Essential Workers?

[MossRoad]

Yikes. One of my grandmas was a nurse in a psych ward. Did not end well.

Thanks for helping those folks.

 

[ultrarunner]

One of our docs was killed by a patient in the county psyche hospital.

My friends say it is often similar to police except police are armed...

The Doctor from India could not have weighed more than a 100 pounds...

Through the pandemic medical and public safety pretty much reported for duty even in the early days when little was known.

 

[jyoutz]

And gain more back in better bennies and a pension.
Not losing your job over the course of 30 years compared to losing a private sector job 2,3,4 times is like making more money. There’s no interruption in the income stream.
How about government union protections and medical benefits? Something tells me they are better than average joe in private sector, too.

Federal medical benefits: we have the choice of several plans. I buy the Blue Cross plan. I costs me about $550/month for a family plan. I don’t know if the plan is better or worse than most private sector options. From what I’ve heard from friends it’s comparable to plans offered by larger corporations.

 

[jyoutz]

That's the new system, FERS, it relies on SS, your pension, and the TSP (Thrift Savings Plan). The key is to invest wisely in the TSP. SS is probably going to die.
Under the old system, CSRS, we got a higher % but no SS and not as much TSP.


That's the way it was throughout my career. Most of us scientists were not money hungry and preferred the job stability. The contractor people that made bigger $$ for the same work also stood to lose their job if the contract was not awarded.

But then I came from the cohort that grew up on the words "“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”.

The old federal CSRS system was discontinued for employees hired in 1983 or after. There are few people left still working under the old system.

 

[jyoutz]

And don’t government employees get a huge amount of time off (vacation time, sick pay, paid holidays, etc.)
I believe there are also education and other benefits very uncommon to the private sector.

Sick leave: ranges from 2-4 hours each 2 weeks. Annual leave: starts at 3 hours per pay periods due increases to 8 hours after 15 years service.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've been trying to think of any Federal employees I know as friends, neighbors and acquaintances and can't come up with any if military excluded.

Plenty of State, County and City...

 

[Oaktree]

I always find this viewpoint rather humorous. My first job out of college was working for the State Bureau of Public Lands. I was laid off the first 3 winters before getting on full time... that lasted 6 months before somebody with more seniority had her position terminated and I was out of work again. We had gone almost 2 years W/O a pay raise... the day that I was laid off everybody else got a retroactive pay raise.

Big difference between state/local and federal jobs. You really do have to try to get fired/laid off from a federal job. State job security I'm sure varies from one state to another.

It is true you can probably get a higher salary in the private sector, but as a retired federal employee I had excellent benefits. Paid holidays or double time working the holiday, some of the best health insurance, dental and vision in the country, I earned 4 weeks of paid sick leave per year which I could carry over to the next year.

That's just wrong. I had a friend who was a teacher, and she was able to take a full year off with pay by using accumulated sick and personal time she'd never used. Try that in private industry.

I have only gone to the local DMV office for a vehicle registration once in about 10 years. It took me longer to walk from my car in the parking lot to the building than to complete the transaction. Less than 5 minutes.

In my state it's not necessary to go to the DMV to register most vehicles, it can all be done at town hall (for a relatively small "convenience" fee). Commercial vehicles, antique cars, etc. do need to be done at the DMV for the initial registration, renewals can be done by the town.
I don't know if you can renew registrations online or not. Maybe not since each registration has 3 copies (one for the owner, 2 for the bureaucracy), all of which need to be signed to be valid.

No way out of going to the DMV when license renewal time comes though. Last time I waited in line for almost an hour, and they had all the windows open. Line stretched out the door.
Can't blame it all on the employees though, they did seem to be working as fast as possible. Lots of people renewing licenses/transferring from another state, etc. and didn't have all their paperwork. The state was also transitioning to "enhanced" licenses, which involved additional paperwork that needed verifying.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I can't be a wakeup call, because it's not an isolated incident. Due to rampant retail theft, nearby Walgreens and CVS have closed multiple stores, permanently, and curtailed hours at remaining stores. Surprisingly, when they do that, in response to crime, the community gets mad at THEM, the greedy stores, not the criminals and perps who cause the change.

The genesis of this was lessening the penalties for stealing. Under $1,000 in theft now in CA is a minor crime that is rarely pursued. Criminal gangs bring calculators-- so when the shopping cart hits $950 in value they push it out the door and load the contents into the car and drive away. The security guards are instructed to not get involved-- since taking any sort of action could cause even greater liability by the store.

Walgreens to Close 5 Stores in San Francisco, Citing ‘Organized’ Shoplifting (Published 2021)

One of the stores was targeted at least five times by the same man, who drew widespread attention for raiding the store on a bike and was later arrested, the authorities said.

www.nytimes.com

Ain't life grand ...

Not the America I grew up in...

 

[Torvy]

I've been trying to think of any Federal employees I know as friends, neighbors and acquaintances and can't come up with any if military excluded.

Plenty of State, County and City...

I know an FBI agent and a Dept of Labor officer...yes, they have their own armed officers. My brother is a civilian employee for DoD...retired USAF.

 

[two_bit_score]

I am seeing this first hand during my 5 years in public schools. The attendance alone would have 30% of my co-workers fired from a private sector job. Don't get me wrong, there are some teachers who do considerably more work than average. Unfortunately, pay is based on time in job, not how hard or well you work. As long as you don't touch the students and don't touch the money, it is almost impossible to be fired.

Every time the Legislature has considered merit raises for teachers the biggest opponents have been teachers and the teachers union.