As I sit down and write this, I’m troubled by what I could possibly say as your FMESA president that would give you hope and inspiration, when we are dealing with every possible evil that could come our way. So, I’m going to give it a shot and start with:

The Ugly

The global economic crisis is upon us. My 401K is in the same tank as yours. Private industry is in the tank for the most part, if they haven’t already filed for bankruptcy. The Feds are bailing out everyone except us. I have to admire my father-in-law, who lived through the Great Depression, because the stories he tells now hit home. I now understand why he saves everything, why every penny counts, and why he placed saving money a high priority over the nice things to have now. He just turned 83, and I have a lot of catching up to do. He’s also a staunch Republican, and I’m having difficulty explaining why I’m the union president.

The budget mess with the state is about $40 billion and counting. The Republicans and the Democrats can’t compromise. There is no leadership with the current administration and the politics I’ve witnessed are astounding. Everyone is pointing fingers at someone else and nothing meaningful is being done. The attempt to place $1.4 billion of the problem on our backs is going to cause further economic disaster, as most of us are already on the brink of our own financial crisis. Some state employees will loose their homes over this. Vehicles will not be purchased and kids will not go to college. This plan will not pass the muster of a high school economics class.

The Bad

Even if everyone at the capitol worked out a fix, it’s going to take f…o…..r…..e…..v…..e…..r to turn the economic engine around. It took about 10 years for the economy to recover after the Great Depression. Even though we have evolved considerably since that time, a five-year turnaround is still a long wait. Most of us have not seen any substantial improvement in our salaries since the 80’s. Good people are leaving us in droves for higher paying jobs with local government. Our pensions are going to be under attack. Twenty union contracts have expired and our focus, energy, and money are being spent on protecting what we have now instead of improving our situation. I have about five years of state service left to do and I’m wondering if I’m going to see any improvement at the end. We are going to take some kind of hit, the question is going to be: How much and how hard?

The Good

We still have a job, at least for now. Consider the 40,000 jobs lost to Circuit City alone. IBM just cut 5,000.

We have benefits, at least for now. They may not be the best, but they are benefits. You have soon-to-be-received safety retirement coming for some of you that is retroactive.

State Controller John Chiang is good.

We have the power and expertise of CSLEA behind us. I’ve seen these people at work and I’m happy to have them at my back.

We also have an energetic Board of Directors with our FMESA affiliate. I am extremely happy to have them and know that they have my back. They, like me, have volunteered to step up, take time out of their busy schedules, to do work for YOU. We do that willingly, knowing that we may not be successful in putting more money in your pocket, but we will die on the vine protecting what you have now and protecting your rights. We will go out of our way to make sure your interests are our interests. We desire to openly communicate with you and as such, remain available to you at anytime. We have nothing to lose. That’s as good as it gets.

So, what can you do for us? BE A MEMBER OF OUR AFFILIATE! The cost of being a member is automatically trumped by the services and benefits you receive. The power of numbers speaks loudly. The more of us there are, the more of us they have to pay attention too. We have to band together to survive these times. You are counting on us and we need to count on you. Together we will get through this.

So, there you have it. At least give me credit for ending on The Good. Thanks for visiting our web page and taking the time to read this.

Bill Bondshu
President
FMESA
Mpsa7200@sti.net
209-349-2629