State pay cuts won’t help

The editorial printed in The Spokesman-Review on Dec. 13 would leave us to believe that state union workers can close the budget gap but are unwilling to try.

It is doubtful that there is enough to give in state union wages to close the monster deficit. To bring those who may be earning a living wage down to a lower level is not the solution and will not help tax revenues rebound. Further, in bargaining, there is only one pie and the purpose of the negotiating committees is to decide how to slice that pie.

In short, union employees pay for all of their health care benefits through negotiation. Whether 12 or 23 percent shows up on the pay stub as employee contribution, the rest was paid for by taking a slice out of the employee pie that may have gone for wage increases. So if the suggestion is to make employees pay more of a percentage of the premium as an equitable solution of the budget crisis, you may as well be asking them to give back slices of the pie that management offered them through years of bargaining. Slices that came through sacrifice and fair negotiation.

Dave Scoville

Spokane Valley