Quote:
Originally posted by lendaddy
Well Bob, when I look at things I try to understand them. Sup(and you) say Governement employees work as hard or harder than than those in the private sector on average. Just tell me why that would be, what is your theory? I have stated countless times my theory which I base on human nature: lack of accountability, lack of incentive, lack of reinforcment altogether (both positive and negative). We can have a discussion if you have a theory on this, if you don't then please sit in the bleachers with the other spectators J/K
So what's the reason for the public employees good/great work ethic? And where might I go to witness it in action?
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dhoward, I agree that Len speaks truth in many cases and I do enjoy it.
Island, I tried to couch my post well and maybe that doesn't matter or you missed it. I've got a lot of respect for the guys in the story. They are indeed smart men. Characterize me as some sort of high-and-mighty, elitist guy if you wish, but that suggests you missed both the message and the content of my post. I'm certainly not any smarter than those guys. But those guys have not sat next to WSDOT staff at the testimony table and been grilled by committee members (prevailing wage is commonly identified to be a cost escalator, in direct contradition to the most objective of evidence...I'll touch on this in a moment). They have drawn the conclusion, apparently in the absence of information, that WSDOT is just inefficient. Trust me when I tell you that there is no more closely studied state agency over the past ten years than WSDOT. As you can imagine, if you think about it. The legislature has audited that agency AD NAUSEUM. And they were very efficient before the audits began, in my humble but of course subjective view.
Now, one of those audits included a question about state prevailing wage law. Actually, a double-question. Some nasty conservative legislators thought this would be a clever time to uncover deep dark secrets about prevailing wages. They asked how much state prevailing wage rates were in excess of federal prevailing wage rates, and they separately asked how much could be saved from eliminating the state law. They had the impression (lore, innuendo, assumption,....) that state prevailing wages are higher than fed ones. Turns out that's very much not the case. In almost each instance of paired comparisons, craft by craft, the fed rates are higher. And since fed prevailing wage law applies to almost all our state highway construction projects (because we use federal funds), nothing is to be saved by elimination of state prevailing wage requirements. And before anyone shouts "They're witches!," the auditor in this case was an accounting firm from outside Washington State.
All I was saying is that even educated, smart people like to view gubmint in cartoon terms. The facts are not nearly as entertaining.