Public Sector

The private sector is slowly climbing its back way from the Great Recession, adding 155,000 jobs in December, but the public sector is continuing its long employment slide, making it the worst few years for government employees in recent memory. That's a conclusion from a new report by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the University of Albany, which calculates that while private-sector employment is down 3.1% from its peak in January 2008 and on the rebound, state and local government employment is down 3.4% from its peak in August 2008 and continuing to slide.

ATHENS - With a critical monitoring mission completed, international debt inspectors gave Greece the nod Monday for an additional $13 billion in rescue aid but insisted that it had to ax thousands of civil servants as part of efforts to slash the country's bloated - and costly - public sector. Lenders from Europe and the International Monetary Fund have pressed successive Greek governments to implement mass layoffs since Athens signed up for its first bailout, worth $150 billion, three years ago. Despite widespread opposition, Greece's three-party coalition agreed to the plan over the weekend, bowing to the tough new terms contained in a new multibillion-dollar bailout hammered out in December.

Joseph A. McCartin's Op-Ed article on Tuesday pointing out that collective bargaining for public employees has only recently become controversial prompted reader Betty W. Hosie of La Jolla to write: "McCartin missed a few points. He did not mention Franklin Roosevelt's letter in 1934 stating there should never be collective bargaining in government. In 1955, George Meany, president of AFL-CIO, agreed with him, stating that when government strikes, it strikes against the taxpayer.

ATHENS - International debt inspectors gave conditional approval Monday to an additional $13 billion in rescue aid for the beleaguered Greek government, but insisted that it cut thousands of civil service jobs as part of an effort to slash spending on the country's costly public sector. Lenders from Europe and the International Monetary Fund have pressed successive Greek governments to carry out mass layoffs since Athens signed up for its first bailout, worth $150 billion, three years ago. Despite widespread opposition, Greece's three-party coalition agreed to the plan over the weekend, acceding to the tough terms of a new multibillion-dollar bailout hammered out in December.

A chance on charters Re "Whistle-blowers to open a charter," Jan. 18 Congratulations to the Los Angeles teachers who are opening their own charter school. They will have the professional autonomy to do the very best they can for their students without being micromanaged from above. They can manage the school themselves or select someone to be head teacher. They will be able to make key decisions about the budget as well as curriculum, instruction and staffing.

California shed 66,500 jobs in June, and more losses loom as double-digit unemployment spreads to state and local governments, once reliable bastions of employment security. June's 11.6% unemployment rate is a post-World War II record. Professional services, construction and trade continue to top the state's jobless categories. But in a troubling sign, governments -- a stable part of the state's economy for a decade -- have been laying off thousands of workers in recent months.

Public sector unions representing 1 million members called off a nearly monthlong strike, ending a labor action that shut schools and crippled hospitals across South Africa. A majority of the unions agreed to sign the government's final offer, including a 7.5% wage increase. The rest will return to work while negotiations continue, the unions said in a statement. The unions originally had demanded 12%. The government's initial offer was 6.5%.

Re "Municipalities Struggle to Pay Pensions," July 12: Those of us in the private sector worry about whether we will see any of our promised Social Security benefits when we retire. We hear discussions of "responsible reform" to save the program that would further increase our payroll taxes, delay our retirement and reduce our benefits. Our Social Security trust fund is being pillaged to pay for government revenue shortfalls, part of which is assistance to states and municipalities as well as funding public-sector pension programs.

A jobs fair for people interested in the public sector will be held Saturday at the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza. The event will be held on the upper and lower levels of the mall from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is co-sponsored by Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, the Sheriff's Department, the Los Angeles County Office of Affirmative Action Compliance and Councilwoman Ruth Galanter. Representatives from 21 county departments and 10 city departments will provide information about job openings and test dates.

Millions of Indian workers walked off their jobs Friday in a one-day protest against the government's announced plan to close unprofitable state-owned industries as part of an effort to move the country from socialism toward free-market capitalism. The strike crippled state-dominated industries such as banking, air transport, insurance and energy, but had a lesser impact in industries where India's private sector is active, such as textiles and manufacturing.

Los Angeles union leaders had hoped the presence of two liberal Democrats in the race for mayor would produce a robust defense of the value of government, government employees and the positive effects public sector pay and benefits have on the broader economy. The realities of campaigning have largely precluded that, particularly in a city contending with persistent budget shortfalls and private-sector workers facing stagnant incomes, tax and fee increases, and a slow erosion of good-wage jobs.

The private sector is slowly climbing its back way from the Great Recession, adding 155,000 jobs in December, but the public sector is continuing its long employment slide, making it the worst few years for government employees in recent memory. That's a conclusion from a new report by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the University of Albany, which calculates that while private-sector employment is down 3.1% from its peak in January 2008 and on the rebound, state and local government employment is down 3.4% from its peak in August 2008 and continuing to slide.

California's labor market showed renewed strength in October as employers posted stronger-than-expected job gains, adding 45,800 workers to payrolls ahead of the holiday shopping season. With retail trade and transportation leading last month's hiring surge, the jobless rate ticked down to 10.1% in October from 10.2% the month before, according to data from the state's Employment Development Department. Quiz: The week in business  The state also revised September job gains upward to 32,000 from the previously reported figure of 8,500 net new jobs.

ATHENS - With a new batch of budget cuts looming, Greek officials have made it clear that they must target the state's nearly 1-million-strong army of civil servants, shaving salaries, benefits and bonuses for the third time in three years. "We're doomed," says social worker Dmitra, 44, who asked that her last name not be printed for fear of reprisals. "Whoever said we were privileged and protected?" And yet, many Greeks emphatically contend that government workers are protected.

Re "Brown's pension plan no panacea," News Analysis, Aug. 30 Although you admit that Gov. Jerry Brown's pension reforms will save billions, your analysis supports going much further because of "runaway" pension costs. But the numbers that your experts cite are vastly exaggerated. They reject public pension accounting standards and are instead based on "market values," what a fund would get if all its assets were immediately sold - which no fund would or could do. Others advocate reducing assumptions to discount bank rates.

Thousands of unionists are on their way to the Democratic National Convention that begins Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C. Of the 609 delegates from California, more than a third are labor people. A Labor Day parade jump-starts the entire conclave, with out-of-state Democrats swelling the ranks of spectators and marchers alike. There will be dozens of union-delegate caucuses, pro-labor shout-outs from prominent politicians and adoption of a platform that endorses collective bargaining, both in the public sector as well as the private.

It is too early to speculate whether "error in judgment" will prove too charitable a label to paste over the scandal now playing at Los Angeles' City Hall. But while we are waiting for the verdict, let's ask why, when it comes to enforcement of law, standards of decency and plain good sense, we do such a rotten job policing our public sector? This may sound strange coming from someone who has long urged tightening up the laws we wield against business corporations.

The sound of radio static crackled through the air. In every corner of the hotel lobby, men were leaning over to mumble into their gray handsets. Some took their walkie-talkies outside, squinting into the bright sun as they sought better reception. At the hotel's French patisserie, the units shared space with china teacups on tiny marble tables, like portions of gateau . It might have been a convention of security agents.

Re "Paul Ryan's budget plan would destroy the middle class," Column, Aug. 15 Any budget seeking to reduce spending and to reform otherwise doomed entitlement programs such as Medicare is going to cause pain. It is wise to spread that pain; you can't raise taxes on anyone high enough to make a serious dent in the deficit without making painful cuts. And because the biggest beneficiaries of federal spending programs are the poor and some of the middle class, they will feel those cuts the most.

Is it time to start talking about the inevitable demise of the Democratic Party? Since the 1990s there's been a thriving cottage industry of doomsaying about the Republican Party. The gold standard of the genre is undoubtedly 2002's "The Emerging Democratic Majority" by Ruy Teixeira and John Judis, which argued that the Democrats were destined to become a majority party because demographic and cultural trends were on their side. The increasing cultural liberalism of professionals, the dramatic growth of Latinos and the increasingly liberal attitudes of (single)