MAY 8, 2007
Pay Raise Urgent Action
Call your Representative and Senator today.

___ As of May 6, no funding has been approved for an across-the-board state employee pay raise. Both the House and the Senate put proposals for very small across-the-board raises into the unfunded "wish list" sections of their funding bill drafts. Other proposals include merit raise funds to be controlled by agency administrations, increases in longevity pay, and various "targeted" raises for particular agencies. Nearly all of these proposals are also in the unfunded sections of the budget bills.
___ Both the House and the Senate have passed separate two-year state funding bills. A conference committee of senators and representatives is meeting to combine these into a single budget plan.
___ It is urgent that state employees contact all members of the Texas Legislature, especially members of the appropriations conference committee, and urge them to approve and fund an across-the-board pay raise for state employees.

WHAT TO DO NOW:
Call or email your senator and representative ASAP. <DETAILS>

Don’t leave out university workers!
Repeal provisions that eliminate across the board pay raises - Appropriate funds for a university employees’ pay raise

_____ In 2005, for the first time in memory, university employees were left out of a statewide pay raise. While the university systems claim that university employees have received similar raises via merit raise and “pay for performance” schemes, the reality is that most university employees’ pay has been frozen or has increased only by tiny amounts since 2003. In 2005, the Legislature did not appropriate any funds for university pay increases.
_____ The university systems have tried in the past to get legislators to give them pay raise money in a lump sum so they could distribute it, but TSEU has defeated the attempts in the past. In 2003 the legislature passed SB 1652, which includes language that makes across-the-board pay raises almost impossible for university employees.