GilfordGrok

Finally, the annual threats of Gilford’s police force forming a union are over. The new police union gives a green light for the Selectman to look at their salaries and wages objectively instead of the emotionally personalized approach taken in the past. The nice thing about unions is that they are, by their own choice, a one face entity. Negotiations for them are being done by a single highly paid professional, focused exclusively on getting the most for its members regardless of the needs of the community.

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Now it’s a business only transaction and should be treated as such. The mythical added expense to dealing with unions is really an opportunity to save money. If we’re going to invest money in a negotiator let’s get one that reduces the budget! Why not invest $10,000 to save $100,000?

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This would be an excellent opportunity to look at more efficient ways to manage resources such as reducing the work force over the winter months when the community significantly reduces its population. This is also the time to set the standard for employee contributions toward benefits. Additionally, the entire departmental budget should be scrutinized and tightened until the details of the contract are known.

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Working families are painfully aware of the growing cost of contributing to their health care and funding their own retirement. The USA today featured an article showing that employers in 2008 will, once again, pass on to employees up to an 8% cost increase in health insurance premiums. Working families in the private sector are also shouldering more of the burden to pay health insurance and retirement benefits for Federal, State and local workers. Today, we read news that the State worker’s retirement system will require even more from your property tax bill. Stack on top of that the potential of a “Hillary like” health scam and working families will have nothing left in their paychecks to pay for their own benefits. You can be sure that the union negotiators won’t care about that!

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Don’t you wish someone else was paying for your health insurance and funding your retirement? Fortunately, the final say on Gilford’s negotiated union wages and benefits will be decided by you, the tax payer, in the privacy of a voting booth.