Hi all,

My DH is a state worker. I am proud of him and the hard work he does everyday. Our local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee, is continually fueling the fires of HATE against state workers here with their articles about how "great" their pay is, how "lazy" they are... etc. People leave comments to the articles that are just outrageous. I am sick of them blasting state workers, sick of them trying to make it seem as if state workers aren't also tax payers and hard working individuals.

With the furloughs, holiday cuts, pay raise freezes, etc, state workers are also having a hard time in this economy. The Bee makes it sound like every state worker makes over 100K a year, sits around eating bon bons all day laughing at "taxpayers". Hello!! State workers are tax payers too!! State workers (in DH's branch anyhow) often don't have time for lunch, and NONE of them make that kind of $$!!!

I HATE THE BEE!!!!!!!!!! BLEH!!

 OK, I feel better now.  :)

Dear Aloha (my personal friend, so that you others see why I start out:  As you know), I read the BEE online as a major source of news, so I see those comments that you are talking about.   You would think that the BEE hand-selects only the most rabid of posters to give publication to.  They never talk about the hard work of State employees, jussst as you  say, Aloha, they act as though State employoees dine off plates of gold.  Love in Him, Deb

so sad .. I know  have a friend who works for USDA people think he gets a great big salary ha ha .. he works 12 to 14 hours a day and on Saturday when he out doing things he doesnt get paid more .. 

One of the issues those complainers DON'T MENTION is the state worker ratio to customer population. Go into any state office in Southern California and plan to stay the entire day just to get something done. When I moved to Upstate NY from Los Angeles back in 1983, I was shocked that I could walk right up to the counter at the Dept. of Motor Vehicles and get waited on. To this day, if you walk in and stand behind 4 people, that is a long line. Some of those editorial writers in Calif should spend the day working the counter at DMV and then see how their perspective changes.

  Are the paper's stories actually calling state workers lazy? (Or are they just quoting your governator?)

   Or are you just angry about the comments?    I don't know why, but newspaper sites tend to draw posters who are just plain nasty.  I've seen comments on the local papers' sites that were just mind-blowingly ignorant.  

   It definintely has to be stressful to be a state employee in California right now ...

 It isn't just the Sacramento Bee that writes like that.  We get many letters to the Editor in our paper of people spouting off the same ideas. They also rant on about Union employees. I'm a union supporter as is my husband; without the unions we would not have had a decent retirement, medical coverage, life insurance or even be able to earn a decent wage so that we could own our own home. Our jobs would not have been secured. As many people are finding out now, their non-union jobs aren't all that secure. Try raising a family, making house and car payments while living with the heavy stress and worry of losing your job at any moment because the boss' son needs your job, or that the company needs to cut your job while it pays a worthless CEO a billion dollar retirement package. Edey

Edey:

 We get many letters to the Editor in our paper of people spouting off the same ideas. They also rant on about Union employees.

   I've come to the conclusion that there are a lot of angry people out there ... and they use the newspapers and the news sites and forums to vent.  So, should newspapers stop allowing posts to their web sites?  Stop printing letters to the editor?  A sticky situation for a business with its roots in the First Amendment....

I am a State employee and have been for 13 years. We've had people say to us, when they don't get the answer they want, "I pay your salary." A co-worker once responded, "Shame on you." because of the low pay! I thought that was great and I wish I could have been there to see their reaction. What I've wanted to say is, "I'm paying myself to work here because I pay taxes too!"

News papper to me its a way to drive society to western state hospitial thats why I do not order it and cindy shouldn't read the papper if she doesn;t take her meds on time the temper goes just by reading it so why read it the tempers come and go over the tribune here in town..

 

LWolfT:

 So, should newspapers stop allowing posts to their web sites?  Stop printing letters to the editor?

No, they should not stop, but they should try to be more equitable in the number of letters that they post with an opposing view. It is very easy to slant an idea in print by picking and choosing only one side of an argument.  Edey