TNC
01-08-2005, 12:16 PM
State workers make a plea for better wages
Several state workers, using their day off to testify, said last year's raise was not enough to prevent an exodus from the 24,000-member workforce.
"I save lives, I stop riots and I'm at the minimum (in pay) everywhere I go,'' Corrections officer Renee Bevry told lawmakers. "I don't feel valued by anybody.''
Lt. Al Ramirez, who works at the state's maximum security prison, lamented the facility's 42 percent staff turnover in the last year, more than one thousand instances of "disruptive behavior" by inmates and 32 assaults on corrections officers.
"I need your help. We need to retain these people," he said of the officers who work at the prison. "They need a raise."
Complete article can be found at http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050108/NEWS06/501080336/1001/NEWS
Several state workers, using their day off to testify, said last year's raise was not enough to prevent an exodus from the 24,000-member workforce.
"I save lives, I stop riots and I'm at the minimum (in pay) everywhere I go,'' Corrections officer Renee Bevry told lawmakers. "I don't feel valued by anybody.''
Lt. Al Ramirez, who works at the state's maximum security prison, lamented the facility's 42 percent staff turnover in the last year, more than one thousand instances of "disruptive behavior" by inmates and 32 assaults on corrections officers.
"I need your help. We need to retain these people," he said of the officers who work at the prison. "They need a raise."
Complete article can be found at http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050108/NEWS06/501080336/1001/NEWS