That's how officials from six unions described state employees in a letter to the editor published Thursday afternoon. State happens is kinder than my theory that employment by the state is a genetic disorder. I mean, some families have it, some don't. The unions are lobbying hard to keep wages low. By fighting to hang on to the state-run Public Employees Insurance Agency, the unions cut the amount of money available to pay the 100,000 state employees.
Low wages reduce morale to the point where people join a union.
The federal government doesn't run its own employee health care plan. Instead, the feds let employees pick out what private plan they want and picks up a hunk of the cost. That saves money. I don't know whether to admire or admonish the state government for being more inefficient than the federal government. Putting the Pentagon to shame is a feat.