On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 11:26:51 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:

I'm familiar with the fringe package of some New York municipal and
state employees. It's decent, but no more than any worker should have
for offering up his or her labors over a lifetime of employment.

==================================

The benefit packages far exceed anything available in private
industry, and so does the job security. Fringe benefits were popular
settlement options politically because they ended debilitating strikes
immediately but pushed the costs way out into the future, same sort of
financial issue that GM and others are now facing, and for much the
same reasons. I have no problem with fair pay and fair benefits, but
it should be commensurate with skills, education, supply and demand.
When workers in sensitive occupations get the whip hand in crowded
metropolitan areas it leads to a very unhealthy collective bargaining
environment, and the general public ends up as the loser.