Benefit cuts

With the general election less than three months out and the 2011 Legislature on the horizon, the disconnect between Nevada's government employees and the dwindling private-sector work force that pays their salaries is rising to the forefront of recession-driven issues.

All over Nevada, residents have lost jobs, lost income, lost savings and lost health insurance. They have been forced to sacrifice to survive. They are working harder for a reduced standard of living.

Yet government workers, through their union mouthpieces, continue to demand that they remain insulated from the economic downturn. Iron-clad job security, early retirements and guaranteed pensions aren't enough -- their salaries and benefits must continue growing, while their work loads remain static or decrease.

"They are taking unpaid furlough days, taking salary cuts, being asked to do extra work, and now they are reducing health care benefits for them and their families," howled Lalo Macias, acting director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 4041. "State workers are very pissed off. We have to do something to help them."

Mr. Macias vented Monday in response to the Thursday decision by the Public Employees' Benefits Program Board to reduce benefits to 70,000 current and retired state employees and their dependents. The decision will save taxpayers more than $110 million by forcing state workers and retirees to pay for more of their own medical expenses, primarily through increasing their deductible from $800 to $2,000.

It is unfortunate when anyone is dealt an economic hardship. But such steps have been necessary in the private sector to prevent unemployment from soaring even higher, and to spare some companies from closure.

Indeed, the PEBP Board's action was needed to save the jobs of thousands of state workers, at least for now. And despite these cuts, state workers still enjoy wages and benefits far superior to those available in the battered private sector. Taxpayer subsidies for state worker health insurance are about twice what private industry pays for its workers, on average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"We need to speak out, or we are going to get screwed over and over again," Clair, a state worker who would not give her last name, told the Review-Journal on Monday.

Get in line, Clair. You're not alone -- not by a long shot.

When the 2011 Legislature considers how to deal with massive revenue shortfalls, achieving public sector-private sector compensation parity should be its top priority.