Legislator targets public employees for pay cuts in constitutional amendment
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Michigan Live: Public employees, including everyone from judges to teachers to snowplow drivers, are the target of Senate Republicans’ plans to reduce wages and dramatically increase their share of health insurance costs. Senate Majority Leader Michael Bishop wants the Legislature to put two constitutional amendments designed to save $2 billion before voters in August.
The amendments would require an estimated 12,400 public workers in Muskegon County to take a 5 percent pay cut for the next three years and pay 15 percent or 20 percent of their health insurance premiums. The measures would not affect those working for the federal government. State Sen. Gerald Van Woerkom, R-Norton Shores, admitted that it may be a tough sell to garner the two-thirds votes needed in the House and the Senate to get the measure on the ballot, but it is worth pursuing.
“This preserves a lot of the jobs and maintains services,” Van Woerkom said. “It’s not meant to be mean-spirited to the employees of the state. We just don’t have the money.”
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