EWU leaders wasteful

The Spokesman-Review’s editorial “State worker contracts must be part of budget fix” (March 4) reveals ignorance on achieving savings in state government. It is always easy to bash and trash the state’s union employees. The Spokesman, like many others, always chooses to cherry-pick a few statistics to justify their position. They ignore where the real waste occurs, poor management.

The editorial focused on employee health care. If every member of Eastern Washington University’s Local 931 had insurance through the Uniform Medical Plan the university would save $400,000 per year using the editorial’s numbers.

That is a lot of money but it pales in comparison to the money the university would save if it put the screws on their management practices. Eastern has managers that cannot manage a lemonade stand, much less a department with real people and real budgets.

The prevailing management philosophy is, to paraphrase President Kennedy, ask not what you can do to improve the university, ask how you can make the university a cash cow for your friends and family. The result is managers with little to do, managers incapable of performing their duties and managers that protect incompetent employees. $400,000 is nothing compared to the management waste at Eastern.

Tom McArthur

Spokane