SIL freaking about 3% pay cut

[muttleynfelix]

I know this is more than a 3% pay cut because of insurance, etc. But her exhusband pays for the house (a very very nice house), her car is paid for, and this was her post on facebook:

Washington State politicians are proposing a 3% pay cut for educators....OMG!! How am I going to make ends meet? Between increased out of pocket expenses for health/dental care and a pay cut......I do not know how I am going to make ends meet! Looks like a second job is in order! Let's contact our politicians and voice our concerns!

I knew she was bad at money from what she has told her older brother who has in turn told DH (her younger brother) and me, but honestly 3% should not be that hard to deal with in the short term with no housing expenses and no car payment.

Discuss. ;D

[Deleted]

Probably posturing to make a point.

[steph08]

Heard that PA is considering a 3% pay cut as well for state educators. If it is either 3% pay cut or be an unemployed teacher along with thousands of others looking for jobs, I would take the 3% pay cut.

[lonewolf2019]

3% would look pretty good to our Sheriff's department staff who are looking at a 7% pay cut. Better get used to it, as this is only the beginning.
Dang! There goes the penthouse.

[giramomma]

We've had a 3% pay cut the past two years. Now, we're looking at loose about 7-10% of take home pay (about 300/month). I was actually quite surprised that it will be fairly easy to do without any extra "belt-tightening." But, we have minimal expenses, just a mortgage.

[Deleted]

On my gross income a 3% cut would mean $1,590/year so $132.5/month.

mmmm, I would either need to
- cut the expense somewhere
- reduce savings

That is definitely better than being unemployed.

[tea4me]

Maybe she just likes having something to freak out about.

People like that don't realize how fortunate they are - i.e., paid for house and car.

It would be fun to comment on FB and say "adjust".

[Wisconsin Beth]

When the budget repair bill goes into play, we're looking at a 6.5% pay cut for health insurance plus a 5.8% pension payment to equal 12.3% coming out of my paycheck starting 01/01/12 (I"m assuming it will get out of court and be in place by the end of the year.) With no contract in sight and a max raise of 1.5% once we DO get a contract settled (traditionally a 1.5+ year process...)

I suspect we're doing to drop my 457 contribution to balance out the pension payment.

Edited to fix my health percentage. I used biweekly pay instead of 2 checks per month.

[thyme4change]

I thought teachers always complained about earning nothing. 3% of nothing is pretty small.

[giramomma]

Apr 20, 2011 9:51:07 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

When the budget repair bill goes into play, we're looking at a 13.5% pay cut for health insurance plus a 5.8% pension payment to equal 19.3% coming out of my paycheck starting 01/01/12 (I"m assuming it will get out of court and be in place by the end of the year.) With no contract in sight and a max raise of 1.5% once we DO get a contract settled (traditionally a 1.5+ year process...)

I suspect we're doing to drop my 457 contribution to balance out the pension payment.

I really won't expect contract negotiations to take a year and a half. I mean, how long does it take to negotiate over a 1% raise increase tied to CPI? Do you really think people are going to waste their time negotiating over that?

There's nothing left to negotiate on, or at least that's what I've gathered from all the reading that I've done.

(I'm also a non-union state worker, so I don't know intimate details of contracts, either.)

[muttleynfelix]

I was thinking about telling her to adjust, but you know I do try to keep the peace.

What she doesn't know is that for 5 weeks in February and March is that I was unemployed 2 days a week which equalled about a 20% paycut (fortunately, bossman set it up with the Department of Labor where we got unemploymnet for those 2 days and it ended up beng a lot shorter time than we thought, I was expecting to still be on 3 day work weeks at this point). So, DH (a SAHD to our 1 year old) and I adjusted. We have savings, but we also have a mortgage payment and a small car payment (have the savings to pay it off, but at 5% we prefer the flexibility of the small payment. Our flexible expenses for February were some of the lowest we have ever had. I think that is why her comment bothered me so much.

[bean29]

host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_3d93e6aa-363a-11e0-8493-001cc4c002e0.html

Pension contributions
Requires employees who pay into the Wisconsin Retirement System to contribute 50 percent of their annual pension payment. That amount is estimated to be 5.8% of salary in 2011.

Health insurance contributions
Requires state employees to pay at least 12.6% of the average cost of annual premiums. Require changes to the plan design necessary to reduce current premiums by 5%.


WIBeth...the Governor's budget repair bill requires you to pay at least 12.6% of your insurance premium not 12.6% of your salary for insurance, so how does that translate to a 13.5% pay reduction for you? Unless your annual wages are close to the annual cost of your insurance premiums?

I pay a much higher % of my pay or my premium that what Governor Walker is asking of State Employees. I don't think my taxes should support anything more in benefits than what the average taxpayer receives.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Apr 20, 2011 10:08:02 GMT -5 giramomma said:

Apr 20, 2011 9:51:07 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

When the budget repair bill goes into play, we're looking at a 13.5% pay cut for health insurance plus a 5.8% pension payment to equal 19.3% coming out of my paycheck starting 01/01/12 (I"m assuming it will get out of court and be in place by the end of the year.) With no contract in sight and a max raise of 1.5% once we DO get a contract settled (traditionally a 1.5+ year process...)

I suspect we're doing to drop my 457 contribution to balance out the pension payment.

I really won't expect contract negotiations to take a year and a half. I mean, how long does it take to negotiate over a 1% raise increase tied to CPI? Do you really think people are going to waste their time negotiating over that?

There's nothing left to negotiate on, or at least that's what I've gathered from all the reading that I've done.

(I'm also a non-union state worker, so I don't know intimate details of contracts, either.)

Yeah, I don't know how long the contract will take to negotiate either. I'm local gov't. Like I said, traditionally, we have somewhere between 1.5-2.5 years of no contract and then get backpay after the fact. But now, who knows what will happen.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Apr 20, 2011 10:20:54 GMT -5 bean29 said:

host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_3d93e6aa-363a-11e0-8493-001cc4c002e0.html

Pension contributions
Requires employees who pay into the Wisconsin Retirement System to contribute 50 percent of their annual pension payment. That amount is estimated to be 5.8% of salary in 2011.

Health insurance contributions
Requires state employees to pay at least 12.6% of the average cost of annual premiums. Require changes to the plan design necessary to reduce current premiums by 5%.


WIBeth...the Governor's budget repair bill requires you to pay at least 12.6% of your insurance premium not 12.6% of your salary for insurance, so how does that translate to a 13.5% pay reduction for you? Unless your annual wages are close to the annual cost of your insurance premiums?

I pay a much higher % of my pay or my premium that what Governor Walker is asking of State Employees. I don't think my taxes should support anything more in benefits than what the average taxpayer receives.

I did the math but it's possible that I'm wrong as math is NOT my strong suit. The City pays 1997 per month for my family coverage for 2011. I'm using that number for reference, it could go up or down in 2012. 1997*12.6%=251.622. I make 1865.6 for 2 weeks of pay, pretax. Oh, there's an error. I used 1865.6 instead of 3731.2. Health is going to be a hair over 6.5%. Thank you for catching that. I'll go back and edit my post.

[fuel100]

She should be happy she has health insurance. I no longer will as of May 1. Our insurance carrier dropped us like a hot potato.

Luckily, I got an indivdual policy with a $2500 deductible and 100% coverage after it is met for a little less than my 25% share of my crappy group policy. It actually worked out for me but not everyone else is in my shoes.

[bean29]

WI Beth,

Well hopefully that makes you feel a little better, I know you are still looking at a pay reduction of about 12.3%. So you are looking at a reduction in pay of about $460.00/month by my calculations.

Yes, I agree that is enough to be concerned about, but in the economy we are dealing with, I don't think the worker bees or the taxpayers have too many choices. We just gotta deal.

[fairlycrazy23]

If they have to reduce pay by 3%, that probably means they need to cut everybody 3% or cut 3% of everybody.
If they end up cutting 3% of the employees, and you aren't cut then you think it is good they didn't cut your pay by 3%, but if you are one of the ones cut you wish they had cut everybody's pay by 3%

[Deleted]

I have to admit that I feel the same way. Alabama is going to cut us 2.5% to better fund our pensions. In addition, they are talking about increasing our premiums.

What a lot of people don't realize is that some teachers don't get regular raises. Our last one was in 2005 or 2006. We will be lucky to get one in 2015 since any new money will have to go for textbooks and other expenses that have been deferred.

I'm trying to picture a message on this board that goes: "I haven't gotten a raise in ten years. Should I be upset?" Lol.

[giramomma]

Apr 20, 2011 11:03:03 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

I have to admit that I feel the same way. Alabama is going to cut us 2.5% to better fund our pensions. In addition, they are talking about increasing our premiums.

Wait till they look to move you to a 401K type program.

We have a fully funded pension program here, and they are looking to mess with that.

[frep]

Apr 20, 2011 10:33:29 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

Apr 20, 2011 10:20:54 GMT -5 bean29 said:

host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_3d93e6aa-363a-11e0-8493-001cc4c002e0.html

Pension contributions
Requires employees who pay into the Wisconsin Retirement System to contribute 50 percent of their annual pension payment. That amount is estimated to be 5.8% of salary in 2011.

Health insurance contributions
Requires state employees to pay at least 12.6% of the average cost of annual premiums. Require changes to the plan design necessary to reduce current premiums by 5%.


WIBeth...the Governor's budget repair bill requires you to pay at least 12.6% of your insurance premium not 12.6% of your salary for insurance, so how does that translate to a 13.5% pay reduction for you? Unless your annual wages are close to the annual cost of your insurance premiums?

I pay a much higher % of my pay or my premium that what Governor Walker is asking of State Employees. I don't think my taxes should support anything more in benefits than what the average taxpayer receives.

I did the math but it's possible that I'm wrong as math is NOT my strong suit. The City pays 1997 per month for my family coverage for 2011. I'm using that number for reference, it could go up or down in 2012. 1997*12.6%=251.622. I make 1865.6 for 2 weeks of pay, pretax. Oh, there's an error. I used 1865.6 instead of 3731.2. Health is going to be a hair over 6.5%. Thank you for catching that. I'll go back and edit my post.

I don't know the whole situation there but by your calculation it's only a 6.5% pay cut if you are currently not contributing anything which seems kind of unlikely. If you're already paying $150/month then you can only look at the change between the new portion 250/month and the previous amount $150/month, to get a net change of $100. In my example at least, $100 / 3,731.20 is a 2.6% cut.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Apr 20, 2011 10:48:52 GMT -5 bean29 said:

WI Beth,

Well hopefully that makes you feel a little better, I know you are still looking at a pay reduction of about 12.3%. So you are looking at a reduction in pay of about $460.00/month by my calculations.

Yes, I agree that is enough to be concerned about, but in the economy we are dealing with, I don't think the worker bees or the taxpayers have too many choices. We just gotta deal.

Yeah, it does. I did come up with 400+ a month too. There is a small copay for health insurance at this time so it's going to be closer to $400 than $460, I think.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Apr 20, 2011 11:05:44 GMT -5 giramomma said:

Apr 20, 2011 11:03:03 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

I have to admit that I feel the same way. Alabama is going to cut us 2.5% to better fund our pensions. In addition, they are talking about increasing our premiums.

Wait till they look to move you to a 401K type program.

We have a fully funded pension program here, and they are looking to mess with that.

yeah, I think we're back to surplus in our pension fund again. I'm not sure how much wiggle room the City has with existing personnel - there was a settlement around 2000 (Global Pension Settlement) for 5 lawsuits and I don't think it will be easy, cheap or fast to determine what's what.

And I'm sorry for highjacking the thread.

[Deleted]

I have never had a job where they talked of decreasing my pay. If the position I had was suddenly going to pay 3% less they would let everyone go, rename the position and do a rehire. I can't imagine being told my pay cheque next week was going to be less than it is this week. At most they would tell me what my hourly rate works out to and say they are cutting the hours.

[skubikky]

Apr 20, 2011 8:49:28 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

I knew she was bad at money from what she has told her older brother who has in turn told DH (her younger brother) and me, but honestly 3% should not be that hard to deal with in the short term with no housing expenses and no car payment.

Discuss. ;D

Well, for her, a 3% pay decrease coupled with higher contributions for health insurance obviously IS something that will present a challenge.

" I think that is why her comment bothered me so much. "

You're bothered because you perceive that your fiscal pressures are greater than hers and that as you were able to manage, that she should be able to as well? Guess what, everyone is different. Her life, concerns, values and issues are hers alone. You're not morally superior to her because you make different decisions than she does.

If her comments on her FB page caused you to be bothered, that reaction is your problem, not hers. Then don't read her FB. You say that you knew she was "bad with money" and are put off that she made a statement about her personal situation?

In reality it's none of your business, though you've listened to her brothers gossip regarding her fiscal situation so I suspect that you've some level of interest in hearing about her personal issues. Maybe, if only in your mind, to quell some envy and attempt to feel superior in some way?

[robbase]

In reality it's none of your business

I disagree, based on the fact:

1) The SIL voluntarily shared the post with her

2) The SIL is asking all her "friends" to contact their politicians, if politicians change their mind it potentially could end up raising taxes, changing up the budget to more deficits, etc. things that will effect the OP

[tskeeter]

Seeing as how she is a teacher, her work schedule should allow for time to pick up a side job to cover the income decrease.

This isn't meant to be a slam against teachers. It's a simple fact that when you look at teachers work schedule, it adds up to about 1,100 hours a year, not the 2,000 hours that we consider a "normal" full time job, assuming two weeks of vacation a year. Even if you add 10% to the teacher work schedule to allow for grading papers, lesson planning, etc. outside the scheduled work day, a teacher would spend 1,210 hours a year on work. This is still nearly 40% less than a "full time job" outside education.

[muttleynfelix]

When people willing share their business with me or share it with their brothers in my presense it may not be my business, but it isn't like I'm poking my nose in somewhere that it has been told not to be. She brought it up. The reason she doesn't know I was only working 3 days a week is because that was information I didn't want former coworkers on facebook to know. It was nobody's business so I didn't share it. That is what you do when you don't want information shared, you don't share it with everyone.

She live several states away, so it won't effect my taxes, but it may motivate her to move and since all 3 of her brothers and her mom live here (and her only nephew), it is a possibility (not likely, but still possible).

I do hold all able adults to a standard that they should be able to take care of themselves. I don't think that is too out of line, especially from someone who is 20 years my senior.

[robbase]

OP I would not feel bad----also she specifically asked-------"How am I going to make ends meet? "

if someone that you knew walked by and said something crazy like "the earth is flat and I am coming near the end and am afraid I will fall off"---wouldn't a normal reaction be to try to correct them that the Earth is in fact round? or at least point out to other people to watch out for the growing incorrect sentiment that the earth is flat?

[Deleted]

This isn't meant to be a slam against teachers. It's a simple fact that when you look at teachers work schedule, it adds up to about 1,100 hours a year, not the 2,000 hours that we consider a "normal" full time job, assuming two weeks of vacation a year. Even if you add 10% to the teacher work schedule to allow for grading papers, lesson planning, etc. outside the scheduled work day, a teacher would spend 1,210 hours a year on work. This is still nearly 40% less than a "full time job" outside education.

I'm laughing at TSkeeter because he only credit you non-teachers with two weeks vacation while you work every other day. Dang, I thought most people, even non-teachers, got a few paid holidays off, too.

I've done the second job route. It's tough, trust me. Teachers are expected to put in a lot of out-of-school time. I don't mean just paper grading and lesson planning although that's what we usually mention. I am expected to be here for extracurricular activities, parent meetings, and afterschool tutoring. I won't keep this job long if I tell my principal, "Sorry, but this conflicts with my retail job."

Someday people will recognize that teachers are professionals. Most of you other professionals would have trouble locking into a second job as well. It can be done. I did it. But you have to have a boss that is willing to work with you, and I'm less sure that this is happening in this economy.

[swamp]

Teachers can pick up another job in the summer, though.