It’s been 13 years since Mississippi lawmakers have awarded raises to state employees. On average state employees make $9,000 less than their nearby counterparts in Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas. With low salaries, this forces many state workers to work more than one job to offset inflation costs.
On Tuesday, at the Capital, the organization expressed their concern to lawmakers like Gov. Phil Bryant, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, and Speaker of the House Philip Gunn, that no effort has been made to treat pay raises for state employees as an integral part of the state budget.
In a release by the organization it stated:
“Governor Bryant, your voice is silent, and has been since you’ve taken office, when it has come to choosing the haves and the other special interests over the have nots and the working poor. You have failed them by not giving your voice and support over to our state employees and the serves they render. If you didn’t know it, there has not been a pay raise bill signed into law for the state workers in 13 years. These workers are working as hard as they can even though their agencies’ budgets have been cut 6 times in the last 2 years, making it even harder for them to fulfill their mission.”
Early in the 2018 session any hope of a raise was quickly killed. The organization claims lawmakers are balancing the state’s budget on the backs of state workers and the services they provide.
They say it is not too late for the Speaker or Lt. Gov. to revive pay raise legislation and do right by the hard-working men and women of Mississippi.
