Just as Oregon is facing at least a $377.5 Million budget shortfall, State Workers, members of Public Unions, will be receiving a “step increase” September 1 amounting to 4.75%.
“Budget hawks like Rep. Dennis Richardson, R-Central Point, see the scheduled pay increase as pouring a bit more gasoline on the state’s fiscal forest fire.”
Woodburn resident Brenda Freddie will receive her step increase in March. Her pay will bump from $2,945 to $3,086 per month — $141 — before taxes.
Freddie works as a secretary at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility, and is represented by SEIU. She’s worked for the state for 13 years She is raising her 11-year-old granddaughter and supports her husband, who is retired on disability.
Freddie says she loses $100 out of her monthly paycheck every time there’s an unpaid furlough day.
“The budget I’m on is so skinny that we make it check-to-check, payday-to-payday,” she said. “There’s no fat in our diet.”
$3,000 a month and a husband drawing disability and “no fat in their diet?”
