A Basic Summary of the Debate on Public Employee Rights

A commenter on an this editorial by a low-wage federal worker has hit the nail on the head. It’s so simple, but it’s perfect. I feel an obligation to share:

“The reason this whole “over-privileged government worker” thing has gotten traction is because the quality of private sector employment has degraded significan­tly over the last 2-3 decades to where government employees now LOOK privileged­. When you make $8 an hour with no benefits and aren’t allowed to go to the bathroom on your own volition, $12 an hour with health care coverage and unschedule­d potty breaks looks like a king’s ransom.”

That, my friends, it is. My current job is the first job I’ve had that offered me benefits, and it seemed like a gift from the heavens. What kind of priorities do we have when health care, an employee discount, and some vacation time is thought to be a “gift from the heavens”? (And I have no choice but to use my vacation time any time I am not at work–even if I’m in the hospital.)

This is also the first job I’ve had where I’ve not had to ask permission to use the bathroom. I just go. And funnily enough, one of the co-workers that I started with blanched at me when I did–because it was such an outlandish concept to her. Imagine! Simply getting up and going to the bathroom when you need to is outlandish!

It’s a sad and sorry state. It’s even sadder that people are behaving as if it is bratty, selfish, and over-entitled to expect these things.

Employees make their companies money. Government employees keep the country running. It’s not selfish, outlandish, or bratty to expect fair compensation, respect, and dignity in return.