University of Virginia Library

Paying Up, At Last

There is government spending, and then
there is government spending. Every one of us
considers some government spending right,
necessary, and acceptable from our point of
view as taxpayers. Of course, we all disdain
certain expenditures by our legislature, but in
a few exceptional cases we find almost
everyone in agreement that what is good for
the state is good for us, and we support those
ventures.

Well, the state employees, people like the
University's custodians, painters, or
electricians, have long deserved a little better
deal from their state, and it looks like they
are finally going to get it. Governor Holton, in
his address to the General Assembly
yesterday, proposed appropriations of $38
million for increases in salaries for employees
of the Commonwealth. It is heartwarming to
hear from so many sources that all odds are in
favor of the General Assembly approving the
proposal and, although somewhat belatedly,
proving that Virginia will pay her public
servants respectably.

It's very peculiar, this business of state
appropriations. There are so many public
institutions and services for which the
taxpayers cough up their state income taxes
every year that many of them just seem to get
lost in the confusion, and few of us outside of
Capitol Square really pay any attention. But
while we fuss and fume about increased
government spending, and our representatives
in Richmond try to keep the lid on to keep us
happy, some of our neighbors, like those who
work for the Commonwealth, are not exactly
living high off the hog. In fact, the way food
prices have increased while their real wage has
decreased, many would be hard put to buy a
pork chop.

Employees who have reached the top of
their pay scales (and it does not take too long
for some of them), really have no financial
incentive for better performance. That is one
problem of government operations. But the
real coup de grace for a worker's morale
comes when he sees all the various price
indexes rising far faster than his wages, and
unlike those in private business, he is frozen
into a specific nominal wage dictated by the
state.

Now some might question why this
situation has occurred during the three Phases
of Controls. Well, for one thing, the lower
one's income, the greater proportion of the
income he spends on necessities–especially
food. And farm prices (read "food prices")
are not subject to controls. So who really
suffers? Of course it is the low-income worker
whose wages are not tied to cost-of-living
increases. Our state employees are a good
example of those who are pinched the
hardest.

Why haven't they been heard from more
often and more vocally? One , they are not a
revolutionary or fundamentally vocal group
to start with. Two, (and this explains number
one) it is illegal for them to strike. And three,
they have tried to make a good case for
financial help for a long time, but nobody in
places that count has listened.

Well, it appears that they are listening in
Richmond now. But we will not be happy,
and the state's 50,000 employees will not be
any better off until the ink is on the bill, and
the pay raises become law. We commend
Governor Holton, we commend the
administrators around the state who
supported pay increases with conviction and
determination, and we commend the state
employees generally for quiet and patient
pressure on the legislature and the press to
hear their case.

We strongly recommend that the
legislature passes the Governor's $38 million
proposal post haste. The old argument that
"as long as there are poor people willing to do
this work at pitiful pay, why pay them
more?" is not only false economy but phony
logic. Never again should the state employees
be left to fight inflation with both hands tied
by the state they serve.

If the state is here to serve the people, why
not give a fair deal to the people who serve
the state?