State employees rally for a raise. I suppose anything is better then what happened in Tennessee. (For the State employees anyway). Or is it?

From the News & Observer:

More than 200 state employees rallied Tuesday for higher pay raises than are in the legislative budget proposals.

State employees are pushing for 3 percent raises, or $1,100, whichever is more, plus one-time $1,000 bonuses.

The budget proposal has 2.75 percent or $1,100 raises for state employees.

The higher base pay raises would cost an additional $8 million over what’s budgeted, according to Executive Director Dana Cope of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, and the bonuses would cost between $20 million and $25 million.

The 3 percent raises would bring state employees’ raises in line with those proposed for teachers. “Why do we want to split off teachers and state employees?” Cope asked.

After the rally, state employees hoped to make their case face-to-face with legislators. But it doesn’t seem as if the employees will get the raises they want.

Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand and Sen. Linda Garrou, two chief budget negotiators, said neither they nor House leaders have budged from the pay raises included in their respective spending plans.

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