Library — Using Furloughs to Avoid Some Layoffs
The North Olympic Library System might use two 1-week furloughs for library employees in 2010, in order to reduce the number of layoffs. The union which represents library employees has agreed to this, but it hasn’t yet been voted on by the Library Board.
If the Board approves this, all four library branches — Sequim, Port Angeles, Clallam Bay and Forks — will be closed twice during 2010 for one week at a time. Even with these unpaid furloughs, layoffs will still be necessary; but not as many.
In 1999 the North Olympic Library System had 38 employees. This year they have 21.
If the Board approves this, all four library branches — Sequim, Port Angeles, Clallam Bay and Forks — will be closed twice during 2010 for one week at a time. Even with these unpaid furloughs, layoffs will still be necessary; but not as many.
In 1999 the North Olympic Library System had 38 employees. This year they have 21.
posted by Tom Harper at 6:24 PM
10 Comments:
It is sad to see the library be hit with these closures. With this economy, people need this resource more than ever.
"In 1999 the North Olympic Library System had 38 employees. This year they have 21."
Obviously yet another victim of it's own governmental waste and excesses. "Cut the fat and waste from the public services" I say.
Why should the government workers be entitled to any increases in their pay? Housing, fuel and food costs have only gone up for the private sector, right?
Contractors, such as bridge builders, concrete workers, street pavers don't have any increases in THEIR costs, and don't have to include those costs when they do work for the government, so why should taxes be increased to pay for increasing costs of doing pretty much anything?
Yes, cut taxes even more. Maybe we can even just close the library system all together! With all the smart people we have running around, always talking about "cutting taxes" year after year, clearly we don't NEED any such resources.
I'm sure if one of these bright persons proposed eliminating ALL property taxes, they would get overwhelming support! Why should we have to contribute for the services we get in our towns? It should be "pay as you go" and "user fees".
In fact, why don't we just eliminate ANYTHING "public", and "privatize" everything. Charge people to use the library, parks, beaches, police responses, etc. No more government subsidies for transportation, farming, of anything else.
You can't pay when the police show up, you just have to fend for yourself. Bargain with the home invasion thugs yourself, as it may be a cheaper option! Victim of a car crash or other accident? Sorry Charlie if you don't have the cash-ola on hand.
"Even with these unpaid furloughs, layoffs will still be necessary; but not as many."
Everyone here who wants to have "unpaid furloughs" line up over here, and smile so you don't get laid off.
Aren't there any workhouses or debtors prisons around?
I taught a computer class at the library for a few years just after moving here, I didn't know that they are union.
The retired director of the NOLS that got the new library built is a good friend of mine but I guess that never did come up.
But hey, he was the director and made the big bucks. Friend or not, that bothered me about him.
"Library — Using Furloughs to Avoid Some Layoffs"
So, do they draw straws, or have a lottery? Some folks face layoffs, and others don't. I bet those folks are sleeping well these nights.
Oh, that's right, they are "government" folks. They need the fat cut out of them, being the soul-less tax sucking monsters they are. Who cares how well they or their families sleep. They deserve all the insults and more we can throw at them.
Put aside your crazy Liberal hysteria and listen to what a conservative has to say.
The trouble with the library system is that, aside from being a bloated and out of control government agency, there are too many books and thus too many employees.
The library should only have books by Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and the Bible. Nothing more, nothing less. The library can move to a smaller facility with only one employee.
Problem solved! Money saved!
Yes! Maybe if the civil servant workers hadn't been getting huge cost of living wage increases (while the rest of us were getting pay cuts AND getting laid off) we could have some sympathy for them. But, as it is, cut all government, cut the regulations on small businesses, lower the fees across the board, and dissolve government interventions in our lives.
I'm all for small government, and less services.
Then, roll back the total b.s. wages forced on government projects (dumb as dirt construction workers should not get 50 bucks an hour for sitting on their asses.) The only reason that these city and state projects cost so much is because of the PREVAILING WAGE enforced by the state. Why should the contractors get paid 2x 3x or up to 6x what they'd get if they were working for a private group. Why are we standing for this nonsense.
Limit property taxes, close most of the government, and find better, more efficient ways to get along with less. The economy is not going to "recover". The spend-spend-spend days are over.
"I'm all for small government, and less services."
" But, as it is, cut all government, cut the regulations on small businesses, lower the fees across the board, and dissolve government interventions in our lives."
"Limit property taxes, close most of the government, and find better, more efficient ways to get along with less."
I hear this Conservative rhetoric all too often. And I always ask the obvious question: What exactly are you proposing to cut? Generalizing rhetoric about cutting the fat out of government, cutting taxes, and being more efficient all sounds great. Who would not like those goals? But when it comes to listing whose jobs you propose to cut, and the impacts it will have in the real world, it all gets real vague.
Do you propose to cut the police force? The fire fighters? Road pavers? ( I saw in the PDN our roads are way too well maintained, so.. yes, there is a place to cut out the fat!)Ambulance services? Hospital staff? Pool (Oh, that is right, the city DID pass off that public facility to private funding).
Zoning officers? Right. "Private property rights", and all that. I own the property, and nobody has a right to tell me what I can, or cannot do with it. This means I can put a hard core strip joint, porn shop, pig farm or nuclear fuel reprocessing plant next to your house or kindergarten, right? Fire all the regulators, and get government intervention out of our lives. I'm sure our community will be a better place for it. It will be the kind of place desired by all.
Look to the South East, where regulation is less than here. Land values are .. well.. less. Why? I'm sure YOU want to buy that house down wind from that medical waste incinerator. I see the moving truck in your driveway.
This was one of the many problems with Dino Rossi. He repeatedly parroted these same rhetorical phrases, but never offered any specifics. " I'll cut the waste in government". But never said whose jobs would be cut, how many jobs would be lost, nor what the economic ramifications of his proposed cuts would be.
You want my vote or support? Give me demonstrable specifics, not empty rhetoric.
"I'm all for small government, and less services."
" But, as it is, cut all government, cut the regulations on small businesses, lower the fees across the board, and dissolve government interventions in our lives."
"Limit property taxes, close most of the government, and find better, more efficient ways to get along with less."
I hear this Conservative rhetoric all too often. And I always ask the obvious question: What exactly are you proposing to cut? Generalizing rhetoric about cutting the fat out of government, cutting taxes, and being more efficient all sounds great. Who would not like those goals? But when it comes to listing whose jobs you propose to cut, and the impacts it will have in the real world, it all gets real vague.
Do you propose to cut the police force? The fire fighters? Road pavers? ( I saw in the PDN our roads are way too well maintained, so.. yes, there is a place to cut out the fat!)Ambulance services? Hospital staff? Pool (Oh, that is right, the city DID pass off that public facility to private funding).
Zoning officers? Right. "Private property rights", and all that. I own the property, and nobody has a right to tell me what I can, or cannot do with it. This means I can put a hard core strip joint, porn shop, pig farm or nuclear fuel reprocessing plant next to your house or kindergarten, right? Fire all the regulators, and get government intervention out of our lives. I'm sure our community will be a better place for it. It will be the kind of place desired by all.
Look to the South East, where regulation is less than here. Land values are .. well.. less. Why? I'm sure YOU want to buy that house down wind from that medical waste incinerator. I see the moving truck in your driveway.
This was one of the many problems with Dino Rossi. He repeatedly parroted these same rhetorical phrases, but never offered any specifics. " I'll cut the waste in government". But never said whose jobs would be cut, how many jobs would be lost, nor what the economic ramifications of his proposed cuts would be.
You want my vote or support? Give me demonstrable specifics, not empty rhetoric.
I love the library and use it often. Are they union folks? I would hate to see some of the more helpful, but less senior folks go while the cranky, unhelpful ones stay. Sometimes I can hear them argue with each other in the back. It is disturbing. Maybe this belt tightening will allow them to act as a more cohesive team or at least appreciate and want to keep their job.
There is a lot of sitting around and waste in there and a few positions that could easily be filled with volunteers.
To the anon second poster - there has been no inflation and the costs that HAVE gone up are property taxes. Even if you do not own a home, that cost trickles down to you as a renter. Owners do not magically absorb it.
In tight times, you tighten up. In abundance, you spend on things neglected during lean times and save for the future lean times. You do not go out and expand and go on a spending spree. I mean - if you want to stay alive and thrive.
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