State workers need fair compensation

I recently received two e-mails and heard a KTOO report that collectively did not make sense.

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One e-mail was from Workplace Alaska's human resource people asking me to vote on their new recruitment slogan. The second e-mail was from my Alaska Public Employees Association Supervisory Union, reporting the latest administration's contract offer of 3 percent, 1.5 percent and 1.5 percent for the next three years. The third piece of the puzzle was a KTOO report about the state Legislature passing an ethics reform bill.

So I ask myself, why do we need a slogan to recruit state workers? Why not base recruitment on the strength and truth of the state's compensation package? And in a new era of honesty and full disclosure, wouldn't that be enough to recruit top people to the state's work force?

If the administration thinks state workers are receiving fair compensation and that its offer of 6 percent over the next three years is adequate, then it should advertise what a wonderful deal state employment is. The state should use its compensation package as the basis of its recruitment campaign.

If the new administration wants reform in the Legislature, why not extend that to truth in advertising to recruit new state workers?

In reality, the state is having a hard time recruiting qualified employees. I conducted an informal poll of my state-worker friends with "grown" kids, and I asked the following question: Would you encourage your child to start a career with the State of Alaska?

This poll, while poorly designed, did prove interesting. Not one of the people I asked wanted their child to become a state worker under the new Tier IV retirement system with wages that are destined not to keep up with inflation. To be fair, two people wanted their kids to work for the state over the summer but never in the long term.

When Workplace Alaska sent an earlier e-mail out to state workers asking for suggestions to use in its recruitment efforts, a lot of us had fun coming up with slogan -but none could be repeated here.

Gov. Sarah Palin, you are my hero by undoing many of the things your predecessor did. I ask you to continue to be my hero and address the problem of fair compensation for state workers. The system is broken and needs your attention, and it needs it now.

Roger Harding

Juneau