The Labor Action Group denounced a government commission's proposals yesterday intended to make University employee wages more market-driven.
In a press conference held during workers' lunch breaks, LAG leaders explained to University workers why they should lobby against the proposed plan, now being considered by the General Assembly.
"The workers are under attack by the establishment," said Larry Henry, a lobbyist for state employees. The plan is one of privatization, Henry said, "and they're getting away with it."
A key facet of the plan is to make employees' pay increases less structured and more reliant on job evaluations by supervisors. Wages also should be kept in line with similar jobs in the private sector, according to the report, released by the Commission on Reform of the Classified Compensation Plan.
The LAG, composed of proponents of the living wage movement to raise workers' wages to $8 an hour, charged that the new system would allow supervisors to have too much control over pay raises, leading to favoritism.
Before structured pay raises, civil service was riddled with corruption, Henry said.
LAG members also said linking jobs to the private sector would be wrong because some private sector jobs are underpaid. "This is bad news for clerical workers, maintenance workers - who in the private market aren't rewarded sufficiently," LAG member Curtis Cooper said.
Above all, LAG criticized the Commission for not including state employees during the plan's development.
There was "no serious independent input from employees," LAG member Mike Wilson said.
The plan calls for broad pay ranges instead of numerous pay steps, as well as reducing the number of job classifications by 80 percent to promote parity among state workers.
Cooper interpreted the job description consolidation as an attempt to "reduce job security - change descriptions so workers will have to take on more responsibility with reduced pay."
Press conference participants told the audience that attracting attention from legislators would take work. Henry said he sent information to legislators including Del. Lacey Putney (I-Bedford), one of the commission members, but "they will not respond."
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