State workers are grateful to be employed. The current unemployment rate is not lost on them. For three years now state workers have received no raises. Now the Legislature is considering how much more to cut their pay.
I would suggest unpaid leave instead of pay cuts. Ten days of unpaid leave is approximately a 4 percent pay cut. These unpaid days could be used at a second job or in some other productive activity. The furloughs could stay in place for as long as needed and end when the economy rights itself.
The state is never going to award a big catch-up raise to make up for the years with no raises and additional cuts, so there is no illusion of some day being ahead.
This temporary pay cut also accomplishes the long-range goal of the Legislature of keeping retirement costs down as the furlough keeps the annual total, used in the retirement computation, down just as well as a permanent pay cut. Why impose a permanent cut on people who for the most part are barely making it now?
ANDREW NAPPI
Hudson
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