Taxpayer Costs For Average State Employee Increased From $79K in 2001 to $95K in 2011

The Michigan Democrats’ plan to pay college tuition for Michigan students claims that “governmental belt-tightening has come only via state employees, who have given back over $500 million in concessions.” But James Hohman, fiscal policy analyst at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, questions where the concessions show up in the state workers’ compensation data. In 2001, the state paid $3.9 billion to 62,057 full-time employees, an average of $63,474 in total compensation for each employee. In 2011, the state paid $4.7 billion to 47,818 full-time employees, meaning total compensation per worker jumped to $97,883. The Mackinac Center received the...

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Obama Cuts Hazard Pay for Soldiers Serving in Harm’s Way

They will now only get the $7.50 daily proration for the individual days they are actually serving in harm’s way instead of for the whole month. (DOD) Barack Obama cut pay for military men and women serving in harm’s way starting this month. The Army Times reported: Starting this month, some troops will begin receiving less Imminent Danger Pay when a new policy takes effect that will prorate the standard $225 monthly IDP stipend. Under the new policy, troops will be paid only for the actual days they spend in the danger pay location, defense officials said Thursday. Under the...

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80 Wis. soldiers still wait for service benefits

Dozens of Wisconsin National Guard soldiers are still waiting for thousands of dollars owed to them for their service in Iraq. The delay is due to bureaucratic glitches and clerical errors, the Oshkosh Northwestern reported ( http://oshko.sh/xfjOx5). The soldiers, members of the Wisconsin National Guard 1157th Transportation Co., spent much of 2006 and 2007 in Iraq. When they came home they were due extra pay or days of leave for serving multiple deployments, but some never received what was owed to them because of errors in the way the Army computed and paid the benefits. "It's frustrating," said Richard Vander...

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Teacher tenure now focus of change, debate

America's public school teachers are seeing their generations-old tenure protections weakened as states seek flexibility to fire teachers who aren't performing. A few states have essentially nullified tenure protections altogether, according to an analysis being released Wednesday by the National Council on Teacher Quality. The changes are occurring as states replace virtually automatic "satisfactory" teacher evaluations with those linked to teacher performance and base teacher layoffs on performance instead of seniority. Politically powerful teachers unions are fighting back, arguing the changes lower morale, deny teachers due process, and unfairly target older teachers. Teachers in Wisconsin have historically been granted what...

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White House proposes 0.5 percent pay increase for federal workers

The White House will propose a 0.5 percent pay increase for civilian federal employees as part of its 2013 budget proposal, according to two senior administration officials familiar with the plans. The modest across-the-board pay jump would be the first increase for federal workers since before a two-year freeze began in late 2010. Raises for within-grade step increases and promotions have continued during the freeze. The proposal, which requires congressional approval, differs from Republican plans supported by lawmakers and presidential candidates that would freeze basic pay rates for one more year. Some of those plans also call for denying within-grade...

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Report: Chinese workers at LG factory strike over complaint of pay discrimination

Report: Chinese workers at LG factory strike over complaint of pay discriminationBy The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – Wed, 28 Dec, 2011 BEIJING, China - Some 8,000 employees of a factory in China owned by a unit of South Korea's LG Corp. over complaints about pay discrimination, a labour group said Wednesday. Chinese employees of the LG Display factory in Nanjing, west of Shanghai, walked off the job Monday over complaints Korean employees at the factory received annual bonuses equal to one year's salary while those for Chinese workers were equal to one month's pay, the New York-based...

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Public School Teachers Are Highest Paid State Workers; Pay Doubles the Average in Private Industry

Full Headline: Dept. of Labor: Public School Teachers Are Highest Paid State Workers; Compensation Doubles the Average in Private Industry Public school teachers receive greater average hourly compensation in wages and benefits than any other group of state and local government workers and receive more than twice as much in average hourly wages and benefits as workers in private industry, according to a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Public primary, secondary and special education teachers are paid an average of $56.59 per hour in combined wages and benefits, BLS said in the report released last week. That...

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Eight Reasons Public School Teachers Are NOT Underpaid

It's one thing to claim that nameless, faceless government bureaucrats are overpaid. It's quite another to argue, as Jason Richwine of the Heritage Foundation and I recently have, that public school teachers are overpaid by more than 50 percent. This is real money, costing state and local governments over $100 billion annually. Our study generated significant, sometimes hysterical, pushback. But our conclusions still stand, and deliver important lessons regarding education financing and reform. The claim that teachers are underpaid rests on a single isolated fact: that on average, public school teachers receive salaries about 19 percent less than private sector...

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Many Michigan Public Employees Among Country's Top Wage Earners

While the Occupy Wall Street protesters’ wrath has been focused on "the rich" from the private sector, there are plenty of public-sector employees in Michigan who are among the top wage earners in the country. The Tax Foundation found that the top 5 percent of income earners in the U.S. in 2009 made at least $154,643. Michigan Capitol Confidential took a look at some of Michigan’s government employees who are paid with tax dollars who fall in that top 5 percent. The salaries listed are the most recent available from public records or news reports. Those “rich” employees came from...

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Public School Teachers Aren't Underpaid

Despite recent layoffs, teachers still have greater job security than workers in private businesses. While employment in education declined by 2.9% between September 2008 and July 2011, according to BLS data, overall private-sector employment declined by 4.4%. Moreover, from 2005 through 2010 the unemployment rate for public school teachers averaged 2.1%, versus 4.1% for private school teachers and 3.8% for occupations that some consider comparable, such as computer programmers and insurance underwriters.

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Minneapolis school study could lead to pay freezes, concessions

The same study used to justify $270,000 in retroactive raises to Minneapolis Public Schools administrators could be used by the district to cut the compensation of its unionized staff. District leaders say the report, which found that hundreds of employees are paid above-market rates, will be used in contract talks as the district seeks pay and benefit freezes and other concessions from union-represented staffers. The study, compiled by Public Sector Personnel Consultants, found that 30 percent of union-represented employees, excluding teachers, are paid above a maximum proposed salary plan, costing the district more than $6 million per year. "Unions just...

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