OT: State money well spent

[RS9999X]

Because it's hourly pay; not salary...

I'm not sure why you're of the belief that employees should work when they're not getting paid to...?

If you want to argue employees should be salaried so that they work as much as necessary, that's a different argument.

They have a slew of people earning more than $80,000 on hourly salary. It is structured that way for one reason only: to avoid unpaid OT,

One of my favorite discussions was whether there would be a significant mobile presence for department XXX. The bottom line was no. The rank and file don't need to check their email when their home. Work? Bwaah Haaah Haah. Senior workers bees could get home computers and internet lines paid for as a perk to work remotely for 2 days a week and check in 2 days a week on the 4-day plan.

Biggest laugh: A guy I used to work with when he was an IT Manager in the private sector became salaried IT staff for CT DOIT (Depart of IT). First week on the job he tries to rally the troops to stay until 7:00 PM to finish a mission critical bit of work. So I warn him (I was an hourly project consultant) that he's in Rome and needs to do what the Romans do. By 5:00 everyone is gone and he throws a fit. He was there at least until 7:00 getting read the riot act by the VP of IT.

 

[RS9999X]

Two year old Dental Chair....throw that out, I'll get you a new one! "Spend it all" was the mantra, less the budget be cut back the next year, to where it really should be. That was one tiny department. Multiply by thousands and you have hundreds millions of dollars wasted, every year. So I don't want to hear that the money was "in the budget". The budgets are grotesque bloated things that bear no relationship to the cost of providing the needed services. .

That's half the story. In the administrative agencies most everyone is paid for by some piece of legislation. They are program owners and often there's matching Federal funds ranging from 20% to 100% of budget. This is entirely unlike a private business where a call center might handle 18 different clients and staff is rotated and served calls on hands free basis. In the state each of those clients would have different call centers outside of the main switch board. Any attempt to consolidate the generic position "help desk" is met with frowns because of the tracking that must be done to fulfill various federal and state legislative mandates. There is software to track that scenarop but getting everyone on board and equipment funding etc.is a quagmire. It's simply a zoo of inefficiency.

Below: This is State of CT Information Technology in action. The fact they are paper applications should blow your mind.

On Dec 14, 2012 a federal judge ordered the Connecticut Department of Social Services to process food stamps in a timely fashion, a week after 125 boxes of unprocessed applications for food stamps were found at the agency.

U.S. District Judge Vanessa Bryant issued the order Wednesday. Bryant criticized the Social Services Department for its "persistent systemic failure" to comply with regulations. Some of the unprocessed applications were from 2009.

Five DSS officials were placed on paid administrative leave after the boxes were discovered.

The judge's ruling came in a lawsuit filed earlier this year by advocates for the poor, after the agency failed to process 41 percent of cases within required time limits.

 

[husky91]

I'm thinking most of us don't work on a clock and work far in excess of 35 hours week and don't get OT for that time.

This picture is a single explanation of why this state is broke, and not the one positive about what is actually on the sign.

I assume everyone on this thread will be subtracting all their posting and reading time when they fill out this week's timesheet. It would certainly be ironic if everyone's employers wound up paying for time devoted to debating the work ethic and efficiency of state employees.

 

[Husky25]

I'm thinking most of us don't work on a clock and work far in excess of 35 hours week and don't get OT for that time.

This picture is a single explanation of why this state is broke, and not the one positive about what is actually on the sign.

It's resentment with a side of sour grapes.

No inference can logically be made by a single still photo. What do these guys do bhind the scenes? Its the same type of ill informed argument made against Herbst and Manuel.

 

[jdb50]

The guys doing the work for DOT and other State agencies aren't the problem. Numbers are declining in the job titles that reform physical labor. The problem in State government is in the excess number of management. Good luck reducing those numbers. If the DOT was overstaffed at the maintainer level why do they have to hire private contractors and offer shift's to maintainers in DEP to deal with the snow and hurricane cleanup?

 

[Dove]

tO ME IT LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE SIMPLY CHANGING THE PANELS. iF THE sTATE ACTUALLY TAKES THE SIGN DOWN TO CHANGE THE INFORMATION THEN I WOULD SHAKE MY HEAD BUT THIS PIC LOOKS LIKE PANEL CHANGING IS TAKING PLACE. a JOB TWO DUDES COULD DO.

Okay...I see my cap lock was on. Sorry, ain't re-typing.

 

[pj]

My only complaint is why don't they just leave the sign up there? All you need to do is replace the last 2 numbers every once in awhile.

They should make the sign taller and have 8 numbers.

 

[husky91]

Bro, the state is in a $2b annual deficit and you wonder how or why that happens. Paying these losers $100k a year and they get free healthcare and huge pensions. Every 1 u can eliminate adds up. Have to do everything possible

These guys are getting paid whether they are in the break room or on the road. If there is no other project going on, what is the difference? The money is already in the budget. As long as the DOT doesn't go overfor the Fiscal year, what is the difference? Cheezus, worry about something that you can actually control!!

 

[Husky25]

Bro, the state is in a $2b annual deficit and you wonder how or why that happens. Paying these losers $100k a year and they get free healthcare and huge pensions. Every 1 u can eliminate adds up. Have to do everything possible

The deficit this year was about $445 mil. Not chump change to be sure, but its about 23% of your made up figure.

The time to challenge the budget is before the fiscal year, but I'm sure you have your State rep on speed dial, post to their Facebook wall, whathaveyou. Beyond that, have some state pride. Everyone here knows how you feel and we are also allowed to have an opinion. Move on. Life's short, enjoy it. If not, move. But here's a little heads up...Almost every state in the country has its own problems. Grab a helmet.

 

[RS9999X]

The guys doing the work for DOT and other State agencies aren't the problem. The problem in State government is in the excess number of management. Good luck reducing those numbers.

1) Most of the middle management was promoted from within. That's another lunacy. Productive Worker bees in IT have to become managers if they want any kind of career. IT workers have 3 salary classes and then transer to the IT MP classification (which is where the most fat is and useless people are). It's the seniority thing. Once a PM they never get laid off and their job descriptions are supervisory not production it's like that layer of fat that never goes away due to union rules. In 2015 when the 'no layoffs' policy is done I expect bloodshed. It's not often you fire every middle manager and improve a place. In the state it is true.


As fas as the snowplow guys go, I drink at the local bar with two of them. They work hard for about 30 days a year and get plenty of OT on those days. In emergencies and heavy snow (about 10 to 15 days a year) the state uses contractors to pick up the load.

Ask those guys about CT Summers working as snow plow drivers. Dan Malloy tried to fire the whole lot of them in June 2011.

"I am asking for additional ability to privatize services," Malloy told newspaper editorial writers and editors during a conference call Wednesday. There are a whole bunch of people in the world who think they are the only people who know how to operate a plow. I got news for you, other people know how to operate a plow."

Malloy knew exectly what those dudes were doing that day on a sunny June day in 2011.

Fortunately for the plow drivers the union negotiated the 'no layoff, no privatization' contract.

 

[RS9999X]

The deficit this year was about $445 mil. Not chump change to be sure, but its about 23% of your made up figure.
.

The Legislature is looking at the next two year budget. It's ugly. $2.3 billion over 2 years in deficit. Tax revenues are not good. That war is just starting now that gun control is done

 

[Bootsthemonkey]

This being road work I'd imagine this was one of several jobs these guys had to do. Another item not taken into account is the wind. Regardless of the weight of such a sign, on a windy day those things will act like a sail and can easily injure someone or blow out into high speed traffic which could potentially cause a monster accident. And yes I do see that it doesn't look like the sign is being erected but just some text being modified. This was most likely on the way to or on the way back from a larger job that required more personnel. It's amazing that so many people can proclaim with absolute certainty they know what's going on from one snapshot.
If you're in the workforce, I'm sure I could make a casual observation of your job and take shots at your lack of efficiency, and probably be just as wrong.

 

[Adios]

It's kind of funny so see people complaining about state workers when they are probably posting here or reading this site while at work.

 

[formerlurker]

It's kind of funny so see people complaining about state workers when they are probably posting here or reading this site while at work.

True, but most of us don't have eight friends who are getting paid to stand around and watch us read this.