Making Sacrifices for the Public Good

Jeff Alworth

Last fall, I was on the bargaining team for the professional association of PSU's faculty, AAUP.  It was a very grim time to bargain because we were mainly discussing cuts--to salary and benefits.  Even though only a small minority of PSU's money comes from the state, we're considered state employees.  And so, although the cuts to PSU only amounted to a fraction of cuts to other state agencies, our membership decided to stand with public employees and peg our cuts to those SEIU-DAS bargained earlier.  In the end, our contract called for furlough days--effectively just pay cuts, since faculty don't work any less--similar to SEIU's. 

It was an especially bad deal for me and the 200 or so researchers I represented.  Our research isn't funded by state money at all.  In fact, not only do we have to fund our own research, but PSU takes a cut to support housing us and supporting us with university services.  We have no job protection beyond what we can write in grants.  Nevertheless, researchers agreed to support the deal because that's what you do in tough times--you take one for the team.

In the end, after one of the shortest bargaining periods in memory, the association approved the contract with the largest margin in our history--with a record percentage of our membership casting ballots.  We voted overwhelmingly to cut our own salaries.  It was important to join other state workers in sharing the pain and it was important for the students and university to get a deal done quickly.

If Measures 66 and 67 fail, our membership may have to go back to the bargaining table to discuss further salary cuts.  State workers will be in the same boat.  Oregon's voters will have said that the salaries--and some jobs, which will certainly be lost--of those who support our public infrastructure are less important than the wealth of the most well-off among us (both businesses and individuals).  That's the reality of the choice.  The justifications, lying ads, and elisions of the anti-taxers and enabling ed boards can't change that calculus.

All of this was especially juicy for me this morning because I woke up unemployed.  My five-year grant ended last Friday and I didn't land on another one.  In the fall, researchers at PSU voted to cut their own salaries, even though we might not have jobs in the coming year.  When I hear some of the outrageous justifications for voting "no" on Measures 66 and 67, I wonder what Oregon they live in.  Isn't this the state where we make sacrifices for the public good?  Isn't this the state where we recognize the value of decent public services and of supporting each other in times of crisis?  If it is,it's time to hear wealthy individuals and large businesses join the tens of thousands who have already sacrificed in this recession.  We all have to do our share--even the rich.

  • Joseph (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Isn't this the state where we make sacrifices for the public good? Isn't this the state where we recognize the value of decent public services and of supporting each other in times of crisis?

    Yes, and yes. Or, it should be.

  • Larry (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Perhaps the best thing for you to do is become a small businessman, learn a practical trade, or in some other positive way contribute to the tax rolls of the state. Bleating helps, I'm sure, but it isn't a plan.

  • Bob Baldwin (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Hi Jeff,

    I've been in the same position for several years now: agreeing to cuts of one sort or another (insurance, layoffs/increased worload, wages, etc.) to accommodate budget cuts in community college funding. The claims by a certain segment of the population about public employee's pay and benefits never stop.

    The mistake is in thinking that reasoning and evidence will impact that situation. They have a group of leaders who are willing to lie for their own purposes, and a group of followers who are willfully ignorant of what is really happening with respect to public services in this state.

    So, we do what we have to: continue providing the best possible services to our students and the public, knowing full well that a portion of that public has no respect for us or for the services that we provide. It's knowing the value of our services, to our students and to society at large, and not the opinion of a few wingnuts, that has to be the basis for public service.

  • (Show?)

    Perhaps the best thing for you to do is become a small businessman, learn a practical trade, or in some other positive way contribute to the tax rolls of the state.

    Right, because if we had 2 million plumbers and no university professors and researchers, we'd be sweet.

  • Bob Baldwin (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Jeff Alworth Right, because if we had 2 million plumbers and no university professors and researchers, we'd be sweet.

    Why would people who do not value facts value research or education?

  • (Show?)

    or in some other positive way contribute to the tax rolls of the state.

    Um, Larry, I suspect that you'd be impressed and supportive of Jeff's work if you knew what he did for a living.

    Jeff's does research into how we spend our child welfare dollars - your tax dollars - so that they're effectively spent to help children.

    It's all well and good to rant and rave about waste and inefficiency in government, but somebody's gotta actually do the work to figure out how to spend the money effectively.

    That's what Alworth's been doing.

  • westside (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Your own statements confirm that your lack of employment is strictly based on your inability to secure out of state grants - not the budget situation in Oregon:

  • Our research isn't funded by state money at all.
  • We have no job protection beyond what we can write in grants.
  • My five-year grant ended last Friday and I didn't land on another one.

    Could it maybe (just possibly) be that what you do isn't that useful or interesting to the rest of us who have to support you?

    I don't ask you to support my income. I have demonstrated my value in a free market to the business community and am employed or not employed based on that value. The better I do, the more taxes I pay to help support the tax base for services that are deemed necessary and useful.

    I am fed up with state employee's sense of entitlement. The government and the public don't exist to support your jobs program. Your jobs exist to deliver the services that are necessary for the state to provide. If the state and/or tax base can't afford it, some services will need to be cut to fund those that are more important.

    If you can get a grant beyond state funds to pay for your work - more power to you. But if you can't compete and merit a grant, the system is telling you something important and you need to listen up.