Losing Our Way
By BOB HERBERT
So here we are pouring shiploads of cash into yet another war, this time in Libya, while simultaneously demolishing school budgets, closing libraries, laying off teachers and police officers, and generally letting the bottom fall out of the quality of life here at home.
Welcome to America in the second decade of the 21st century. An army of long-term unemployed workers is spread across the land, the human fallout from the Great Recession and long years of misguided economic policies. Optimism is in short supply. The few jobs now being created too often pay a pittance, not nearly enough to pry open the doors to a middle-class standard of living.
Arthur Miller, echoing the poet Archibald MacLeish, liked to say that the essence of America was its promises. That was a long time ago. Limitless greed, unrestrained corporate power and a ferocious addiction to foreign oil have led us to an era of perpetual war and economic decline. Young people today are staring at a future in which they will be less well off than their elders, a reversal of fortune that should send a shudder through everyone.
The U.S. has not just misplaced its priorities. When the most powerful country ever to inhabit the earth finds it so easy to plunge into the horror of warfare but almost impossible to find adequate work for its people or to properly educate its young, it has lost its way entirely.
Nearly 14 million Americans are jobless and the outlook for many of them is grim. Since there is just one job available for every five individuals looking for work, four of the five are out of luck. Instead of a land of opportunity, the U.S. is increasingly becoming a place of limited expectations. A college professor in Washington told me this week that graduates from his program were finding jobs, but they were not making very much money, certainly not enough to think about raising a family.
There is plenty of economic activity in the U.S., and plenty of wealth. But like greedy children, the folks at the top are seizing virtually all the marbles. Income and wealth inequality in the U.S. have reached stages that would make the third world blush. As the Economic Policy Institute has reported, the richest 10 percent of Americans received an unconscionable 100 percent of the average income growth in the years 2000 to 2007, the most recent extended period of economic expansion.
Americans behave as if this is somehow normal or acceptable. It shouldn’t be, and didn’t used to be. Through much of the post-World War II era, income distribution was far more equitable, with the top 10 percent of families accounting for just a third of average income growth, and the bottom 90 percent receiving two-thirds. That seems like ancient history now.
The current maldistribution of wealth is also scandalous. In 2009, the richest 5 percent claimed 63.5 percent of the nation’s wealth. The overwhelming majority, the bottom 80 percent, collectively held just 12.8 percent.
This inequality, in which an enormous segment of the population struggles while the fortunate few ride the gravy train, is a world-class recipe for social unrest. Downward mobility is an ever-shortening fuse leading to profound consequences.
A stark example of the fundamental unfairness that is now so widespread was in The New York Times on Friday under the headline: “G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether.” Despite profits of $14.2 billion — $5.1 billion from its operations in the United States — General Electric did not have to pay any U.S. taxes last year.
As The Times’s David Kocieniewski reported, “Its extraordinary success is based on an aggressive strategy that mixes fierce lobbying for tax breaks and innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits offshore.”
G.E. is the nation’s largest corporation. Its chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt, is the leader of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. You can understand how ordinary workers might look at this cozy corporate-government arrangement and conclude that it is not fully committed to the best interests of working people.
Overwhelming imbalances in wealth and income inevitably result in enormous imbalances of political power. So the corporations and the very wealthy continue to do well. The employment crisis never gets addressed. The wars never end. And nation-building never gets a foothold here at home.
New ideas and new leadership have seldom been more urgently needed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/opinion/26herbert.html?_r=1&hp
•
This is my last column for The New York Times after an exhilarating, nearly 18-year run. I’m off to write a book and expand my efforts on behalf of working people, the poor and others who are struggling in our society. My thanks to all the readers who have been so kind to me over the years. I can be reached going forward at bobherbert88@gmail.com.
A version of this op-ed appeared in print on March 26, 2011, on page A23 of the New York edition.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Monday, November 15, 2010
The F* Word is coming for Federal Employees...
Debt-reduction proposals add fuel to criticism of government workforce
By Joe Davidson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 11, 2010; 7:12 PM
If federal employees didn't read the handwriting on the wall when Republicans won the House last week, they shouldn't miss the red lights that began flashing with the release of sweeping proposals to rectify the nation's finances.
The recommendations, by Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, and Erskine Bowles, who served as White House chief of staff in the Clinton administration, would hit federal employees hard, freezing their pay and reducing their numbers.
Everyone, inside and outside of government, would take a blow under their controversial suggestions. And the proposals are by no means final. The draft documents released Wednesday by Simpson and Bowles, co-chairmen of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, represent only their ideas. There's no guarantee the commission will adopt their plan in the panel's final report, which requires approval by at least 14 of the 18 members. Some members of Congress wasted no time in blasting the blueprint.
For months, GOP lawmakers have called for cutting or freezing the size of the federal workforce and employees' compensation. These calls have fueled an image of bloated, budget-busting feds that sharply conflicts with the public service motivation that really drives them, especially those who could earn much more in the private sector.
"Federal labor is open and more than willing to do their part," said Matthew S. Biggs, legislative director of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, as long as they don't carry an unfair burden.
Full Article and Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/11/AR2010111106704_pf.html
By Joe Davidson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 11, 2010; 7:12 PM
If federal employees didn't read the handwriting on the wall when Republicans won the House last week, they shouldn't miss the red lights that began flashing with the release of sweeping proposals to rectify the nation's finances.
The recommendations, by Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, and Erskine Bowles, who served as White House chief of staff in the Clinton administration, would hit federal employees hard, freezing their pay and reducing their numbers.
Everyone, inside and outside of government, would take a blow under their controversial suggestions. And the proposals are by no means final. The draft documents released Wednesday by Simpson and Bowles, co-chairmen of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, represent only their ideas. There's no guarantee the commission will adopt their plan in the panel's final report, which requires approval by at least 14 of the 18 members. Some members of Congress wasted no time in blasting the blueprint.
For months, GOP lawmakers have called for cutting or freezing the size of the federal workforce and employees' compensation. These calls have fueled an image of bloated, budget-busting feds that sharply conflicts with the public service motivation that really drives them, especially those who could earn much more in the private sector.
"Federal labor is open and more than willing to do their part," said Matthew S. Biggs, legislative director of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, as long as they don't carry an unfair burden.
Full Article and Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/11/AR2010111106704_pf.html
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Federal Pay Debate...
Our country is in the middle of a deep recession with public concern about deficit spending and now the spin doctors and pundits think that federal salaries are too high. I’m a GS-11 level public servant, and all pay tables for federal employees are public information, posted at www.OPM.gov.
Take my job as an example; I’m a Shipbuilding Specialist working at Naval Base San Diego doing government oversight for repair of the Navy ships by contractors working at the local shipyards. My degree is in hard work and on the job training with special training requirements for marine paint inspection, welding inspection, electrical, mechanical, structural, propulsion, combat, navigation, logistical acquisition, technical blueprint reading, repair manuals, and financial contract applications. All of which is inputted, tracked and recorded by me using the latest in a centralized computer data base, for accountability by my co-workers and management.
In order to perform my job I have to work in one of the worlds most dangerous working environments the shipyard and ship board, to keep our ships for the men and women of the US Navy repaired and safe when they perform their missions to keep our country free. If I were to compare my knowledge skills and pay to that of my counter parts at other shipyards or naval maintenance centers in the United States, our current position and salary is not even at the same pay level! So if my federal pay is too high for what I do, please contact me through the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council and walk in my shoes for a day at work, to see if you agree with the pundits.
Take my job as an example; I’m a Shipbuilding Specialist working at Naval Base San Diego doing government oversight for repair of the Navy ships by contractors working at the local shipyards. My degree is in hard work and on the job training with special training requirements for marine paint inspection, welding inspection, electrical, mechanical, structural, propulsion, combat, navigation, logistical acquisition, technical blueprint reading, repair manuals, and financial contract applications. All of which is inputted, tracked and recorded by me using the latest in a centralized computer data base, for accountability by my co-workers and management.
In order to perform my job I have to work in one of the worlds most dangerous working environments the shipyard and ship board, to keep our ships for the men and women of the US Navy repaired and safe when they perform their missions to keep our country free. If I were to compare my knowledge skills and pay to that of my counter parts at other shipyards or naval maintenance centers in the United States, our current position and salary is not even at the same pay level! So if my federal pay is too high for what I do, please contact me through the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council and walk in my shoes for a day at work, to see if you agree with the pundits.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
What do we have to do to be upgraded to a GS-12?
Follow my lead.
First thing you need to do is when your Supervisor sits down with you to review your PARS, your personal appraisal every six months, "Mark" the box that says: "Are you working to the correct Position Description?" Mark it NO!
Second thing you do, after you have attended the command's training, is ask for a "Desk audit". Third thing you can do is see me to sign my petition, that is going to Code 300!
Call this the beginning!
I was recently assigned to participate in the Integrated Test and Certification working group during this summit meeting in Norfolk, VA..
Some of the proposed changes are more accountability from all of the RMC's, SRA's and SY's. They want changes in the way we do business, now and in the future.
They want Uniform Certification of Ship's System's prior to fast cruise and sea trails, to reduce the high amount of failures coming out of the current CNO Avails and CMAV's. They proposed changes to the S.I. 009-04, 009-60 and 009-67, per the SSRAC committee. They want changes to the JFMM Vol. 7 Chapters 4, 7 , 8 and 11 And they want to create, under Code 200, a Test Coordinator.
They want more supervisorary control by the Maintenance Teams over the contractors by the PENG, PM, SBS, QA, ACO and Logistics team members.
They want more neutral QAS oversight of the PMs and SBSs by performing more onsite audits and review of QA documents and PVI's independent of the Project Team.
They are calling for more than 250 manning increases at the RMC's, SRA's and SY's. And they are going to be asking for Uniform PD's for the PM, SBS, and QAS, personnel.
First thing you need to do is when your Supervisor sits down with you to review your PARS, your personal appraisal every six months, "Mark" the box that says: "Are you working to the correct Position Description?" Mark it NO!
Second thing you do, after you have attended the command's training, is ask for a "Desk audit". Third thing you can do is see me to sign my petition, that is going to Code 300!
Call this the beginning!
I was recently assigned to participate in the Integrated Test and Certification working group during this summit meeting in Norfolk, VA..
Some of the proposed changes are more accountability from all of the RMC's, SRA's and SY's. They want changes in the way we do business, now and in the future.
They want Uniform Certification of Ship's System's prior to fast cruise and sea trails, to reduce the high amount of failures coming out of the current CNO Avails and CMAV's. They proposed changes to the S.I. 009-04, 009-60 and 009-67, per the SSRAC committee. They want changes to the JFMM Vol. 7 Chapters 4, 7 , 8 and 11 And they want to create, under Code 200, a Test Coordinator.
They want more supervisorary control by the Maintenance Teams over the contractors by the PENG, PM, SBS, QA, ACO and Logistics team members.
They want more neutral QAS oversight of the PMs and SBSs by performing more onsite audits and review of QA documents and PVI's independent of the Project Team.
They are calling for more than 250 manning increases at the RMC's, SRA's and SY's. And they are going to be asking for Uniform PD's for the PM, SBS, and QAS, personnel.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Our agenda for the future...
I want to meet with all officers of the Union and the E-Board, as soon as possible, to set up individual duties and responsibilities of each requirement of office, to insure total transparency and accountability to the membership!
1.Assign each officer a current list of monthly duties and requested achievements.
2.Provide formal training for each Union Officer and Steward as required, to be successful. Want to be a Steward ? Write a grievance! We will train you !
3.Make all monthly lunchtime meetings work, so that more members will attend, by modifying Robert ‘s Rules and switching over to an agenda list, sent out in advance by email, and by settling all issues at our meetings, within 30 minutes flat.
4.Move ALL Union lunchtime meetings into the MWR Waterfront Rec. Center (Club Metro) Bldg. 45, when space is available in their conference room (BYLAW CHANGE). The Crew House can cater lunch, during these meetings.
5.Introduce all new members and have them take the Union pledge at monthly meetings,
6.Use the Union email system to provide more pay, benefits, and Union related news, to educate and inform the membership on the latest issues and concerns.
7.Make the Union offices in Bldg. 76, more accessible to the membership.
Marketing of Local 32
The sole purpose of marketing of our Local is to present to management a visual representation designed to create a sense of solidarity among the Union membership! Ideas to increase everyday visibility:
1.Hold a contest to create a new Local 32 logo/icon!
2.Create a Union website, ie: http://www.ifpte.org or http://www.ifpte.com/ , Sample URL: http://www.IFPTE_Local32.com
3.Union trinkets, IE: T-shirts, jackets, business cards, coffee cups, lanyards, pins, bumpers stickers, decals, etc. Example: Tiger Eye Design (800) 844-3739, Website: http://www.tigereyedesign.com/union_products.html
4.Union Bulletin Boards, in every major building. Provide a Union presentation at In-Doc. for new employees. ALL members have a current membership card.
5.Offer a head hunter fee, for signing up new members, to increase membership from the current 23% of total BYUs, to at least 50% in two years.
6.Annual Union picnic or dinner, for members and family.
7.Create a local coalition of Federal Unions, AFGE, IFPTE, IFF, NAGE, etc. for Federal Employees, in the San Diego area.
1.Assign each officer a current list of monthly duties and requested achievements.
2.Provide formal training for each Union Officer and Steward as required, to be successful. Want to be a Steward ? Write a grievance! We will train you !
3.Make all monthly lunchtime meetings work, so that more members will attend, by modifying Robert ‘s Rules and switching over to an agenda list, sent out in advance by email, and by settling all issues at our meetings, within 30 minutes flat.
4.Move ALL Union lunchtime meetings into the MWR Waterfront Rec. Center (Club Metro) Bldg. 45, when space is available in their conference room (BYLAW CHANGE). The Crew House can cater lunch, during these meetings.
5.Introduce all new members and have them take the Union pledge at monthly meetings,
6.Use the Union email system to provide more pay, benefits, and Union related news, to educate and inform the membership on the latest issues and concerns.
7.Make the Union offices in Bldg. 76, more accessible to the membership.
Marketing of Local 32
The sole purpose of marketing of our Local is to present to management a visual representation designed to create a sense of solidarity among the Union membership! Ideas to increase everyday visibility:
1.Hold a contest to create a new Local 32 logo/icon!
2.Create a Union website, ie: http://www.ifpte.org or http://www.ifpte.com/ , Sample URL: http://www.IFPTE_Local32.com
3.Union trinkets, IE: T-shirts, jackets, business cards, coffee cups, lanyards, pins, bumpers stickers, decals, etc. Example: Tiger Eye Design (800) 844-3739, Website: http://www.tigereyedesign.com/union_products.html
4.Union Bulletin Boards, in every major building. Provide a Union presentation at In-Doc. for new employees. ALL members have a current membership card.
5.Offer a head hunter fee, for signing up new members, to increase membership from the current 23% of total BYUs, to at least 50% in two years.
6.Annual Union picnic or dinner, for members and family.
7.Create a local coalition of Federal Unions, AFGE, IFPTE, IFF, NAGE, etc. for Federal Employees, in the San Diego area.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Re-alignment under NAVSEA: Can NAVSEA go back to having "One Uniform PD" for all these positions at ALL U.S. Navy Shipyards and RMC's?
When we were under NAVSEA SUPSHIP, before the formation of the Regional Maintenance Centers at SCRMC, SERMC, SWRMC and MARMC(now NSSA) in 2005, we had ONE Uniform Position Description (PD) for the roles of Ship Surveyor (Shipbuilding Specialist) GS-1101-12, Project Manager GS-1152-13 and Quality Assurance Inspector GS-1910-12. During the recent Fleet Maintenance Audit (FMA) the auditors commented on the different rates of pay and PD descriptions at the various naval installations. According to the U.S. Navy’s Joint Fleet Maintenance Manual (JFMM) Vol. 7, the duties of these positions are well defined and suppose to be the same in the U.S. Navy’s Maintenance Community.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Can SWRMC train new apprentices to become Shipbuilding Specialist, in Code 300 to take my place?
Background: Building Ships, Building Jobs
(Source: American Shipbuilding Association, Nov. 2009)
The U.S. defense shipbuilding industry is one of the largest manufacturing and economic drivers in the country. The U.S. shipbuilding industry employs approximately 300,000 people in 49 states, and is comprised of 6 major shipyards and more than 4,000 first-tier companies that manufacture ship systems and components. This does not begin to count the thousands of additional second-tier and third-tier suppliers. Years of underinvestment in shipbuilding has resulted in a major contraction of the industry. Thousands of jobs have been lost, and scores of companies have exited the shipbuilding business. The Department of Defense needs to be more proactive than reactive about strengthening the industrial base because, "DOD doesn't manufacture anything. We have to rely on industry."
If we are to compete successfully within this current environment, management must have the courage to empower its employees to make decisions that will help SWRMC recognize it's full potential by training its Shipbuilding Specialist to the current GS-12 level to make the correct deck plate evaluations, based on uniform guidelines, instructions and approval by the NAVSEA commands.
Most of the fully qualified Shipbuilding Specialists are near retirement age and very soon we will lose a tremendous amount of corporate knowledge. The military and contractor personnel hired to take their place do not have the skill sets or training to do the job and must spend about 2 years in an "On the Job" training mode in order to function at full operational speed.
A fully trained and qualified Shipbuilding Specialist can save SWRMC money in the long run by providing the proper tools to reduce shipbuilding cost overruns by the contractor and meet mission requirements.
The experienced Shipbuilding Specialist, by their leadership, guidance and training, will lead the way for younger interns, apprentices, and military personnel to take their place in the Shipbuilding Industry. Let's work together to empower our employees and make this happen to win the Department of Defense Maintenance Award for SWRMC!
(Source: American Shipbuilding Association, Nov. 2009)
The U.S. defense shipbuilding industry is one of the largest manufacturing and economic drivers in the country. The U.S. shipbuilding industry employs approximately 300,000 people in 49 states, and is comprised of 6 major shipyards and more than 4,000 first-tier companies that manufacture ship systems and components. This does not begin to count the thousands of additional second-tier and third-tier suppliers. Years of underinvestment in shipbuilding has resulted in a major contraction of the industry. Thousands of jobs have been lost, and scores of companies have exited the shipbuilding business. The Department of Defense needs to be more proactive than reactive about strengthening the industrial base because, "DOD doesn't manufacture anything. We have to rely on industry."
If we are to compete successfully within this current environment, management must have the courage to empower its employees to make decisions that will help SWRMC recognize it's full potential by training its Shipbuilding Specialist to the current GS-12 level to make the correct deck plate evaluations, based on uniform guidelines, instructions and approval by the NAVSEA commands.
Most of the fully qualified Shipbuilding Specialists are near retirement age and very soon we will lose a tremendous amount of corporate knowledge. The military and contractor personnel hired to take their place do not have the skill sets or training to do the job and must spend about 2 years in an "On the Job" training mode in order to function at full operational speed.
A fully trained and qualified Shipbuilding Specialist can save SWRMC money in the long run by providing the proper tools to reduce shipbuilding cost overruns by the contractor and meet mission requirements.
The experienced Shipbuilding Specialist, by their leadership, guidance and training, will lead the way for younger interns, apprentices, and military personnel to take their place in the Shipbuilding Industry. Let's work together to empower our employees and make this happen to win the Department of Defense Maintenance Award for SWRMC!
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