Must be nice to have a real union
Pennsylvania
With Jan. 1 approaching when unionized state employees can look forward to a 2.25 percent pay raise, their 13,000 non-unionized colleagues are wondering if the new year will bring a similar change in their paychecks.
The answer from Gov. Tom Wolf's Office of Administration as well as from the three state row offices – Treasury, Auditor General and Attorney General – is that has yet to be determined.
Some of the spokesmen for those agencies who elaborated on the reason behind the indecision cited the unresolved state budget.
"We can't make any decision about management increases without a budget having been passed," said Chuck Ardo, a spokesman for the Attorney General's office.
State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale echoed that sentiment but shared his desire for what he'd like to do for those employees in his department.
"My hope is to do something similar to what the union is getting," DePasquale said.
Pay disparity has been an issue within the state government workforce since 2009 when former Gov. Ed Rendell ordered a pay freeze for non-unionized employees to deal with state budgetary challenges. That freeze remained in place for three and a half years.
During that time, though, unionized workers continued to receive their contractually obligated raises totaling 12.75 percent.
That resulted in some management employees making less money than the employees they managed. That lowered morale and made it harder to retain employees or recruit some to management positions, according to state officials.
Gov. Tom Corbett chipped away at that pay disparity last year by granting a 2.25 percent pay raise last year to the majority of the commonwealth's non-unionized employees who hadn't received a raise in three years.
