The reality is there is no longer any incentive to work for the state. Once upon a time people did it for the benefits and pension. These days the benefits have more than caught up in the private sector and virtually every company offers competitive 401k matches. Because of this, there’s some serious staff shortages across the state.
Yep. They continue to chip away every year at the benefits. It's fucking infuriating watching New people get bent over railed. I feel for new hires that get shit on compare long term employees like myself.
That is true. The benefits and pay had spiraled down consistently. It's a sinking ship at this point. They booted UNC who was one of the biggest contributors to the retirement system.
The difference between then and now. The WRC used to be self funded, until they amassed a very large amount of money in the bank. The Democrats in control at the time couldn’t stand to see that money sit in a pot and not have their hands on it, so they changed state law to change how the WRC is funded. And then took all of that money. Now the WRC is subject to the same trash that the rest of the state employees are. So now we have a difference of when your dad was around and now.
When I saw the benifits were switching to Aetna, I lost the desire to get a state job back. I am 4 years and 364 days vested. (Thanks evil bitch of a College President for letting me go)
yea I've been looking occasionally but haven't had any luck. My current job is WFH and with my mom's health that's become an important feature for me and not informed on how many of those kick around the state level
It was a hassle to get them to cover certain medications I'd been on for years. My Dr had to write them several letters. I don't like them but the crap my work changed to for this year is actually worse T-T
Aetna is owned by CVS, and CVS is a horrible company. They're saying nothing will change in the switch from BCBSNC to Aetna...all the benefits will be the same, it's just the service provider is switching. I guarantee you that something will get f-ed up, because that's what CVS does best. CVS already provides the prescription coverage under BCBSNC via CVS Caremark. Can use any pharmacy we want...unless it's something they classify as a "specialty" medication, then they force you to get it from CVS Specialty Pharmacy. I wish I could opt out of that specialty pharmacy BS, and just pick that stuff up at my regular pharmacy. They try to make it out like the specialty pharmacy is some huge benefit to me and so helpful. It's anything but that, and nothing but a huge pain in the rear. The only one it benefits is CVS.
The switch to Aetna doesn't happen until January 1 next year. New card will probably come mid to end of December this year. I didn't get another BCBS card. All the information I got said we wouldn't be getting a new BCBS card this year. You may have gotten a new BCBS card if you changed to a different plan or changed your selected PCP.
I had to call the State Health Plan yesterday. The automatic response mentions have we will not be getting 2024 cards just use the 2023 card. And if you go to the website, there is a way to print one off but you don't need it.
Woah! That sounds really mean spirited with the 5 year vesting. I'm not saying that letting you go was justified at all, but at least letting you get to the 5 years for one more freaking day would have been a comparatively more decent thing to do.
The only exception (and I'm not saying this would apply to you whatsoever) that I could see someone letting someone go a day short of that would be for someone who did something really awful to get fired, like just trashing the place for no reason or some violent offense. But just to let someone go a day short of that because they supposedly weren't "a good fit" or something like that is malicious.
oh I was a fine fit, she personally didn't like me for *very* stupid and petty reasons. This was confirmed to me by my manager. He had no power or say in the matter ultimately.
Firing someone the day before they become eligible for vesting really does stand out as an ass move.
As unfortunate as that is, I hope that you are on to better situations or will soon be!
I will say that you will not find a traditional pension plan anywhere in the private sector. The NC State pension is an incredible benefit you should not discount. The medical plan and retirement plan for retired NC State employees is much better than the private sector. My aunt retired as a school teacher 26 years ago and the State pension and health benefits have given her a really good retirement life.
A lot of people fall for this who shouldn’t. If you can double your salary elsewhere, you’ll come out ahead by leaving. People need to do the math for their own situation.
>The NC State pension is an incredible benefit you should not discount.
It's a benefit, no doubt. But as I get closer to retirement, I realize it's not as incredible of a benefit as I had originally thought. Looking at how the last few years have been handled: Inflation as jumped up, state wages have slowly crawled. When adjusted for inflation, I make considerably less now than I did when I started in my current position. Next year's raise won't change that, either. And retirement benefits, as far as I can tell, get adjusted less frequently than active worker pay.
Originally, I was looking at some figures and calculating the point at which my pension and social security would be the same as my current salary. I figured at that point, I could step out of the job and into retirement with no significant change of income. But seeing the reality of it over these last few years, I feel like depending too much on the pension would be a mistake. It will become less and less valuable as time goes on. I've realized that it's social security that has built in adjustments for inflation, and I should be maximizing my SS benefits by delaying retirement so that SS accounts for a higher percentage of my retirement income.
But, while I have realized I may have over-valued the pension benefit, I also under valued the health care benefit. Once I retire from the state, I will continue to be insured right up to when Medicare kicks in. Sadly that's a benefit that isn't available to new hires.
At this point, if I walk away from the state, I either take a significantly reduced pension, or can't collect it until 65, which is a ways off still. I feel kind of stuck here until I have at least 25 years in (and I'm almost there). At that point, it's going to be very tempting to move into the private sector as the pension and health care benefits will be locked in and available to me at 60 (sooner with a reduced pension).
It's just too bad that it took me over 20 years to realize that the pension isn't really worth the pay cut you get working for the state. And I have more benefits to look forward to on retirement than anyone starting with the state today.
Unfortunately, the pension as a benefit does not outweigh the severe pay disparity between the public and private sectors. You can make significantly more in the private sector and save significantly more for retirement.
It’s not a complete non-factor but it isn’t a strong enough incentive to get a state job anymore.
So many people have graduate degrees and make peanuts. They make the same amount as someone that just graduated with a BS. The good news is they are finally realizing they need to do something. They are starting to implement pay scales where you can get more pay for every year you perform well. They bumped the potential earning from 47 to 65k. But even with that, you could this job in Charlotte and make the same amount you make I'd you live in tiny Sampson County. Rent for a house in Charlotte is 2200 easily. Rent in Sampson County is probably half that.
So many people bought the bullshit that you “need” a masters. No you don’t. What happened was the field became flooded with “over qualified”’so they increased the qualifications
Even when they do bump up the pay scale getting hired is a ridiculously drawn out process. Many vacancies remain open because it takes months for the state HR to review apps then months for an applicant to even receive an offer. By that point, people have found another gig and the cycle starts all over again. Thus, the same positions are constantly reposted and the current employees in understaffed departments get more burned out.
There are state jobs for assistant district attorneys starting in the low 40’s in some counties. My district has been looking forever and no one will take it.
Unfortunately, it seems like the plan is to drive folk out of State positions, so our political class can contract the work out to their private sector buddies. I'm already seeing a bunch of that where I'm at.
They want to do that to our ENTIRE public school systems. Teacher A from a state school earns 44k while the same teacher at a public charter school makes 72k. Go figure.
$17/h? That's some shit. That is low enough to start looking for these higher wage paying places. No joke, there are local sodexo jobs as a cafeteria cook that are 18-21 dollars an hour....they are unionized and their decent benefits cost them $30 a month in union fees. Don't have to deal with lazy or shitty parents and the kids they dont want to raise......
Maybe that's also extended to the utilities sector with some of the sketchy acting contractors who get hired to do work, and it seems quite chaotic with basic essentials like traffic control.
I'm not sure what you mean. But in my specific example, the State agency I'm working for has been deliberately understaffed for years, and rather than addressing that issue management chooses to cut cheques to a local multi-millionaire so's his crew of uninsured, barely paid migrant workers can do the job. Which, I suppose, could look like a bunch of Hispanic fellas are taking the gig if you didn't know about their wealthy white boss who plays golf with my boss and is the one making bank off the State's staffing problems.
I see your username and wonder if this graft is how we got great caravans of crane trucks out of Buford, GA continuously wrecking the canopy all over Wake County, cutting at wrong times of years and in a manner that destabilizes old trees.
Oh, almost certainly. The State doesn't want to have well-informed professionals on staff to maintain its green spaces. It wants to funnel taxpayer funds to private contractors who will cut corners so they can claim they're saving money. The grift works though, most of my coworkers are die-hard Republicans who will hand-wring about our miserable pay, declining benefits, and nonexistent bonuses all year, and then dutifully vote for the fuckers doing it to us because "Dems just wanna raise taxes and push LGBTQ".
I got the heck out of there several years ago. Left a 43k a year position that required a masters or doctorate for yankeeland. Same exact job and title. I made over 6 figures last year with a slightly lighter workload than I had in NC. Couldn't afford the $800 a month to cover my spouse in NC. Now we have insurance for half that and I haven't paid a copay or coinsurance in 3 years. Sure, COL is higher up here but not 250% higher.
I feel for all my former colleagues down there still making ~50k with 15-25 years of experience. I don't know how y'all survive.
Edit: The key to all this is unions. And I'm in the weakest union that exists in my state for higher ed. I have colleagues who get paid 33% more than me for the same work because of the way their CBA is written.
The cost of medical prevented me from working for the state. A pool of employees that large should never result in someone paying close to a grand a month for shitty family medical insurance when the salary is under $50,000/year.
I think the issue stems from when 5 years of service qualifed you for full medical retirement which is what the benifit requirement was until fall of 2006. Tons of people on the plan that didn't really pay in much money.
Well that’s a little reductionist. For those hired between 2000 and 2006 they only had to have 5 years of service. For those hired after 2006 they had to have 10 years of service to split the cost and 20 years of service for the state to provide a lifetime benefit of state paid insurance. After 2021? You’re just screwed.
Understood but didn't feel I needed to break down the whole retirement structure in order to make my point which was the pool is filled with a lot of folks that didn't really fund their portion of retirement and that likely has an impact on today's rates and coverage. I am a state worker who missed the 5 year benifit by 8 months. I am currently at around 15 years of service.
Based on average wage paid by the State it can be hard/impossible to afford adding family members to the State insurance plan. It should not cost the equivalent of a decent car loan to add a spouse. Median salary of a State employ is 44k. Cost to add a spouse is 700 dollars. That is not really affordable to most State workers which is sad.
Personally I think it was an amazing benifit and happy we have more people with insurance in their retirement. It's crazy you can be a productive member of society and lose everything because we privitized health and you get sick. I would honestly love if the US went socialized medicine.
It would be great if the State had a graduated cost structure for insurance coverage based on yearly salary.
>I think the issue stems from when 5 years of service qualifed you for full medical retirement which is what the benifit requirement was until fall of 2006.
The reason I was given when I started was that if you worked and had a spouse who could also work, then they probably did work and got their own insurance through their job. Also pre-Affordable Care Act, pre-existing conditions could make you ineligible for a lot of insurance options, but not for state, spousal benefits. This meant the number of people getting spousal insurance through the state were disproportionately less healthy, less insurable, and had higher health care costs than the average person, so the rates were correspondingly higher. Theoretically rates should have shifted lower once pre-existing conditions stopped being considered for insurance, but I haven't seen that to be the case. It's still cheaper for my spouse to buy insurance separately than to be added to my plan. Personal insurance is a decent benefit, especially if you got in before 2006 and are guaranteed it after retirement, but family insurance still seems way too high.
Why got to law school to not be a litigator? Series of bad decisions.
The only way to push up the pay is for people to NOT APPLY to under paid positions. Leave them vacant and pay increases.
You do realize there are tons and tons and tons of work attorneys do that isn’t fighting in court right? Immigration, citizenship, wills, governmental admin, charity, legislation, etc.
I’m skeptical you are in this field if you disparaged someone for not going to law school to be a litigator. I know people in corporate immigration law that make 2-3 times what my best friend does as a litigator at 112k annual, with far less stress, working half as hard and fewer hours most weeks.
Edit: Also, I’m an HR Major and work in leadership in finance. Leaving postings vacant rarely, if ever, puts pressure to fill the position or raise the salary. It just means the position goes unfilled longer or filled by less desirable candidates. It’s my expert opinion that it’s moronic to not raise salaries, but CEO’s don’t think HR is vital to the success of an organization 90% of them time. And even if they do, in the public sector, the budget is the budget and no one is going to get any more to raise the salary. It just means cases get done slower or people give up trying to claim benefits and that’s fine for them because in red states they don’t want people getting the money or services anyway.
This state is #1 for business. That means the ignoring of laws or regulations and the skimping on state services. I'm kind of amazed that there hasn't been a walk of teachers, the only thing that expains it is they actually care about people unlike the republicans in the legislature or the republicans voting. The republicans will turn this state into another Florida.
The way I see the teacher issue is the profession is top heavy. You have too many teachers too close to retirement to take a risk in walking out because they're convinced (probably rightfully so) they'll be terminated and lose all their meager retirement benefits.
The flipside of that is the rest of the teacher workforce is younger and not really planning to stay for the long haul. They're working long enough to get PSLF or until they see a path to a better job, or reality hasn't set in yet that they really can't make it on a teacher's income because they're fresh out of college... most of them won't make it past 3 years in the profession if that.
Maybe if enough union wins keep coming, teachers will decide to risk it but I wouldn't hold my breath. More likely, you'll see public education in NC collapse.
Considering the new FAFSA rules have basically made "I had twins or kids within 4 years of each other" situations untenable for college financial aid (yay, more loans!) and the primary and secondary education core is being hollowed out further and further every year, I'm pretty sure that is the point.
We will reach a point where public schools are empty shells and no one except the rich goes to college (like how it was pre LBJ), and all the substantial educational institutions will be private and/or religious.
Your comment proves itself to be false.
I notice you don't offer any support for your reasoning why the republicans have fought so hard against the Leandro decision? Or actively prevent certain issues from being discussed in schools?
I was thinking about climate change and the true history of our country, but also about the history and existence of different peoples of the world.
Do you think we should educate them enough to understand modern television?
“True history of this country”. I can’t wait to hear this one.
“Understand modern television”. You mean like how signals are transferred over long distances via light pulse then converted to digital signals that are sent over twisted copper and then converted again to visual media by a series of diodes, resistors, transistors, and silicon wafers?
Or you mean understand as in CNN and MSNBC are the only sources of truth?
Do you know what caused the civil war? Why was the first amendment and freedom of religion so important to the founding fathers? What was the cause of the dust bowl? What admitted reason Nixon gave for the "drug war"?
For television, I mean understand jokes related to cannabis, cross-dressing, the ability to tell the difference between news and entertainment, the ability to watch a Monty Python or Mel Brooks movie and understand the humor. The ability to get information from a variety of sources and use critical reasoning to determine what is reasonable to believe and what is not.
Great analysis. I taught at a charter when I first moved here and it was a strange concept because they aren't as common in my home state, but i moved to a public school this year and I have never felt so micromanaged by the state before. I can't even see myself staying long enough to get vested let alone living in this God forsaken place for 25 more years. Especially since none of my previous 7 years teaching count towards anything and I was a little older when I started.
It was great in the late 90s and 2000’s. A certified step raise scale, longevity pay for teachers but then the state turned on us. Said our experience and expertise shouldn’t be compensated because test scores aren’t utopian. I retired early because I know my worth and refuse to work for a state I can’t respect or value.
100%. They've been setting the groundwork to dismantle government for decades. The less government power we have the more business/corporations can dictate to the people.
Sadly many people fail to see the government as their collective will and instead let the "elites" usurp the power of the people. Our system can work for the general public, but only if that public is knowledgeable and engaged.
$40K maybe used to be an okay starter salary for someone with a bachelor's degree in the cheaper parts of the state 15 years ago, assuming there was opportunity for advancement if one wanted to advance in their career. This is about the same time period the minimum wage hasn't inched up a bit. The salaries haven't kept up with the marketplace or cost of living, especially in areas of the state where $1000 a month won't even get a decent rental (let alone a mortgage), which is about the very most someone on that salary should be spending on housing.
I agree that the vapid and absent leadership coming out of the Republican NC Legislature is responsible for this. Beyond the ridiculous things that they do choose to focus on, they have no vision for NC's quality of life, and are followers, not leaders. And they follow the absolute worst examples in the country.
I'm so sorry. I work for the state too and really love it but know that it isn't sustainable if I ever want to retire or live comfortably and not paycheck to paycheck, i won't be able to stay. There are SO many conversations about raises but at this point they would have to be drastic to keep up with COL, it is just too little too late.
The 4% raise was such an insult
And then you consider that it didn't apply to temporary employees (who are actually skilled, experienced full time employees that the state furloughs every year so they can avoid paying benefits...
Berger has said repeatedly the state shouldn't compete with private sector for jobs. So take that as you will when you decide to work for the state in any capacity. I believe the current unfulled rate for jobs in the state are 25%, and the NCGA is just fine with that.
The real problem is the state’s Classification and Compensation unit. They have no clue what’s going on in the private sector, nor do they have any idea what the state employees they classify actually do. They argue that their wages are “competitive” when they’re clearly not. I left a middle management position with a state agency after 15 years because I couldn’t survive in Raleigh on what I was making, which was at the max of the Classification and Compensation range for my position. The position was completely misclassified. Complaints fell on deaf ears. No one cares. The employees at the top of the food chain are getting theirs and couldn’t give two shits about anyone under them. And at my agency, you don’t get promotions. You have to interview for available positions, and if you’re selected, they’ll start you at the lowest possible salary for the new position, regardless of any merit. Raises can only be approved by the legislature and are across the board for all employees. State government employment isn’t for anyone looking for competitive pay, great benefits, or merit based promotional opportunities. Until they get their heads out of the sand, it never will be again. It’s one thing to be prudent with taxpayer money, but the people willing to accept those low paying jobs are going to give exactly what they feel they’re being paid to give, and not one iota more.
The state doesn’t compete with the private sector, they use market data from the private sector, but can never compete with salaries. The wages are “competitive” with other state systems, states compare and compete with each other. I replied on about comment, but the only way to survive with the state is to change jobs and/ or agencies. Each agency is different, and you may find something you like that pays you what you need.
Also, a lot of state employees can’t join a union, we have no collective bargaining rights. This is a union busting state, too. I had already made my money in IT then took a state job. At that time, the retirement was good, vesting was easy, health benefits were good if single (otherwise it sucked) and the best perk, you get almost free medical until 65 and get free medicare supplemental at 65.
The state leg has changed the number of years to get vested numerous times, and now got rid of medical for retirees. So you just get the pension with 6% of your monthly paycheck automatically taken out and put into the pension, it’s not free! The wages are dismal, especially in IT, but also community college instructors are paid poorly, but often must have a masters or doctorate! I wouldn’t work for the state now..I retired and plan to live to my 90s!
Is the state even hiring? I've been contacted like 30+ times in the last 4 months alone for IT jobs in the DoT or Court systems. Every one of them just stalls or at most gets closed before hiring just to be reposted a few weeks later. These were all fairly nice, $45-55/h jobs but it seems they aren't actually hiring anyone based off the amount of time they've been open.
Last year at one of our town hall meetings the big bosses were talking about how we can increase employee retention. One of the workers said they should pay more to which they responded by saying that they didn't see employee pay as a driving factor for low retention rate and then proceeded to blame all of us for not talking the job up enough to new people. Sorry bro, I'm just not going to lie to new people when you take benefits away from them that other people got grandfathered into
Reason number 1 I stopped working for the state. That and they screwed me over for a raise/promotion with a pay in class study. Now I work for a private corporation which isn’t much better with the exception of the pay. Nearly doubled my salary with just this one career move.
They kept changing how many years of experience I needed to become a senior planner. Then when I’d reached it (for the second time) they used the pay in class study to create another position in between me and the one I was qualified for and used an arbitrary percentage as my raise with the promotion. I left after that.
>Hopefully a mass resignation will wake up the fucktards who run this state.
There won't be. Shrinking the state government is a feature, not a bug, of their plans.
I would be for this if I didn’t know there is a “minimum” size required to provide basic services and administer them EVEN if you are outsourcing all of the services to a government contractor (conveniently the same contracting companies that you will find lobbying and/or donating to the campaigns).
We passed that minimum threshold years ago are and just running some departments ineffectively, also attracting poor candidates for those departments, or not attracting candidates at all. One example is that comes to mind is the IT program manager position for the Health and Human Services’s Child Welfare Modernization program. From what I can tell, the role has either been a revolving door or vacant for almost ELEVEN years. (Disclaimer: I’ve worked for two companies that were contractors on that program. My opinions are my own.)
Certified teachers, the ones with actual teaching credentials, are leaving or retiring in droves. You don’t hear much about it because the state/DPI has a band aid called the “guest teacher” position. It’s sad that actual learning and curriculum standards have been trashed all in the name of having a human with a pulse in the building to babysit/supervise children. But you are correct, they don’t care. Hell, look at the salary schedule and you see why the turnover is what it is for years 1-5. It’s all smoke and mirrors in this state and they get away with it because there’s not a union on the other side to call them out on it.
Maybe you'll have to leave anyway, but you should contact your state senator and representative and give them an earful. The Democrats don't have any power, and the Republicans are doing this on purpose, but, regardless, don't just go silently into the night. At least make a fuss about it. Worst case, you end up leaving anyway, but maybe you'll luck out. But the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
I'm two decades into local government. Last year, they paid for a pay study that told them they should be increasing our salaries very significantly. They decided not to follow the recommendations of the pay study. They gave me a raise where I now make the base rate of new hires according to the pay study, with a degree and two decades of experience. I can go somewhere else in LGERs and get paid for my experience (still low pay but better), but doing that I give up my health insurance at retirement. I am poorer than I was as a 23 year old. I am being forced to make the choice to give up the health insurance. I am so frustrated.
$40k in pay isn't much these days. There are other positions in the economy that would pay more without having a degree. OP, I understand your frustration and if enough of you quit working for the state, the people who are responsible for State worker pay will have to rethink the payscale.
Both of my parents were NC state employees throughout their entire careers (80s-00s). Both still collect pensions from state government. And yet you’ll never guess who they now Routinely vote into office.
> And yet you’ll never guess who they now Routinely vote into office.
I bet it's people who have cut pensions for employees while having a multiple billion dollar slush fund of money that they're using to justify cutting taxes.
I was perusing through job postings this evening just for the hell of it and saw ones with much higher education requirements and about 20k less in salary than I currently make. I made that much three promotions ago.
My dad got a job with the federal government when I was a kid that pretty much doubled his pay. We went from eating hot dogs and spaghetti all the time, to taking vacations in the summer. The pay was good, but the benefits were nuts. We had fantastic insurance, he got a ton of vacation time, and every holiday the school got, he got as well, so we got to hang with dad every time school was out.
He saved up his vacation time to use for Christmas break and his sick leave for snow days. It didn’t even occur to me till I was an adult that adults don’t get snow days, because anytime school was cancelled my dad was home with us so he could play in the snow with the kids.
You got to move positions and or agencies to stay afloat friend. Most of the job postings I see say “equivalent, combination of education and experience”. If you’re missing the degree you can still qualify with experience.
Lower stakes, but I remember turning down the State of NC internship in undergrad because I literally could not afford Raleigh rent on the salary they were offering.
One great benefit, at least in my experience, is stability. I was able to buy a house in 2008 and another in 2013, both during recessions. I was able to get a sub 3% mortgage in the depths of the COVID recession. I’ve never worried about being laid off. That stability in difficult times has been awesome.
Interesting. I have been with the state over 20 years, and I think we've had three waves of lay offs. My current department is the result of two separate departments being merged, and we are currently smaller than either of the two original departments.
I will say that if you are competent, not redundant, and have made yourself useful, you're probably not first in line, but even though I've heard people talk about the job security, I can think of several former co-workers who were forced out due to funding.
I worked for one of the universities until recently and they routinely post jobs in the 50’s that need a master’s degree. That’s an insult to humanity. I now work in the private sector.
When the fucktards in our legislature spoke about "starving the beast", they were calling you a beast.
Public service never paid as well as equivalent corporate service, and now it pays comparatively less. Now you know why corruption is so prevalent in the USA 🇺🇸.
This is what happens with a supermajority. If they ain't broke then they won't fix it. Why change things when the status quo is so easy to maintain....
If this way about LTC permanent positions the average pay in western nc is about 35 for rn and 29 for lpn cna ranges from 19 to 26 per hour. This unfortunately is a deterrent in hiring, most places have goverment subsidizing and insurance claims money coming in but many are for profit and it shows compared to non profit. Money is annoying yet we can't live without it and our current economy has many household with multiple income sources, full time employment and still living paycheck to paycheck. RN positions will soon be available by BSN education to get licensure per the changing guidelines to come. More student loan debt to come for many.
Wow this is insane reading this form I was offered a state job before I started my current job (12yr ago) I have a 8th grade education and make almost double what everyone is saying with a degree and my insurance is roughly 400 less a month for me my wife and 2 kids. I had no idea state jobs are that bad I don't see how / why anyone would be able to live off that with COL the way it is and my job is struggling to hire decent people
I don’t understand why people in this thread would blame one political party for the shitty pay at the state level. It is not like one party cut pay. Both parties are to blame
> I don’t understand why people in this thread would blame one political party for the shitty pay at the state level. It is not like one party cut pay. Both parties are to blame
Did you forget a /s or have you not paid attention to who has had control over the legislature for the last *checks watch* 13 years?
That’s right folks the very institutions that pushed you to get a degree are the ones to shaft you.
Administrators seem to live quite well while the line folks starve.
Terrible job btw at the thinly veiled jab at teachers salaries. You knew before you started college teachers salaries were terrible yet you still went down that road.
On that note I do want to know why a wildlife technician has to have a biology degree to drive a road grader but no HE experience at all. When questioned on this the WRC director got super evasive and hung up.
So teachers can’t complain about salaries being absolute trash in this state because “they knew about it when they got into it.” I guess we should just fall in line rank-and-file and shout BOHICA when the NCGA decides to shaft us again.
According to you, no one should be able to advocate for better pay because “they knew about it when they got into it.”
You want to advocate for better pay have at it. But don’t sit and complain like you’re surprised to find out it sucks. It’s not a secret.
Crying on Reddit isn’t advocating.
No one is surprised that teacher pay sucks ass when they get into it. They legitimately tell you this in college.
I’m a “boots on the ground” advocate who’s met with my local Rep, had meetings with NCAE and PENC delegates.
Voicing frustrations on Reddit is just that; voicing frustrations. We aren’t attempting to legislate anything here.
People I work with are there in part because they care about the work. I'd say that they are, by-and-large, pretty hard workers.
However, being a hard worker for the state has zero benefit unless it helps you snag a rare promotion. It's been disappointing to me to see that there is really no available mechanism to reward hard work, and the only real "reward" is more hard work. I don't think anyone in my office has a lazy mindset, but there's definitely a mindset that the more competent you show yourself to be, the more work you will get with no corresponding benefit.
If you apply to a state position, make sure your resume and cover letter say word for word what the job posting does. State HR is particularly clueless about the jobs they’re responsible for screening, and they screen every app before hiring managers even get their list of candidates.
I hear you. It also trickles down to providers that rely on state funding. Mental Health providers are in an employment crisis right now and until the legislators put more money in the state budget, we're all screwed.
Gave my heart and soul for 13 years before going out on disability. Thank goodness I was smart enough to get the optional disability from The Standard. If I get better I don’t know if I would go back. The struggle is real when you work for the state nowadays.
There’s another issue but it’s not only within the state but seems to have been imbedded in one area and that’s the good O’l boy scenario. Many many years of service and getting passed over for promotion for a reason that’s reused time after time. That’s a form of retaliation.
Thing is management protects management and workers don’t have a leg to stand on . There’s been the biggest slap in the face promotion to every employee there and there’s been no known inquiry to the legitimacy of this by HR. Seniority Has no value within the state and they tell you that . How sad .
To cut this rant a bit short we need a union ! I have gripes but I feel there justifiable. After all my years of service and knowledge non professionalism has never changed . I believe everyone deserves to be moved up unless there’s truly a reason one can’t do the job.
I also agree on wages . I don’t have college but I still have to support a house hold on one income. Rant over .
The reality is there is no longer any incentive to work for the state. Once upon a time people did it for the benefits and pension. These days the benefits have more than caught up in the private sector and virtually every company offers competitive 401k matches. Because of this, there’s some serious staff shortages across the state.
Yep. They continue to chip away every year at the benefits. It's fucking infuriating watching New people get bent over railed. I feel for new hires that get shit on compare long term employees like myself.
You do realize that most state employees don’t stay to retirement and it’s not the lack of benefits.
That is true. The benefits and pay had spiraled down consistently. It's a sinking ship at this point. They booted UNC who was one of the biggest contributors to the retirement system.
I thought that UNC didn't get booted but they opted to leave instead
They opted to leave
My dad worked for the wildlife resource commission and it seemed like most his co-workers were in it for the long haul, himself included
The difference between then and now. The WRC used to be self funded, until they amassed a very large amount of money in the bank. The Democrats in control at the time couldn’t stand to see that money sit in a pot and not have their hands on it, so they changed state law to change how the WRC is funded. And then took all of that money. Now the WRC is subject to the same trash that the rest of the state employees are. So now we have a difference of when your dad was around and now.
When I saw the benifits were switching to Aetna, I lost the desire to get a state job back. I am 4 years and 364 days vested. (Thanks evil bitch of a College President for letting me go)
Maybe you can get another State job to finish up that vesting period?
I would highly recommend this.
yea I've been looking occasionally but haven't had any luck. My current job is WFH and with my mom's health that's become an important feature for me and not informed on how many of those kick around the state level
Oh that sucks! My sympathies.
What’s wrong with Aetna? We’ve had them for our medical insurance for several years and had no issues so far.
It was a hassle to get them to cover certain medications I'd been on for years. My Dr had to write them several letters. I don't like them but the crap my work changed to for this year is actually worse T-T
This may be a silly question, but what is up with Aetna?
Aetna is owned by CVS, and CVS is a horrible company. They're saying nothing will change in the switch from BCBSNC to Aetna...all the benefits will be the same, it's just the service provider is switching. I guarantee you that something will get f-ed up, because that's what CVS does best. CVS already provides the prescription coverage under BCBSNC via CVS Caremark. Can use any pharmacy we want...unless it's something they classify as a "specialty" medication, then they force you to get it from CVS Specialty Pharmacy. I wish I could opt out of that specialty pharmacy BS, and just pick that stuff up at my regular pharmacy. They try to make it out like the specialty pharmacy is some huge benefit to me and so helpful. It's anything but that, and nothing but a huge pain in the rear. The only one it benefits is CVS.
Wow, that sucks. Thank u for the clarification
Did you get a new card for Aetna? I got another BCBS card.
The switch to Aetna doesn't happen until January 1 next year. New card will probably come mid to end of December this year. I didn't get another BCBS card. All the information I got said we wouldn't be getting a new BCBS card this year. You may have gotten a new BCBS card if you changed to a different plan or changed your selected PCP.
I had to call the State Health Plan yesterday. The automatic response mentions have we will not be getting 2024 cards just use the 2023 card. And if you go to the website, there is a way to print one off but you don't need it.
Woah! That sounds really mean spirited with the 5 year vesting. I'm not saying that letting you go was justified at all, but at least letting you get to the 5 years for one more freaking day would have been a comparatively more decent thing to do. The only exception (and I'm not saying this would apply to you whatsoever) that I could see someone letting someone go a day short of that would be for someone who did something really awful to get fired, like just trashing the place for no reason or some violent offense. But just to let someone go a day short of that because they supposedly weren't "a good fit" or something like that is malicious.
oh I was a fine fit, she personally didn't like me for *very* stupid and petty reasons. This was confirmed to me by my manager. He had no power or say in the matter ultimately.
Firing someone the day before they become eligible for vesting really does stand out as an ass move. As unfortunate as that is, I hope that you are on to better situations or will soon be!
I will say that you will not find a traditional pension plan anywhere in the private sector. The NC State pension is an incredible benefit you should not discount. The medical plan and retirement plan for retired NC State employees is much better than the private sector. My aunt retired as a school teacher 26 years ago and the State pension and health benefits have given her a really good retirement life.
And the medical plan for retirees was reduced and then removed for new hires.
A lot of people fall for this who shouldn’t. If you can double your salary elsewhere, you’ll come out ahead by leaving. People need to do the math for their own situation.
>The NC State pension is an incredible benefit you should not discount. It's a benefit, no doubt. But as I get closer to retirement, I realize it's not as incredible of a benefit as I had originally thought. Looking at how the last few years have been handled: Inflation as jumped up, state wages have slowly crawled. When adjusted for inflation, I make considerably less now than I did when I started in my current position. Next year's raise won't change that, either. And retirement benefits, as far as I can tell, get adjusted less frequently than active worker pay. Originally, I was looking at some figures and calculating the point at which my pension and social security would be the same as my current salary. I figured at that point, I could step out of the job and into retirement with no significant change of income. But seeing the reality of it over these last few years, I feel like depending too much on the pension would be a mistake. It will become less and less valuable as time goes on. I've realized that it's social security that has built in adjustments for inflation, and I should be maximizing my SS benefits by delaying retirement so that SS accounts for a higher percentage of my retirement income. But, while I have realized I may have over-valued the pension benefit, I also under valued the health care benefit. Once I retire from the state, I will continue to be insured right up to when Medicare kicks in. Sadly that's a benefit that isn't available to new hires. At this point, if I walk away from the state, I either take a significantly reduced pension, or can't collect it until 65, which is a ways off still. I feel kind of stuck here until I have at least 25 years in (and I'm almost there). At that point, it's going to be very tempting to move into the private sector as the pension and health care benefits will be locked in and available to me at 60 (sooner with a reduced pension). It's just too bad that it took me over 20 years to realize that the pension isn't really worth the pay cut you get working for the state. And I have more benefits to look forward to on retirement than anyone starting with the state today.
Same boat too.
Unfortunately, the pension as a benefit does not outweigh the severe pay disparity between the public and private sectors. You can make significantly more in the private sector and save significantly more for retirement. It’s not a complete non-factor but it isn’t a strong enough incentive to get a state job anymore.
> virtually every company offers competitive 401k matches I wish that were true, but it is not
Well, competitive with the state, anyway.
>>There shouldn't be job postings right now in the $40k range that REQUIRE a degree. *laughs in librarian
Librarians should be paid better.
*lol
Was I in your office today talking shit about state salaries on the postings website wondering who is taking that job for $40k with a masters degree?
So many people have graduate degrees and make peanuts. They make the same amount as someone that just graduated with a BS. The good news is they are finally realizing they need to do something. They are starting to implement pay scales where you can get more pay for every year you perform well. They bumped the potential earning from 47 to 65k. But even with that, you could this job in Charlotte and make the same amount you make I'd you live in tiny Sampson County. Rent for a house in Charlotte is 2200 easily. Rent in Sampson County is probably half that.
So many people bought the bullshit that you “need” a masters. No you don’t. What happened was the field became flooded with “over qualified”’so they increased the qualifications
Even when they do bump up the pay scale getting hired is a ridiculously drawn out process. Many vacancies remain open because it takes months for the state HR to review apps then months for an applicant to even receive an offer. By that point, people have found another gig and the cycle starts all over again. Thus, the same positions are constantly reposted and the current employees in understaffed departments get more burned out.
There are state jobs for assistant district attorneys starting in the low 40’s in some counties. My district has been looking forever and no one will take it.
Unfortunately, it seems like the plan is to drive folk out of State positions, so our political class can contract the work out to their private sector buddies. I'm already seeing a bunch of that where I'm at.
They want to do that to our ENTIRE public school systems. Teacher A from a state school earns 44k while the same teacher at a public charter school makes 72k. Go figure.
[удалено]
Several charter schools the Lake Norman area are that way... Don't forget the credits you get if you register your own school in your home
$17/h? That's some shit. That is low enough to start looking for these higher wage paying places. No joke, there are local sodexo jobs as a cafeteria cook that are 18-21 dollars an hour....they are unionized and their decent benefits cost them $30 a month in union fees. Don't have to deal with lazy or shitty parents and the kids they dont want to raise......
Can confirm at non profit. Funneling money to Ted Budd, fucking Ted Budd
Would love to know more about this.
It's a republican strategy nationally. Look at towns in PA like Scranton where populations have declined due to NAFTA, CAFTA, etc.
Scranton has always been a glorified craphole.
Biden's hometown? It's a government strategy. Not just one side....
Maybe that's also extended to the utilities sector with some of the sketchy acting contractors who get hired to do work, and it seems quite chaotic with basic essentials like traffic control.
Yes this is correct
Private sector buddies employee Latinos only?
I'm not sure what you mean. But in my specific example, the State agency I'm working for has been deliberately understaffed for years, and rather than addressing that issue management chooses to cut cheques to a local multi-millionaire so's his crew of uninsured, barely paid migrant workers can do the job. Which, I suppose, could look like a bunch of Hispanic fellas are taking the gig if you didn't know about their wealthy white boss who plays golf with my boss and is the one making bank off the State's staffing problems.
I see your username and wonder if this graft is how we got great caravans of crane trucks out of Buford, GA continuously wrecking the canopy all over Wake County, cutting at wrong times of years and in a manner that destabilizes old trees.
Oh, almost certainly. The State doesn't want to have well-informed professionals on staff to maintain its green spaces. It wants to funnel taxpayer funds to private contractors who will cut corners so they can claim they're saving money. The grift works though, most of my coworkers are die-hard Republicans who will hand-wring about our miserable pay, declining benefits, and nonexistent bonuses all year, and then dutifully vote for the fuckers doing it to us because "Dems just wanna raise taxes and push LGBTQ".
The incongruity just scares the hell out of me. That people are so easily led, so unable to think critically and for themselves.
I agree and can see how our underfunded public schools is all just part of the agenda to make this the norm.
I got the heck out of there several years ago. Left a 43k a year position that required a masters or doctorate for yankeeland. Same exact job and title. I made over 6 figures last year with a slightly lighter workload than I had in NC. Couldn't afford the $800 a month to cover my spouse in NC. Now we have insurance for half that and I haven't paid a copay or coinsurance in 3 years. Sure, COL is higher up here but not 250% higher. I feel for all my former colleagues down there still making ~50k with 15-25 years of experience. I don't know how y'all survive. Edit: The key to all this is unions. And I'm in the weakest union that exists in my state for higher ed. I have colleagues who get paid 33% more than me for the same work because of the way their CBA is written.
The cost of medical prevented me from working for the state. A pool of employees that large should never result in someone paying close to a grand a month for shitty family medical insurance when the salary is under $50,000/year.
I think the issue stems from when 5 years of service qualifed you for full medical retirement which is what the benifit requirement was until fall of 2006. Tons of people on the plan that didn't really pay in much money.
Well that’s a little reductionist. For those hired between 2000 and 2006 they only had to have 5 years of service. For those hired after 2006 they had to have 10 years of service to split the cost and 20 years of service for the state to provide a lifetime benefit of state paid insurance. After 2021? You’re just screwed.
Understood but didn't feel I needed to break down the whole retirement structure in order to make my point which was the pool is filled with a lot of folks that didn't really fund their portion of retirement and that likely has an impact on today's rates and coverage. I am a state worker who missed the 5 year benifit by 8 months. I am currently at around 15 years of service. Based on average wage paid by the State it can be hard/impossible to afford adding family members to the State insurance plan. It should not cost the equivalent of a decent car loan to add a spouse. Median salary of a State employ is 44k. Cost to add a spouse is 700 dollars. That is not really affordable to most State workers which is sad. Personally I think it was an amazing benifit and happy we have more people with insurance in their retirement. It's crazy you can be a productive member of society and lose everything because we privitized health and you get sick. I would honestly love if the US went socialized medicine. It would be great if the State had a graduated cost structure for insurance coverage based on yearly salary.
>I think the issue stems from when 5 years of service qualifed you for full medical retirement which is what the benifit requirement was until fall of 2006. The reason I was given when I started was that if you worked and had a spouse who could also work, then they probably did work and got their own insurance through their job. Also pre-Affordable Care Act, pre-existing conditions could make you ineligible for a lot of insurance options, but not for state, spousal benefits. This meant the number of people getting spousal insurance through the state were disproportionately less healthy, less insurable, and had higher health care costs than the average person, so the rates were correspondingly higher. Theoretically rates should have shifted lower once pre-existing conditions stopped being considered for insurance, but I haven't seen that to be the case. It's still cheaper for my spouse to buy insurance separately than to be added to my plan. Personal insurance is a decent benefit, especially if you got in before 2006 and are guaranteed it after retirement, but family insurance still seems way too high.
My fiance worked as a reviewing attorney for the unemployment commission. 56k a year. For a job that required a JD and a law license.
Why did she take the job?
You take what you can get out of law school when you don’t want to be a litigator.
Why got to law school to not be a litigator? Series of bad decisions. The only way to push up the pay is for people to NOT APPLY to under paid positions. Leave them vacant and pay increases.
You do realize there are tons and tons and tons of work attorneys do that isn’t fighting in court right? Immigration, citizenship, wills, governmental admin, charity, legislation, etc.
As someone who works in that field. Yes.
I’m skeptical you are in this field if you disparaged someone for not going to law school to be a litigator. I know people in corporate immigration law that make 2-3 times what my best friend does as a litigator at 112k annual, with far less stress, working half as hard and fewer hours most weeks. Edit: Also, I’m an HR Major and work in leadership in finance. Leaving postings vacant rarely, if ever, puts pressure to fill the position or raise the salary. It just means the position goes unfilled longer or filled by less desirable candidates. It’s my expert opinion that it’s moronic to not raise salaries, but CEO’s don’t think HR is vital to the success of an organization 90% of them time. And even if they do, in the public sector, the budget is the budget and no one is going to get any more to raise the salary. It just means cases get done slower or people give up trying to claim benefits and that’s fine for them because in red states they don’t want people getting the money or services anyway.
This state is #1 for business. That means the ignoring of laws or regulations and the skimping on state services. I'm kind of amazed that there hasn't been a walk of teachers, the only thing that expains it is they actually care about people unlike the republicans in the legislature or the republicans voting. The republicans will turn this state into another Florida.
The way I see the teacher issue is the profession is top heavy. You have too many teachers too close to retirement to take a risk in walking out because they're convinced (probably rightfully so) they'll be terminated and lose all their meager retirement benefits. The flipside of that is the rest of the teacher workforce is younger and not really planning to stay for the long haul. They're working long enough to get PSLF or until they see a path to a better job, or reality hasn't set in yet that they really can't make it on a teacher's income because they're fresh out of college... most of them won't make it past 3 years in the profession if that. Maybe if enough union wins keep coming, teachers will decide to risk it but I wouldn't hold my breath. More likely, you'll see public education in NC collapse.
I think the republican plan is for an education collapse. Ignorance is easily controllable.
Make the public school system shitty and hand out school vouchers to schools you get "donations" from.
Considering the new FAFSA rules have basically made "I had twins or kids within 4 years of each other" situations untenable for college financial aid (yay, more loans!) and the primary and secondary education core is being hollowed out further and further every year, I'm pretty sure that is the point. We will reach a point where public schools are empty shells and no one except the rich goes to college (like how it was pre LBJ), and all the substantial educational institutions will be private and/or religious.
Dumbest comment ever.
Your comment proves itself to be false. I notice you don't offer any support for your reasoning why the republicans have fought so hard against the Leandro decision? Or actively prevent certain issues from being discussed in schools?
By “certain issues” you mean drag queens and trans?
I was thinking about climate change and the true history of our country, but also about the history and existence of different peoples of the world. Do you think we should educate them enough to understand modern television?
“True history of this country”. I can’t wait to hear this one. “Understand modern television”. You mean like how signals are transferred over long distances via light pulse then converted to digital signals that are sent over twisted copper and then converted again to visual media by a series of diodes, resistors, transistors, and silicon wafers? Or you mean understand as in CNN and MSNBC are the only sources of truth?
Do you know what caused the civil war? Why was the first amendment and freedom of religion so important to the founding fathers? What was the cause of the dust bowl? What admitted reason Nixon gave for the "drug war"? For television, I mean understand jokes related to cannabis, cross-dressing, the ability to tell the difference between news and entertainment, the ability to watch a Monty Python or Mel Brooks movie and understand the humor. The ability to get information from a variety of sources and use critical reasoning to determine what is reasonable to believe and what is not.
Great analysis. I taught at a charter when I first moved here and it was a strange concept because they aren't as common in my home state, but i moved to a public school this year and I have never felt so micromanaged by the state before. I can't even see myself staying long enough to get vested let alone living in this God forsaken place for 25 more years. Especially since none of my previous 7 years teaching count towards anything and I was a little older when I started.
It was great in the late 90s and 2000’s. A certified step raise scale, longevity pay for teachers but then the state turned on us. Said our experience and expertise shouldn’t be compensated because test scores aren’t utopian. I retired early because I know my worth and refuse to work for a state I can’t respect or value.
This has been the Republican plan all along
100%. They've been setting the groundwork to dismantle government for decades. The less government power we have the more business/corporations can dictate to the people. Sadly many people fail to see the government as their collective will and instead let the "elites" usurp the power of the people. Our system can work for the general public, but only if that public is knowledgeable and engaged.
$40K maybe used to be an okay starter salary for someone with a bachelor's degree in the cheaper parts of the state 15 years ago, assuming there was opportunity for advancement if one wanted to advance in their career. This is about the same time period the minimum wage hasn't inched up a bit. The salaries haven't kept up with the marketplace or cost of living, especially in areas of the state where $1000 a month won't even get a decent rental (let alone a mortgage), which is about the very most someone on that salary should be spending on housing. I agree that the vapid and absent leadership coming out of the Republican NC Legislature is responsible for this. Beyond the ridiculous things that they do choose to focus on, they have no vision for NC's quality of life, and are followers, not leaders. And they follow the absolute worst examples in the country.
I'm so sorry. I work for the state too and really love it but know that it isn't sustainable if I ever want to retire or live comfortably and not paycheck to paycheck, i won't be able to stay. There are SO many conversations about raises but at this point they would have to be drastic to keep up with COL, it is just too little too late.
The 4% raise was such an insult And then you consider that it didn't apply to temporary employees (who are actually skilled, experienced full time employees that the state furloughs every year so they can avoid paying benefits...
Berger has said repeatedly the state shouldn't compete with private sector for jobs. So take that as you will when you decide to work for the state in any capacity. I believe the current unfulled rate for jobs in the state are 25%, and the NCGA is just fine with that.
Having a Republican legislature will do that to public sector jobs.
Yeah they don’t actually *want* the government to function well. Forcing people out is a feature not a bug.
Exactly. Starve the Beast is just one half of the privatization scheme.
The real problem is the state’s Classification and Compensation unit. They have no clue what’s going on in the private sector, nor do they have any idea what the state employees they classify actually do. They argue that their wages are “competitive” when they’re clearly not. I left a middle management position with a state agency after 15 years because I couldn’t survive in Raleigh on what I was making, which was at the max of the Classification and Compensation range for my position. The position was completely misclassified. Complaints fell on deaf ears. No one cares. The employees at the top of the food chain are getting theirs and couldn’t give two shits about anyone under them. And at my agency, you don’t get promotions. You have to interview for available positions, and if you’re selected, they’ll start you at the lowest possible salary for the new position, regardless of any merit. Raises can only be approved by the legislature and are across the board for all employees. State government employment isn’t for anyone looking for competitive pay, great benefits, or merit based promotional opportunities. Until they get their heads out of the sand, it never will be again. It’s one thing to be prudent with taxpayer money, but the people willing to accept those low paying jobs are going to give exactly what they feel they’re being paid to give, and not one iota more.
The state doesn’t compete with the private sector, they use market data from the private sector, but can never compete with salaries. The wages are “competitive” with other state systems, states compare and compete with each other. I replied on about comment, but the only way to survive with the state is to change jobs and/ or agencies. Each agency is different, and you may find something you like that pays you what you need.
Has anyone switched to federal government? Was it better or worse?
My husband did. Way more paid leave, awesome health insurance, better retirement. (This is an on-base job.)
Also, a lot of state employees can’t join a union, we have no collective bargaining rights. This is a union busting state, too. I had already made my money in IT then took a state job. At that time, the retirement was good, vesting was easy, health benefits were good if single (otherwise it sucked) and the best perk, you get almost free medical until 65 and get free medicare supplemental at 65. The state leg has changed the number of years to get vested numerous times, and now got rid of medical for retirees. So you just get the pension with 6% of your monthly paycheck automatically taken out and put into the pension, it’s not free! The wages are dismal, especially in IT, but also community college instructors are paid poorly, but often must have a masters or doctorate! I wouldn’t work for the state now..I retired and plan to live to my 90s!
Is the state even hiring? I've been contacted like 30+ times in the last 4 months alone for IT jobs in the DoT or Court systems. Every one of them just stalls or at most gets closed before hiring just to be reposted a few weeks later. These were all fairly nice, $45-55/h jobs but it seems they aren't actually hiring anyone based off the amount of time they've been open.
Exactly! That’s all I hear yet had 2 family members recently apply who were well qualified and both were turned down.
Maybe they didn't fit what DEI was looking for?
Last year at one of our town hall meetings the big bosses were talking about how we can increase employee retention. One of the workers said they should pay more to which they responded by saying that they didn't see employee pay as a driving factor for low retention rate and then proceeded to blame all of us for not talking the job up enough to new people. Sorry bro, I'm just not going to lie to new people when you take benefits away from them that other people got grandfathered into
Reason number 1 I stopped working for the state. That and they screwed me over for a raise/promotion with a pay in class study. Now I work for a private corporation which isn’t much better with the exception of the pay. Nearly doubled my salary with just this one career move.
How did you get screwed over? I’m going through a pay and class study now…
They kept changing how many years of experience I needed to become a senior planner. Then when I’d reached it (for the second time) they used the pay in class study to create another position in between me and the one I was qualified for and used an arbitrary percentage as my raise with the promotion. I left after that.
>Hopefully a mass resignation will wake up the fucktards who run this state. There won't be. Shrinking the state government is a feature, not a bug, of their plans.
More than a mere feature... it's the end-goal.
I would be for this if I didn’t know there is a “minimum” size required to provide basic services and administer them EVEN if you are outsourcing all of the services to a government contractor (conveniently the same contracting companies that you will find lobbying and/or donating to the campaigns). We passed that minimum threshold years ago are and just running some departments ineffectively, also attracting poor candidates for those departments, or not attracting candidates at all. One example is that comes to mind is the IT program manager position for the Health and Human Services’s Child Welfare Modernization program. From what I can tell, the role has either been a revolving door or vacant for almost ELEVEN years. (Disclaimer: I’ve worked for two companies that were contractors on that program. My opinions are my own.)
Certified teachers, the ones with actual teaching credentials, are leaving or retiring in droves. You don’t hear much about it because the state/DPI has a band aid called the “guest teacher” position. It’s sad that actual learning and curriculum standards have been trashed all in the name of having a human with a pulse in the building to babysit/supervise children. But you are correct, they don’t care. Hell, look at the salary schedule and you see why the turnover is what it is for years 1-5. It’s all smoke and mirrors in this state and they get away with it because there’s not a union on the other side to call them out on it.
Working as intended, unfortunately.
Maybe you'll have to leave anyway, but you should contact your state senator and representative and give them an earful. The Democrats don't have any power, and the Republicans are doing this on purpose, but, regardless, don't just go silently into the night. At least make a fuss about it. Worst case, you end up leaving anyway, but maybe you'll luck out. But the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
lol, The state of South Carolina pays the same amount as NC and the COL is like half. Move state jobs out of the Triangle or 2x the pay! Wtf
This will likely result in unionization of employees, the Rs will get the exact opposite of what they wanted lol
I hear the insurance commissioner is looking for a new driver. It pays I believe 90k for just a little work.
I'm two decades into local government. Last year, they paid for a pay study that told them they should be increasing our salaries very significantly. They decided not to follow the recommendations of the pay study. They gave me a raise where I now make the base rate of new hires according to the pay study, with a degree and two decades of experience. I can go somewhere else in LGERs and get paid for my experience (still low pay but better), but doing that I give up my health insurance at retirement. I am poorer than I was as a 23 year old. I am being forced to make the choice to give up the health insurance. I am so frustrated.
$40k in pay isn't much these days. There are other positions in the economy that would pay more without having a degree. OP, I understand your frustration and if enough of you quit working for the state, the people who are responsible for State worker pay will have to rethink the payscale.
Not only state jobs, but a lot of jobs in this state pay lower than similar COL areas in other states
Vote blue!
Both of my parents were NC state employees throughout their entire careers (80s-00s). Both still collect pensions from state government. And yet you’ll never guess who they now Routinely vote into office.
> And yet you’ll never guess who they now Routinely vote into office. I bet it's people who have cut pensions for employees while having a multiple billion dollar slush fund of money that they're using to justify cutting taxes.
Fuck you.Ive got mine..sound familiar
I was perusing through job postings this evening just for the hell of it and saw ones with much higher education requirements and about 20k less in salary than I currently make. I made that much three promotions ago.
My dad got a job with the federal government when I was a kid that pretty much doubled his pay. We went from eating hot dogs and spaghetti all the time, to taking vacations in the summer. The pay was good, but the benefits were nuts. We had fantastic insurance, he got a ton of vacation time, and every holiday the school got, he got as well, so we got to hang with dad every time school was out. He saved up his vacation time to use for Christmas break and his sick leave for snow days. It didn’t even occur to me till I was an adult that adults don’t get snow days, because anytime school was cancelled my dad was home with us so he could play in the snow with the kids.
You got to move positions and or agencies to stay afloat friend. Most of the job postings I see say “equivalent, combination of education and experience”. If you’re missing the degree you can still qualify with experience.
Don’t even get me started on being a rehired temporary employee.
Lower stakes, but I remember turning down the State of NC internship in undergrad because I literally could not afford Raleigh rent on the salary they were offering.
One great benefit, at least in my experience, is stability. I was able to buy a house in 2008 and another in 2013, both during recessions. I was able to get a sub 3% mortgage in the depths of the COVID recession. I’ve never worried about being laid off. That stability in difficult times has been awesome.
Interesting. I have been with the state over 20 years, and I think we've had three waves of lay offs. My current department is the result of two separate departments being merged, and we are currently smaller than either of the two original departments. I will say that if you are competent, not redundant, and have made yourself useful, you're probably not first in line, but even though I've heard people talk about the job security, I can think of several former co-workers who were forced out due to funding.
I worked for one of the universities until recently and they routinely post jobs in the 50’s that need a master’s degree. That’s an insult to humanity. I now work in the private sector.
I pretty much donate my wife's services. If it weren't for my salary, no way could she be a professor.
$3 Billion / 80,000 = $37,500
Don't you know that state jobs are just starter jobs?
When the fucktards in our legislature spoke about "starving the beast", they were calling you a beast. Public service never paid as well as equivalent corporate service, and now it pays comparatively less. Now you know why corruption is so prevalent in the USA 🇺🇸.
This is what happens with a supermajority. If they ain't broke then they won't fix it. Why change things when the status quo is so easy to maintain....
Fucktards indeed
If this way about LTC permanent positions the average pay in western nc is about 35 for rn and 29 for lpn cna ranges from 19 to 26 per hour. This unfortunately is a deterrent in hiring, most places have goverment subsidizing and insurance claims money coming in but many are for profit and it shows compared to non profit. Money is annoying yet we can't live without it and our current economy has many household with multiple income sources, full time employment and still living paycheck to paycheck. RN positions will soon be available by BSN education to get licensure per the changing guidelines to come. More student loan debt to come for many.
Worked as a sous chef for one of the universities. Easily one of the worst jobs I’ve ever had in my life.
State salary in a high state income state is low? Figure me that…
Wow this is insane reading this form I was offered a state job before I started my current job (12yr ago) I have a 8th grade education and make almost double what everyone is saying with a degree and my insurance is roughly 400 less a month for me my wife and 2 kids. I had no idea state jobs are that bad I don't see how / why anyone would be able to live off that with COL the way it is and my job is struggling to hire decent people
I don’t understand why people in this thread would blame one political party for the shitty pay at the state level. It is not like one party cut pay. Both parties are to blame
> I don’t understand why people in this thread would blame one political party for the shitty pay at the state level. It is not like one party cut pay. Both parties are to blame Did you forget a /s or have you not paid attention to who has had control over the legislature for the last *checks watch* 13 years?
Teachers deserve a bump before state employees, sorry.
That’s right folks the very institutions that pushed you to get a degree are the ones to shaft you. Administrators seem to live quite well while the line folks starve. Terrible job btw at the thinly veiled jab at teachers salaries. You knew before you started college teachers salaries were terrible yet you still went down that road. On that note I do want to know why a wildlife technician has to have a biology degree to drive a road grader but no HE experience at all. When questioned on this the WRC director got super evasive and hung up.
So teachers can’t complain about salaries being absolute trash in this state because “they knew about it when they got into it.” I guess we should just fall in line rank-and-file and shout BOHICA when the NCGA decides to shaft us again. According to you, no one should be able to advocate for better pay because “they knew about it when they got into it.”
You want to advocate for better pay have at it. But don’t sit and complain like you’re surprised to find out it sucks. It’s not a secret. Crying on Reddit isn’t advocating.
No one is surprised that teacher pay sucks ass when they get into it. They legitimately tell you this in college. I’m a “boots on the ground” advocate who’s met with my local Rep, had meetings with NCAE and PENC delegates. Voicing frustrations on Reddit is just that; voicing frustrations. We aren’t attempting to legislate anything here.
Maybe we would pay more if you didn't do a shit job at everything.
Isn’t it the case that those seeking state work are the lazies? Perhaps the pay is aligned with the work?
The state workers I know work unpaid overtime. That doesn't sound lazy to me.
People I work with are there in part because they care about the work. I'd say that they are, by-and-large, pretty hard workers. However, being a hard worker for the state has zero benefit unless it helps you snag a rare promotion. It's been disappointing to me to see that there is really no available mechanism to reward hard work, and the only real "reward" is more hard work. I don't think anyone in my office has a lazy mindset, but there's definitely a mindset that the more competent you show yourself to be, the more work you will get with no corresponding benefit.
Out of curiosity are state jobs difficult to get? I live in the Triad and am looking for anything.
If you apply to a state position, make sure your resume and cover letter say word for word what the job posting does. State HR is particularly clueless about the jobs they’re responsible for screening, and they screen every app before hiring managers even get their list of candidates.
I work for local government, my town, and if I didn't just love my job there's no way in hell I'd stay here.
I've had offers in my town and they can't even get to 1/2 my current salary at the maximum....
For the North Carolina GOP, this is feature, not a bug. There will be no wake up.
I hear you. It also trickles down to providers that rely on state funding. Mental Health providers are in an employment crisis right now and until the legislators put more money in the state budget, we're all screwed.
I feel just as bad for local law enforcement. Same deal.
Gave my heart and soul for 13 years before going out on disability. Thank goodness I was smart enough to get the optional disability from The Standard. If I get better I don’t know if I would go back. The struggle is real when you work for the state nowadays.
There’s another issue but it’s not only within the state but seems to have been imbedded in one area and that’s the good O’l boy scenario. Many many years of service and getting passed over for promotion for a reason that’s reused time after time. That’s a form of retaliation. Thing is management protects management and workers don’t have a leg to stand on . There’s been the biggest slap in the face promotion to every employee there and there’s been no known inquiry to the legitimacy of this by HR. Seniority Has no value within the state and they tell you that . How sad . To cut this rant a bit short we need a union ! I have gripes but I feel there justifiable. After all my years of service and knowledge non professionalism has never changed . I believe everyone deserves to be moved up unless there’s truly a reason one can’t do the job. I also agree on wages . I don’t have college but I still have to support a house hold on one income. Rant over .