Posted on 03/11/2013 4:38:05 AM PDT by IbJensen
DOD civilians is where my comment started. Interfaced with them for 35 years. My comments stand.
I dunno. I don't see how it could get much worse. Besides, the current regime would have to take the blame or credit for performance.
The bureaucracy is completely untethered from reality, which is why they make a solid pro-tax-and-spend voting bloc.
In response to your question on anectodal accounts:
I happen to know that many federal employees with engineering degrees and masters degrees working to administer construction projects are paid less than the private sector engineering or construction management people that are building for them.
They put in a good difficult workday and often work a tough schedule.
hmmm, not like i haven’t been a COTR before ~ somebody must have watched you like a hawk.
Back in the 50s I had a female who worked for me who being unformed made about 10% of what I did and she ‘worked’ for me.
She’d always take either a Friday or Monday off sick and when she was there she’d sit around smoking and working about an hour per day.
Not the same thing, and they are not a voting bloc
When I was stationed at Fort McClellan, Alabama back in the 1980s, we had a lady that worked in the claims section of our JAG office. She was a big Auburn Tigers fan. When Alabama beat Auburn, she would take at least a week off because she was “sick” over Auburn losing too Alabama. When they lost to any other team, she would be out on Monday and Tuesday at least the next week. THAT is the federal government system. Take off and not have to give a real reason for not being there.
Interesting. I too was stationed at Fort McClellan in the Chemical Corps in the 50’s.
Many of the DoD engineers I have met are paid about 1/2 industry std salaries for the skill sets they possess and utilize.
Most of them ended up where they are at because they had suffered industry layoffs and bankruptcies and prolonged job searches in past economic doldrums.
Most of them are happy to have a job and arrive early and leave late, or if they are punctual, it’s because they are commuting an 80 mi+ commute daily with 6 others in their van pool.
Most of us work between 60-90hr weeks. Now that projects are wrapping up and little funding is available, we work 40-60 hr weeks. We generally might get 1-2 hrs of OT paid for every 4 we work. We don’t get paid time and a half OT, we get paid about 15% more for OT, but our withholding is increased and we tend to get audited more when we claim it at the end of the year.
Generally, we have to buy half of our own admin supplies. We don’t have cafeterias made available to us, so we eat our leftovers from the weekends at our desks throughout the week.
We aren’t afforded training budgets, and are expected to keep continuous education on our own time and dime.
We share 3 work vehicles amongst thirty of us, when half of us need to travel to job sites or meetings several times daily, but that was reduced to 2 last year, now to one. We generally drive our POVs to our jobsites without any reimbursement.
We have to travel out of the country for affordable dental work and haven’t bought a new vehicle in 30 years. I might get the opportunity to see the real economy off base about 4 hrs a year during working hours and it isn’t uncommon to work 3 weeks without a weekend.
When we have weekends, I don’t get to see my family for 4 days a week.
The furlough won’t increase the amount of time available to see my family,....it just makes the hours paid fewer and less efficient.
After medical bills for dependents, I have about $1000 available as expendable income annually. This furlough will eat up my savings and put me over $5k in debt.
When the budget gets tight, our workload increases, because we are the ones designing projects, running cost estimates, figuring out how to get things repaired, maintained, operated, for less available funding. Our demand increases and our available time decreases.
As long as the furlough effects our manhours continuously each week, and not spread out each day, at least I will have an opportunity to take on part time work or start a side business, although I intuitively understand it takes money to make money, which I do not have.
We are fortunate the furlough hits in the summer. I can discontinue my utilities and live in 120deg heat, but it’s difficult to live without utilities in temps below freezing.
It’s ironic that we can provide utilities, work facilities, and homes for all the people we serve with minimal funding, but we are personally denied them because of how other people fail to budget.
My peers from college are now retiring as CEOs from top 6 firms in various industries, while I will face another 20 years of work and probably will not qualify for any retirement system.
Yeah,..I guess we are really raping the system. /s
The good thing is: God provides. Far more than I can say for the best intentioned plans of man.
It’s not difficult to find out who is raping the system the most in the federal government. Just follow the money and their promotions. The most worldly ones are the least efficient and have been advanced the most in their careers.
Actually, I was the one protecting Military and Government interests.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.