TSEU Legislative Agenda 2019-20
more information, please contact TSEU Political Organizer Tyler Sheldon in the Austin TSEU office (512.448.4225)
We Have Earned It – Texas Needs It!
According to an FY 2018 State Auditors Report, overall turnover in state agencies is now higher than it has been since at least 1990, when the SAO began tracking turnover. At an overall average of 19.3% across state agencies, Texas agencies are at the breaking point. Direct support professionals who work in State Supported Living Centers / State Hospitals have a turnover rate of 53.5%. With the Texas Juvenile Justice Department having a turnover rate of 29.8% and the Health Human Services Commission at 27.9%. State Auditors report states that the top 3 reasons for leaving are retirement, better pay/benefits and poor working conditions. In fact, 71% of those who quit the state in 2018 said they were going to a higher paying job, with 30% saying they would be making more than $10,000/year more than they were making with the state.
The legislature must increase pay to in order to retain a qualified workforce. State agency and university employees need a REAL pay raise!
There is no doubt that fair salaries play a key role in maintaining a skilled and qualified workforce. State employees are the driving force behind critical services to all Texans especially to some of the most vulnerable. To ensure that Texas is able to provide high quality services to its citizens, the legislature needs to appropriate a real across-the-board pay raise for state employees and university workers.
It would take a pay increase of about $13,500/year or 45.8% to bring the buying power of the median state employee salary back to its 1987 level. This is just the amount to offset the increased cost of living not covered by past pay increases we have received. And the cost of living continues to rise!
In the 2015 Legislative Session- the last time state workers saw an across-the-board raise- lawmakers approved a 2.5% raise for state employees. However, the pay increase was completely wiped out by a 2.6% increase in state employee’s contribution to the ERS pension fund. On top of that, employees saw big cost increases in dependent health care coverage, meaning state employees actually saw their take home pay decrease.
PAY RAISE 2019: Don’t leave out university workers – appropriate funds for a university employees’ pay raise!
University employees have been left out of recent statewide pay raises. While the university systems claim that university employees have received similar raises via merit raise and “pay for performance” schemes, the reality is that most university employees’ pay has been frozen or has increased only by tiny amounts since 2003. Since 2005, the Legislature has not appropriated any funds for university pay increases. Just as in state agencies, adequate salaries are needed to recruit and retain qualified staff to meet the educational needs of our state. The legislature needs to appropriate a $6000 across-the-board pay raise for state university employees!
