San Antonio FEDERAL WORKERS - what will you cut when FURLOUGHED? (luxury, contractors)

[the_dimwit]

Originally Posted by Readerfeeder

You do realize feds are three years without any pay raises, right? And many are disabled vets, just getting on their feet and STILL waiting for the paperwork nightmare on that end. Also, feds were not exempt from losing money when housing had a melt-down. And feds will be chipping in more on benefits. There is talk of a major RIF for next year, so I'm not sure who will "still have a job". I hope that makes you feel better, dim, because in you sympathies, I feel a veiled non-sympathetic tone.

Not at all. I have worked in the federal sector in previous jobs. There are a LOT of sharp, hard-working people that I personally know are staring down the barrel of employment uncertainty. In no way would I ever revel in their misery. All I'm trying to say is that, for now at least, things could be a lot worse.

As for the lack of pay raises, that sucks. I know what it's like to go year after year without any sort of bump in pay (even 2-3% to cover "cost of living"). I worked through the dot-com and telecom busts, and had my share of dry years. I truly wish those who are going through this in the federal sector the best of luck, and hope that things will turn around very soon!

--Dim

[Readerfeeder]

Thank you for clarifying your views; I appreciate it!!

[Paka]

Originally Posted by doss1

Hasn't the furlough plan decreased from 22 days to just 14 days of leave without pay? That's not too bad. If that's what it takes to help the country then by all means lets do it. I was a govt worker for 2 years and went through BRAC and a RIF...all within 2 years here in SA (2010-2012). I ended up going to the "dark side" as a contractor and have not looked back. Now it seems contractors are the ones that won't be affected by this whole ordeal.

Wait grasshopper, you have NO idea what is instore for contractors....NONE at all!!!

Trust me, when you post the "what the heck happened to MY job" post, you will be short on sympathy given your, hey, what is nearly 3
weeks off without pay being forced on you mentality. The ONLY reason contractor are "sitting pretty" right now is their contract is allocated for threw the time frame the bidding ends....in the overall scheme of things, the CONTRACTORS are going to be the ones without jobs...only they get laid off as contracts end vs all at once, in the same boat.

The contract employees I work with just got their contract "bridged" (NOT renewed, but bridged) until Sept....but with a $4 per hour PAY DECREASE! They had two choices, accept it or move along...

Just FYI from someone who KNOWS these things....as a contractor, you are far more at risk even if you fail to see that currently.

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by sapphire

People in the private sector have already started cutting back. Companies are not giving raises and the cost of benefits has risen so there has been less take-home pay for a couple of years now. You cut back or pick up a part time job that may be beneath you. Wishing your neighbor would also suffer because after all, you are, is what I call a sad day in this country.

I was in no way saying that I don't care about the furloughed workers. Not at all. I was responding ONLY to the poster that said others were shrugging their shoulders and saying they don't care. I do care. About all of us. Because we're ALL (private workers and public) suffering in our own ways. But I would never wish someone else would lose their job because I'm losing my house. That's just ridiculous. (and no, I'm not losing my house, I'm just using that as an example)

[Paka]

Originally Posted by sapphire

I was in no way saying that I don't care about the furloughed workers. Not at all. I was responding ONLY to the poster that said others were shrugging their shoulders and saying they don't care. I do care. About all of us. Because we're ALL (private workers and public) suffering in our own ways. But I would never wish someone else would lose their job because I'm losing my house. That's just ridiculous. (and no, I'm not losing my house, I'm just using that as an example)

I SOOOO know and understand where you are coming from Sapphire...it is those "contractors" that do not see the "handwriting on the wall" that think they are exempt that concern me....THEY are about to have a VERY RUDE AWAKENING!!! Trust me, between mine and my DH position in Civil Service, we are privvy to info others are totally unaware of.....ask just a FEW of the CDF folks who can "vouch" for the advantage of where we "roost"....

[doss1]

Originally Posted by Paka

I SOOOO know and understand where you are coming from Sapphire...it is those "contractors" that do not see the "handwriting on the wall" that think they are exempt that concern me....THEY are about to have a VERY RUDE AWAKENING!!! Trust me, between mine and my DH position in Civil Service, we are privvy to info others are totally unaware of.....ask just a FEW of the CDF folks who can "vouch" for the advantage of where we "roost"....

Oh come on Paka, I did not say that contractors were unaffected in the future. I said, as of now, they are standing pretty good. But, it's going to be the same as it has been the past 10 years--contracts will come and go just like the wind that blows on a sail. As long as you have your sail set the right way it's not going to matter how the wind blows. Contractors have to constantly keep their skills intact because of these very situations. This is why being a contractor in this economy works out in their favor. I agree that contractors will probably be the first on the chopping block--but keep in mind that we expect that every year, so it's nothing new. No one becomes a contractor for stable employment. We're guns for hire

[Paka]

Originally Posted by doss1

Oh come on Paka, I did not say that contractors were unaffected in the future. I said, as of now, they are standing pretty good. But, it's going to be the same as it has been the past 10 years--contracts will come and go just like the wind that blows on a sail. As long as you have your sail set the right way it's not going to matter how the wind blows. Contractors have to constantly keep their skills intact because of these very situations. This is why being a contractor in this economy works out in their favor. I agree that contractors will probably be the first on the chopping block--but keep in mind that we expect that every year, so it's nothing new. No one becomes a contractor for stable employment. We're guns for hire

As long as you are there with eyes wide open to truth and risk, carry on grasshopper. The contractor world was something available to us, at a much better pay rate, but we decided on the long term benefits and "security" of civil service worked best for us...of course, the only thing SECURE these days is "death and taxes"...

[BestintheWest]

Since SA is so reliant on the military, has anyone been directly effected?

[Randyk47]

My wife works for the Army at Ft Sam Houston and we're still waiting for the furloughs to begin. The number of potential days off without pay has gone down over the weeks from something like 22 to 14 to 7 or at least I think that's the latest number. In anticipation of the larger 22 days off without pay we started cutting back months ago. Nothing drastic, just watching big purchases, cutting back on eating out, delaying our annual vacation, etc. Some folks have not been so fortunate and several people we know who were temporary employees have been let go already and some have to leave by I think the end of the month which is coming up fast. Really hard to say what the near term or long range impacts will be on the local economy. Maybe nothing, maybe a little, or maybe a lot. Kind of depends on the "trickle down" impact of how much people cut back and what they cut back.

[rctsat]

As far as furloughed employees go why are they wanting to cut our air traffic controllers, this is ridiculous and shows how narrow minded the federal government can be. There are over 8 million people flying into or out of San Antonio per year, I have a very simple solution, tell people if they want to fly on time and safely with a full staff of controllers " here is a tip jar". Just put a tip jar at every gate in the airport and ask all the passengers leaving or arriving to donate fifty cents, two quarters that's it, the government doesn't need to get involved at all. This would be an income of over 4 million dollars a year. I believe at a salary of 100k a year we could hire 40 comptrollers to work our airport and keep our flights friendly, timely and safe. So instead of worrying about what we are going to do when government cutbacks kick in, lets try to come up with some solutions on how to fix our broken federal government.