Saturday, January 8, 2011

Somewhere Down The Road

I work for an elected state government office. Yesterday was the last day for most of the 58 people who were not retained by the incoming administration. Almost all of these appointees were not kept because the office is changing political parties as well. In my 33 years, it was ever thus.

The difference this time is how far down into the ranks of the exempt/unclassified the purge went. The usual procedure is to replace the directors and their assistants, along with those who voluntarily leave because of the change in parties. That would entail a change of two dozen or so at the most. It would appear the newbies have a different idea/agenda regarding policy and personnel matters.

There were a slew of "farewell and thank you" e-mails sent to the Everyone Distribution Group yesterday; some of them were from people I had actually met!

One of the (very) few benefits about being a (forced) member of a union is that we are not subject to the culling of the herd that occurs when a new person takes over. For about half of my tenure that was not the case; we were subject to dismissal at, literally, the boss' whim. It was something I saw happen a few times.

Nowadays, if they want to get rid of us union scum they really have to work at it!

5 comments:

  1. Can you tell us where Hoffa is buried or is that a union secret? What about the handshake?

    ReplyDelete
  2. First of all, it is "culling of the herd"!

    Second, we can all be grateful that you have a job, even if you are "union scum" (which is better than being a "scab").

    Third, he likely had to lay off more - and potentially replace (at a lesser salary)others - so that he can pay his chief of staff (and a few others) some ridiculously high salaries, salaries that rival those in Washington. (not that he has an inflated vision of himself and his mandate). Yes, I can see it...change a'comin' (and the rich just seem to get richer!).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Working is a wonderful thing - not everyone can be found panhandling beside the freeway and make a new life for himself. Even you union scum deserve jobs, and since Mr. Krinkles is also union scum, hey, he's got a job and we have benefits, too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like someone got their democratic panties in a wad.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My mind knew it was "herd" but my fingers did not. Mucho apologiso.

    No, I do not work for THAT elected office. The new governor can pay anyone he wants any salary he wants; if they get the job done they are worth every dollar.

    If the rich get richer, great for them. I do not begrudge anyone whatever they can get. That is called the free market, capitalism, whatever you want to name it.

    Having some job security is appreciated very much by me.

    ReplyDelete