I figured it out …

I figured out what’s wrong with the “state” system. I have a BA in English, and an MA in Public Administration and I have figured out what’s wrong with the state system. It’s me … I’m what’s wrong with the system.
I only have experience with one state system but I’m going to postulate that my solution would work across all state systems set up similarly to my own. I can’t get fired, literally. It would almost take an act of God to get rid of me in my position. I could be moved around, I could be demoted (with the same pay of course). They could put me in the mail room and pay me an incredible amount of money to sort incoming and outgoing mail. But they cannot fire me.
I used to be motivated, I used to want to fix all the wrongs with the system and want to improve constantly. I didn’t understand why everyone moved at a snail’s pace. Now I am that person, not quite as bad as I will be in another decade, but I’m getting there.
The system is a little like prison, when you get in you fight like hell to prove you aren’t a “state employee” then eventually the gaurds beat you down and you accept that you are a prisoner just like the rest of them. Finally you become afraid to leave the state because you have been institutionalized.
When you can’t be fired and you know you will be here for another 20+ years you tend to slow down a little. Not everything has to be done immediately. You don’t need to fix all the problems, or even most of them. You just need to work in your world, occasionally branch out so you don’t put a bullet in your career and count down the days till retirement.
There is a “new” person in my office, meaning less than three years old. I have a theory that if you are less than three you are new, after three years the system imposes itself on you and you die a little inside, but until that happens you are new. So this new person is motivated, as we all are initially. She wants to fix things, she wants to make them better, she wants she wants she wants. She’s exhausting .. and I am jealous of her. Jealous because she reminds me of me … 5 years ago, when I cared. When I thought I would change things, when I thought I could fix them. Part of me wants to use her new blood and get back out there, get the motivation rolling, use her to start a fire under my ass. The other part of me just wants to ride out her enthusiasm like a horse until it breaks.
But this is what’s wrong with the system. We have no fear, we have nothing to prove and we can’t be fired. I propose that all unions within the state system be shut down. Unions were created so 5 year olds weren’t working in sweatshops and not allowed to eat for 12 hours straight. Somehow they have morphed into allowing 30 year olds to work 7.5 hours a day with 5 weeks of vacation 14 paid holidays, 5 personal days, sick time, bereavement leave and a mandatory shut down week between Christmas and New Years. Unions are the reason the state is in the situation its in. They encourage mediocrity and reward laziness. They protect the weak and shun the strong. Unions originally were meant to save the workforce and they have instead put the weakest of the pack at the forefront and forced the stronger ones to stroll behind them.
Get rid of the unions, put the fear of termination back in the state employee. Reward hard work with raises, like the private sector. Fire the dead weight, which would cut down on probably a quarter of the work force and reduce spending.
That ladies and gentlemen is how you fix the state .. a healthy dose of fear.

Melissa Fleming for Governor 🙂