This morning, the state’s Budget Conference Committee released their final budget proposal to be voted on by the full Legislature tomorrow. The 2.8% raise for all state workers, additional funding for the ERS pension, and the targeted raises for APS, SWI, and SSLC/state hospital direct care workers were all stripped out of the budget.
Lawmakers are likely to vote on and pass this budget tomorrow (Sunday, May 26th). With this budget, state employees will have gone 7 years with no raises and retirees will have gone 20 years without a cost of living increase. Given that lawmakers themselves received a $4,300 pay raise earlier this year, this budget is cruelly hypocritical.
ACT NOW!
This Sunday (TOMORROW), meet in the Capitol rotunda – 11:00am
Join fellow TSEU members in the capitol rotunda tomorrow (Sunday, May 26) at 11:00am to deliver a strong message to lawmakers that we see their hypocrisy and we demand they provide emergency funding for pay raises and increased pension funding. Contact shutchinson@cwa-tseu.org if you plan to be there. If you need to arrive late, please let us know. We will deliver letters to lawmakers and proceed to the House gallery to show that we are watching. Wear your TSEU shirt if you have one or any black shirt if you don’t.
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Can’t make it to the Captiol? Call your state representative and state senator’s office in Austin and tell them:
Hi, my name is _______, and I’m a state employee/retiree who lives in Representative / Senator _______’s district. HB 1 now includes no money for an across-the-board pay raise for state employees and no increased funding for ERS. This is very hypocritical given that lawmakers got a $4,300 raise just this year. State employees and retirees desperately need a raise too. If HB 1 passes, will Representative / Senator _______ contact the Legislative Budget Board to ask for an emergency pay raise and pension funding for state workers and retirees?
You can find your State Rep and State Senator by entering your home address here: https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home. Be sure you call your State legislators and not U.S.