Well let me tell you that the pathetic 4% that they give to us normal workers is not very much is only about 70 dollars a month, so after taxes its hardly noticible. Expectially with the rising gas and grocery prices.

You’re right, we should just all sacrifice more for the state employees who are already making more money than us.

We need this raise to keep up with the pay of the private sectors who give merit raises and everything else on top of the normal raises.

My experience has been that the state workers often make much more than the public sector, especially when you take into account the great benefits they get.

A lot of us who just stated that came from private employers

Right, we’re going to believe that you left a great job to take a crummy job for the state.

There’s proof positive that you guys left the private sector because the state has a better deal for you. Now you think you deserve 8% plus 4% and another 4% on top of that.

Quit being so greedy. If you want market jobs than work in the private sector.

I left my job because I needed something that had strict dayshift

So you get a job that fits your needs. Now you want the same pay that you got when you were being paid to work odd hours.

Frankly that’s greedy. You don’t deserve that extra money because you aren’t accepting the disruption in your life that your former job entailed.

And maybe you are right some of the state government jobs do have a lot better pay than some of the private sectors, however not at the state hospital. Our job is very dangerous and mentally draining and not a lot of people stay

Now it is fair to single out an area. Now if the state hospital is unable to hire the people it needs it might need to increase pay. However this is an article about a general 8% pay raise with 4% and 4% increases tacked on.

If the hospital needs a raise in pay then this attitude hurts you. Why should the overpaid people get a raise just because a few people in Jamestown deserve one?

I wish that you would be a little bit more supportive of people like me who are living paycheck to paycheck

I fail to see why being a state worker entitles you to demand money from other people who are also living paycheck to paycheck. Do you relieve believe your public employee status makes you more special than everyone else?

And you know what my kids can not eat my damn benefits.

No they can’t. But getting needed benefits for free means you have more money to spend. For example many if not most private employees pay part of their health care benefits. State workers don’t. Therefore you have more money in your paycheck than you otherwise would have.

You sound like the one that’s bitter. If you can find a better job take it. If you can’t than quit complaining and demanding that the state taxpayers suck it up and pay you more than you deserve.

I know that it has been awhile since the last post was made but just happened to stumble upon this site, and couldn’t help but respond and maybe get this blog going again. I am a state employee and work within the DOCR. The DOCR is the department of corrections and rehabilitation. I have been an employee with the state for the past eight years. I enjoy my job, and all of my coworkers. Pay aside I would have to say that the state of ND is a great place to work and live, great people, great economy, good jobs, great opportunities. However I don’t understand why some people have such a problem with state workers being compensated for the work that they do. We pay taxes just like everybody else. I could say that since I do business with your company or place of business that I pay your check. If I didn’t shop wherever you work of purchase your commodities than you would not be paid. How about if there were no correctional officers or highway patrol to keep you safe, and keep dangerous criminals behind bars and away from the general public. The state employees are paid on a pay grade system with 20 grades and 4 quartiles within each grade, there is also a minimum quartile within each grade. I have never once since being a state employee received a merit raise, they have all been cost of living, equity, or promotional. I am currentyl in the minimum quartile of my pay grade. 64.1% of the DOCR employee’s are at or below their first quartile. Just to give you an idea of the contrast between different state agencies the DOT are at 4.2% at or below their first quartile and BND is at 6.3%. You see their are huge discrepencies across the different state agencies. Now don’t get me wrong I love my job and wouldn’t go anywhere else but to get the agencies in sync would be nice. Again I don’t understand the point of trying to say since you pay taxes that you make my paycheck, my paycheck comes from lots of place: sales tax, property tax, gas tax, income tax, etc… Which I also pay all of the above. I just don’t understand why you are so against the giving of raises to state employees and that 4 and 4 plus an 8 on top would be way too much.

I am, I was, and still am. If only the socialists would leave me alone to exercise my freedoms. I chose my jobs, worked hard and now want to be left alone to enjoy the fruits of my labors.

The statistic includes all levels of government – state, local, federal, school districts, higher ed, etc. The breakdown includes 9,700 federal; 23,000 state; and 42,800 local government. The University System employs more than 13,000 people (source: http://www.ndus.nodak.edu/faculty/default.asp), so that leaves approximately 10,000 state employees that could potentially benefit from this raise. That is still quite a large number, but not nearly the 75,000 government employees referenced.

I agree that 8.1% is too high and I’m confident the final raise approved by the legislature will be something less than that.

How can I get in on that gravy train?

I was online looking at of course my hopefully upcomming raise when I came across this. Obviously the person who wrote the blog and the commentors don’t work for the state, so I wanted to give my point of view. I started at North Dakota State Hospital in January of this year. It was full of empty promises saying I was going to start at the same salary and it was crap. Well anyways I was “assured” with all the raises that state employees get it would make up for it in no time :S Well let me tell you that the pathetic 4% that they give to us normal workers is not very much is only about 70 dollars a month, so after taxes its hardly noticible. Expectially with the rising gas and grocery prices. We need this raise to keep up with the pay of the private sectors who give merit raises and everything else on top of the normal raises. A lot of us who just stated that came from private employers are asking ourselves what we are doing and were looking for other jobs until we heard about the raises.

I agree that 8.1% is too high and I’m confident the final raise approved by the legislature will be something less than that.

This has to be voted down way too much money. What is going on in this country? They are giving away our hard earned tax dollars to win votes… How the hell are they going to pay for this.

Well I’m sorry if you obviously are bitter about something… and first of all I didn’t leave my great job to take anything better in terms of pay or benefits. I left my job because I needed something that had strict dayshift because of my kids because my boyfriend got sent to school for retraining through workers comp and was going to be gone through the week. And maybe you are right some of the state government jobs do have a lot better pay than some of the private sectors, however not at the state hospital. Our job is very dangerous and mentally draining and not a lot of people stay either for A. someone who is single with no benefits can find much better pay and equal benefits or B. the job is way to stressful. I can not speak of any of the office jobs or mailmen or anything like that. I wish that you would be a little bit more supportive of people like me who are living paycheck to paycheck and can hardly afford to put food on the table. But obviously nothing is going to look at us evil state employees any differently because for whatever reason you are upset. And if you think the pay is so absolutely great and amazing why don’t you get a job for the state? I had to leave my job due to circumstances out of my hands because workers comp drug us through the mud for three years and I was not able to do shift work and lost $300 a month, you know how long its going to take me to get to the pay I was at at 4%? How dare you say I’m greedy. And you know what my kids can not eat my damn benefits.

And do you think cutting 2,000+ jobs is going to help the budget? Simplistic thinking, at best. That’s a lot of welfare gonna be due, workers leaving the state and lost services to to the citizens still earning a living. Think it through, people, it’s a representative government. It’s your call, be very careful.