Mr. Sapienza asks in the Union Leader, “Do legislators even know what state workers do?”
Perhaps some don’t. I know for a fact that some do…many have been state workers themselves. With so many flawed or misquided assumptions, the demagoguery lives on.
Edward Sapienza of Manchester, through the Union Leader opposite editorial pages seeks to “offer some clarity and ask our state representatives and state senators, specifically what conservative values do [sic] you bring to the table?” Mr. Sapienza asserts this legislature is taking from the rank and file working class. “Getting state and county spending under control is, “taking from the working class?” pointing to the measure to remove collective bargaining.
Mr. Sapienza is a correctional officer at the Hillsborough County Jail. As a Hillsborough County taxpayer, I am grateful and thankful for his service because being a correctional officer is a tough job. The care, custody, and control of our societal miscreants is a significant task, requiring patience, an even temperament and intelligence. Correctional Officers must follow a clearly defined set of rules, procedures and standards in dealing with our county prisoners and detainees, who, on the other hand, adhere to no such rules or standards, other than those imposed by the facility that keeps them. Few truly know what a day in the life of a correctional officer is truly like and often times, the only public mention of the men and women who do this job is when we see acts of wrong-doing by them in newspapers. It’s unfair.
Moreover, very few understand that in Mr. Sapienza’s workplace; even the most seemingly innocuous question or request by an inmate or detainee can tax a Correctional Officer. A Correctional Officer must be able to think quickly, evaluate, and understand that his response may have an unintended consequence. The CO must ask, “Did the inmate or detainee already ask another staff member? Did that staff member say, ‘no'”? If I say, ‘yes’, am I causing an inconsistency with my other staff members, enabling an inmate manipulation?” Being a correctional officer is a challenging career and is not a job for stupid people.
But for all of Mr. Sapienza’s hard work and service, he presents readers with the “flavor du jour” of the same old tired union hackery. Same old message, same old angle, but different venue. Sapienza asks, “Do the conservatives in the State House really want to take from hard-working people who live paycheck to paycheck? There is nothing new or unique about asking this question. This is the same old question that gets asked one-thousand times, if not more. It never matters “who” we are talking about, be it a firefighter, police officer, teacher, maintenance worker or correctional officer. The question that I never see asked is how such demands contemplate the taxpayer who is laid off, struggling to pay the mortgage. Despite a poor economy, the publicly-funded worker still demands (and often receives) annual cost of living increases and other benefit stipends.
Says Mr. Sapienza, “I encourage House Speaker William O’Brien to visit a county jail or nursing home, look the line staff in the eye [sic], and tell them that they are overpaid, that their unions are too powerful, and the playing field needs to be leveled.” And the ‘unions’ level the playing field? How is it fair for a person who lives paycheck to paycheck, be required to pony up union dues? How fair is it that in many places, a person must join a union or forgo employment altogether? How fair is it that a non-union employee be required to pay the Union for the terms of wages and salaries that person otherwise had no say or hand in negotiating? Union bosses accept lay-offs over cuts in salary or benefits. While that might seem acceptable to the Union bosses, what about the he or she who gets laid off? Where has that Union worked for that person?
Mr. Sapienza asserts, “Some of the reasons we have collective bargaining are because it greatly reduces favoritism, office politics, and cronyism. It is protection for the little guy, the working little guy.” The direct opposite is true. While supposedly looking out for the, “little guy,” collective bargaining rarely achieves a net result where the fewest people lose jobs. Powerful union bosses stand their ground on pay and benefits, willing to accept lay-offs as collateral damage. Unions often rely upon a seniority system determining who gets what jobs or shifts. The more seniority, the less likely one is to be laid off. While bargaining in the private sector is market and profit driven, in the public sector it is not. Public sector unions give little regard to debt or deficits of an entity as evidenced by our public debt and lack of acknowledgement in their complaints about compensation and benefits.
Finally, Mr. Sapienza advises, “I encourage our representatives to get out and get a feel for what our public employees do to earn their modest pay, particularly those in the less glamorous roles such as cooks, housekeeping staff, and correctional officers. I am confident you would find that we earn every penny.” Nobody disputes the hard work. Mr. Sapienza, in his pro-union, class warfare analysis, suggests that Speaker O’Brien and other legislators sitting in Concord don’t have any understanding of how the world works. This is mere demagoguery because New Hampshire’s legislature is a “citizen” legislature. People from all walks of life have served and continue to serve. The whole, “Us versus Them” context is mere Charlatanry.
There is no clarity here, Mr. Sapienza, other than the clarity of a constant: More of the same old union hackery and no discussion of local budgets or taxes and the focus remains on what you and your labor pals can keep, regardless of expense.
