomes for the top 1 percent have tripled, while working families scrape by, working harder and longer and taking home less than they deserve in pay and benefits.

Last week, the very rich once again attacked the middle-class, this time in U.S. News and World Report. Billionaire publisher Mort Zuckerman decided to use his magazine to publish a rabid attack on public employees, the men and women who provide the services that keep our communities safe, teach our children, keep our streets paved and our water clean.

In his piece, Zuckerman would have us believe that the hunt is over and we have found the culprits who trashed America’s financial health. It was our nation’s librarians, corrections officers, teachers, cops and fireman who drove our economy off the cliff. Wall Street and a compliant Federal Reserve had nothing to do with it. There’s really nothing more to see here; it’s time to move on. Zuckerman’s short-sighted assault on public employees appealed to the editors of Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal, who decided to republish it on their op-ed page. The billionaires are happy to amplify their anti-worker screeds in each other’s media empires.

Mort Zuckerman is one of the world’s wealthiest men. While never once mentioning the reprehensible behavior of the investment and banking community in causing an economic collapse that wiped out half a generation of retirement savings (including the home equity that many had counted on), nor acknowledging that wealthy Americans pay less in taxes than they did 60 years ago, Zuckerman launches a rant against public employee unions and the “extraordinary benefits” paid to workers that is long on hyperbole and short on facts.

AFSCME’s non-teaching public employee members earn, on average, $45,000 a year to protect the public and the most vulnerable members of our society. After a career of service, our members retire with modest pensions of about $19,000 per year. And, unlike most private sector workers, our members typically contribute towards this pension benefit. In fact, of the final pension benefit, taxpayers contribute just 25% of the cost. The fact that public employees have decent health benefits and pensions, now scarce in the private sector, is genuine cause for alarm. Zuckerman’s solution is for these benefits to be taken away from public employees. Of course, he has a net worth of over $2 billion, so he’s not much troubled by such a sacrifice.

Zuckerman claims the benefits earned by public employees are “galling” to private sector workers. How would he know? What is truly galling for private sector employees is the outright refusal of our political and economic elites to recognize and deal with stagnant wages and eroding retirement and health security. Our nation’s problem is not that public service workers have decent pensions, it is that so many other employees don’t.

The cause of our fiscal problems is declining revenues, pure and simple. The fact that state governments have cut almost half a trillion in spending over the last three budget cycles is ample evidence of this. Moreover, Zuckerman misrepresents the facts about public pension funds. The primary cause of our pension funding challenges is the failure of state governments to contribute required payments over many years. For example, the political leaders in New Jersey deliberately failed to make required contributions over a period of more than ten years. Of course, employees have been paying in full, year after year. The employees acted in good faith, the political leaders did not.

We have a genuine retirement security crisis in this nation — the average 401(k) balance is just $35,000 — yet we see nothing from Zuckerman or his billionaire buddies like Rupert Murdoch that would even remotely address the problem. Vilification of public employees may fit their anti-working-class agenda, but it won’t create good jobs in our economy. Nor will it solve the problems facing states that have failed to keep up with their pension obligations.

It’s no mystery that some lawmakers are completely oblivious to the problems faced by working Americans. Take, for example, the three county commissioners in Pueblo County, Colo. Not content with enacting furloughs for county employees, they recently produced a video poking fun at the situation.

As KRDO News reports:

“A video of county commissioners working in an empty county building and making fun of furloughs has county employees upset. In the more than 4 and 1/2 minute YouTube video all three county commissioners are seen doing various tasks around the county building.”

Watch the full story:

It’s tempting to tell the Pueblo County commissioners that when it comes to creating comedy videos, they should keep their day jobs. The problem is, they don’t seem to be faring too well on that front either.

According to an AFSCME Council 76 report, the furloughs amount “to approximately a 4.6 percent across-the-board pay cut to Pueblo County employees.” This, in spite of the fact that Pueblo County workers receive on average a full 15 percent less in salary than similar employees in other jurisdictions.

The video was originally shown at a southern Colorado Press Association event. It also includes “jokes” about how commissioners are trying to find a way to extend furloughs to 365 days a year.

Pueblo County commissioner Anthony Nunez has claimed that the video was misconstrued and that it wasn’t intended to make light of the difficulties faced by county employees. Perhaps the misunderstanding could have been avoided if the commissioners had devoted their energy to finding solutions for Pueblo’s budget crisis. After all, it’s the community and workers who are bearing the brunt of these misguided measures. No matter how you look at it, that’s not funny.

Amy Traub from the Drum Major Institute on new research by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence and the National Institute on Retirement Security on public employee compensation and the real “coddled class.”

When workforce factors such as education and work experience are taken into account, state and local employees make less than their private sector counterparts. Looking at pay alone, those supposedly “coddled” state employees earn 11 percent less than comparable private sector workers. Employees of city and county governments earn 12 percent less than their private sector counterparts.

The new research offers no clarion call for public employee raises and benefit hikes to catch up with the private sector. Indeed, the study documents how public compensation has lagged private sector for twenty years. But it does throw the resurgent right-wing campaign to demonize public employees and their unions sharply into question. In this recession, public employees have been laid off, furloughed, and seen their wages frozen. At a time when public budgets are strained by falling tax revenue, these are among the difficult choices cities and states have made. But that’s no reason to imagine that “greedy” city workers somehow caused the crisis or deserve to lose their jobs or to see their pay cut any more than private sector employees. Those looking for a “coddled class” should look to the Wall Street bonus pool, not the Parks Department.

Read more on the Huffington Post.

Corrections officer Ton Johnson, a member of King County Local 308 (Washington Council 28), is this year’s recipient of AFSCME’s Corrections Officer of the Year award.

National Correctional Officers and Employees Week (May 2 through 8) is the time set aside to honor the courageous, dedicated women and men who help keep our communities safe. But this year, as states look for ways to cut their budgets, it’s worth noting some of the issues these AFSCME members are facing:

• In Illinois, Gov. Pat Quinn wanted to lay off 2,500 public service positions, including 1,000 corrections workers. It took a lawsuit by AFSCME Council 31 to stop him.
• Corrections officers represented by Mansfield Correctional Institution Chapter 7010 and Southern Ohio Correctional Facility Chapter 7330 of Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA)/AFSCME Local 11 have been picketing around security issues as a result of historic overcrowding and the elimination of 1,000 corrections officer positions statewide.

That’s why we are urging Congress to pass the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2009 (H.R. 413/S. 3194). The bill establishes minimum state collective bargaining standards for corrections officers, police, emergency medical technicians and firefighters.

This week, national steering committee members of AFSCME Corrections United (ACU) are in Washington, DC, encouraging lawmakers to support the bill. AFSCME represents 62,000 corrections officers and 23,000 corrections employees nationwide.

Also this week, AFSCME International Pres. Gerald W. McEntee will present ACU’s Corrections Officer of the Year award to Ton Johnson, a member of the Community Corrections Bargaining Unit Political Action Team of Local 308 (AFSCME Council 28). He is being recognized for the many efforts on behalf of his union members, including improving personal safety standards involving defensive tactics training.

Read more about corrections issues in the latest ACU News.

Whenever the economy is in dire straits, pundits and demagogues start looking for scapegoats. An all-time favorite is the myth of public employees and their allegedly fat – yet underfunded – pensions. The latest wrongheaded piece to promote this story is a USA Today op-ed printed on May 3, 2010 claiming that:

“Many states have lavish programs that allow workers to retire in their 50s with ample pensions — and health insurance to cover them until Medicare kicks in.”

But, as AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee points out in a response published in the same paper:

“The typical public employee represented by AFSCME earns, on average, about $18,500 a year in retirement after a career of public service. For some, this is their only source of retirement income because they do not qualify for Social Security benefits.”

Are these the lavish programs critics are talking about?

USA Today goes on to say that “some states have simply failed to put away adequate funds to cover” these programs’ benefits. While that may be true, how is it the fault of public employees that politicians have ignored pension contributions, or that – thanks to Wall Street’s recklessness – pension funds got smacked around in the last few years?

Moreover, are these problems unsolvable? Not if you look at the facts. As Pres. McEntee states:

“[O]ur public pension plans are designed for long-term stability, and virtually all of them have sufficient resources to weather this financial storm. More to the point, our pension funds can and will be rebuilt as our economy improves.”

This is why proposals such as converting public pension plans to 401(k)-type programs – a position advanced by the USA Today and many right-wing pundits – are so harebrained. Why would we want to put our hard-earned retirement funds in the hands of the same Wall Street investors that gambled away trillions of dollars and generated the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression?

It is time to debunk these absurd claims and expose them for what they are: yet another attempt at undermining the hard work of public employees and the vital services they provide.

For more information, check out the Three Myths About State and Local Government Pension Plans and other interesting articles about public employee retirement benefits at afscme.org/pensions.

Nearly 4,000 AFSCME activists led a crowd of 18,000 at a Responsible Budget Coalition rally to demand Illinois legislators restore funding to vital public services.

Tea Party who? If you want a genuine grassroots movement fighting for a good cause, you should’ve seen the thousands of AFSCME Council 31 members that descended on the Illinois State Capitol.

Spearheading a rally held by the Responsible Budget Coalition – an alliance of community organizations, labor unions and advocacy groups representing the state’s residents – nearly 4,000 AFSCME activists joined a 18,000-strong crowd in Springfield, Ill.

Their goal: Demand that legislators act now to raise much-needed revenues and close the looming $13 billion budget shortfall threatening Illinois’ vital public services, including education, child care, homecare for seniors and services for people with disabilities.

Council 31 is fighting so that the Illinois General Assembly passes a bill to raise revenues and fix the state’s budget woes. Although the state Senate already voted to this effect, members of the state House of Representatives are still dragging their feet.

AFSCME IVP and Council 31 Executive Director Henry Bayer summed up the rally’s message best when, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, he alluded to the state’s legislators:

“These 177 people who have a job don’t want to do their job. We’re here today to tell them to do their job!”

The massive rally – Springfield’s largest in over 25 years – garnered media attention nationwide.

Discussing the event on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show (see video), Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell commented favorably on the crowd’s timely chant of “Show some guts, stop the cuts”:

“I think there are progressives in this country who are way out in front of the politicians, and I love the fact that the Illinois protesters were saying, ‘Show some guts,’ because I think that’s exactly what we need to do.”

Meanwhile, a report broadcast by National Public Radio described the event as one of “the largest statehouse rallies in recent memory.”

For more information about the fight for a responsible budget in Illinois, see these reports from the Associated Press and NBC’s Today Show, and photo galleries from the Responsible Budget Coalition and the Chicago Tribune.

AFSCME members are championing the March for California’s Future to address the challenges that the state faces and to build awareness of the vital services state and local employees provide to keep their communities strong. The historic 48-day, 260 mile trek is supporting public services and public education, a government and economy that work for all and fair, progressive taxes to invest in our future.

Irene Gonzalez, a juvenile probation officer in Los Angeles and an executive board member of AFSCME Local 685, is walking from Bakersfield to Sacramento. On her journey, Gonzalez has witnessed the signs of a battered state and its people, as chronicled in a Huffington Post entry about the most recent leg of her journey.

Irene Gonzalez

If I have learned anything during this March for California’s Future, it is that people in the San Joaquin Valley have lost their faith and their hope along with their jobs and homes. They have nowhere to go; no jobs, no prospects, and apparently no help of any kind. Where are the public services that could give these men and women a fresh start and a helping hand? The retraining and rehab centers? The medical clinics? The supportive services?

Gonzalez points out that while the current economic crisis may have sparked many problems, California’s suffering is not new. She points to the causes and indicates that the solutions are within our grasp – really just a focus on investing in California’s future, rather than continuing with shortsighted thinking.

Over the years, we have failed to reinvest in the social and physical infrastructure that make life possible in a modern economy. Politicians of both parties have by and large chosen to prioritize tax breaks for multinational corporations and the wealthy over the rest of us–that is, anybody who has to work for a living. As a result, the human, social, and physical capital that once made California and our nation great have deteriorated along with our ideals of equal opportunity and fairness.

Gonzalez does see a solution, and is working for it. In her column she applauds the hundreds of public service employees, students, teachers, and local residents who are joining the March for California’s Future to demand that the state’s leaders stand up for the California dream by supporting public services and public education.

This march is about restoring the California dream. At its core, that means restoring faith in the notion that we as a people will help those who need it, that justice and fairness are indeed for all, and that every individual has the freedom and wherewithal to reach their full potential. These are the ideals to which we as Californians and as Americans have pledged ourselves.

Marching for California’s Future

President Obama has officially declared today “Census Day” in a presidential proclamation, a day which reminds us all how important it is to complete and mail back the 2010 Census form.

AFSCME is supporting the 2010 Census March to the Mailbox campaign to ensure that all of our communities are counted. The two-week campaign includes special events in communities across the nation on April 10 aimed at boosting participation in the important count of residents of the United States every 10 years.

The 2010 Census will determine how much communities receive of more than $400 billion in federal funds each year for things like:

• Hospitals
• Job training centers
• Schools
• Senior centers
• Bridges, tunnels and other public works projects
• Emergency services

The data collected by the Census also helps determine the number of seats your state has in the U.S. House of Representatives.

As public servants, AFSCME members are quick to understand that it’s important to fill in the form and promptly mail it back. An accurate count of residents can make a difference for your community. Better infrastructure. More public services. A brighter tomorrow for everyone.

That’s why AFSCME is encouraging members to fill out and return census forms right away and join the March to the Mailbox. The information you provide to the Census is important. Your privacy is protected under federal law. And participation isn’t just important — it’s mandatory.

On this past weekend’s CBS Sunday Morning, commentator Ben Stein (probably best known as the “Bueller? … Bueller? … Bueller?” guy) goes out of his way to defend government workers from unfair attacks by his fellow conservatives.

Calling civil servants “lazy and shiftless,” says Stein, “is unfair and not even in the ballpark of what’s true.”

Stein: “Look, let’s take our conservative noses out of the air and stop sneering at the people who serve us in the government. We’d be awfully sad if they were gone, even the ones in the Department of Motor Vehicles.”

(hat tip to the Washington Post’s Federal Eye blog)

Doug Moore, executive director of UDW, the Homecare Providers Union, and an International vice-president of AFSCME helped lead a demonstration last week as part of the March for California’s Future.

The march is a 48-day, 260-mile trek to call attention to the urgent need for California’s elected officials to rebuild a government and economy that work for all. AFSCME and its allies are working to reclaim a fair and equitable tax system that invests in the future of the state.

Moore wrote about the demonstration on the Huffington Post:

“I stood among many dozens of marchers and supporters who congregated there, some holding signs and shouting slogans, others singing or praying, to highlight how budget cuts are eroding our state parks and quality of life. Standing on a site rich with a legacy of hope for a better future and a fairer society, we called for the governor and legislature to restore public service and public education funding and services for all Californians.”

Participants in the March for California’s Future

The demonstration occurred at what is now Allensworth State Park, formerly the site of the first California town built, inhabited, governed and financed entirely by African Americans.

“It is in our hands now to make sure that Allensworth – both the park and the legacy – will survive. It is up to us to assure that this important chapter in our history is left for the next generation to visit and appreciate.

Stand up for historic parks like Allensworth. Fight for quality public services and public education.”