FURLOUGHS FOR STATE WORKERS ILL-ADVISED
Virginian-Pilot, The (Norfolk, VA) - Thursday, February 21, 1991
To the Editor:

I oppose proposed furloughs for state employees. We have given more than our share during the current budget crisis. In addition to the loss of a 2 percent cost-of-living raise due last December, we have been told that we will receive no pay increases of any kind until November 1992 at the earliest.

The hiring freeze of our department (I am a juvenile probation officer) has forced us to take on additional caseloads from staff lost due to personal reasons as well as to deployments of the reserves in the military.

Reimbursement for travel and training fees are non-existent. Because budget cuts have forced a curtailment in services for youths in our caseload, most of us working in this field have been putting in extra hours of our own time providing the supervision necessary for these youths, as well as searching for outside resources to provide supportive services for little or no cost.

Governor Wilder states that state employees should be willing to accept furloughs as opposed to layoffs. This is a fallacy. I chose to enter the low-paying field of state employment over private-sector employment because I wanted to be of service to my state and community, especially the youth, and I wanted to raise a family of my own and felt comfort in the job security of a state position.

Don't tell me I'm lucky to have a job. I obtained a college degree (primarily financed through student loans and part-time employment) and have worked hard for 13 years in combined city and state employment for the ``privilege'' of earning $25,000 a year. (This is less than half the salary of my younger brother after only a few years in the hotel-management field.)

All of us who work as state employees are willing to give the extra time it takes to see that our clientele receive services, but only if the other demands made on us are reasonable. I feel that forcing state employees to take furloughs at this time is beyond being reasonable.

JANICE BOTTOMS

Suffolk, Feb. 8, 1991