HOW DOES IT WORK?
A question or two, please....
When I read that we are economizing by closing various state government buildings one day per week, do employees lose a full day's pay? If not, where, then, is the great economy? That suggests we are just giving the hired help fifty-some day so of paid vacation time per year. Thus far I have not heard of anyone having lost a day's pay and one could expect a rather general outcry if such a thing actually happened. In like circumstances, I think I would be asking “why me?”
If such a loss is being sustained by employees, where is the Union voice protesting such treatment? Will it hit some individuals so hard, they will be forced to go out and seek second jobs to make ends met?
I'm merely curious. I'm not all sure what is happening but I have a strange feeling this is little more than window-dressing. If “merchandise” within the “store” remains at the same price, where is the great economy this is supposed to bring about?
Just think of the savings on utility costs alone, someone suggests.
A modern office, being closed on mid-week day doesn't save that much. Required service and maintenance workers will be on duty with wide scope of duty, perhaps. A day off provides a window of opportunity for equipment repair, testing or re-structuring crews to get necessary work done, And, I have yet to see a plant which did not have one or two dedicated individuals who insist they can get more work done on a day when the office is so crowded with people. They show up for an hour or two, do some paper work and leave when they feel their off day presence has been noted, by janitors and other off-day workers. Utilities savings are, at best, minimal.
I look askance at most such “economizing packages.”
So many of them concerning things we know we should have been doing all along. The rules – most of them - are common sense, housekeeping procedures by nature. They are already “on the books” but simply not followed.
I am convinced that our state, as swell as others, has revenue potential as yet untouched. This election year there is some interest being shown in tapping into some of these areas. One is our state (Virginia) tax on tobacco products. It is the lowest such rate in the nation, in the past been politically untouchable. It may well be considered this time around and about the only people who will object are tobacco farmers, tobacco products manufacturers, and those smugglers making profits of an estimated $25,000 per truck load of Virginia cigarettes moved north to be sold in he State of New York.
Will we do so? I wonder.
A.L.M October 2002 [c475wds]
