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Wednesday, Nov. 06, 2002 - 7:47 p.m. Let�s see if I have this right: Most of the country elected incumbents, but the U.S. Senate switch from the party out of power to the party in power for the first time in decades. Republicans won seats where they usually don�t. Democrats will be occupying more governors� mansions than they did before the mid-term elections. My �North Dakota� was part of these trends. We elected a Democratic Gov. for the first time in, like, forever. Our union told us to vote for him, as they do every Democrat that runs for any office (like I make my decisions based on that), so he must have satisfied them that he won�t try to privatize our jobs. This act (privatizing) comes up every so often, usually by politicians who think it will score with the taxpayers, making them think it will save money. The only problem with that is�.it doesn�t work. In some southern states, bureaucrats have tried that route. They laid off all of their maintainers, took bids on contracts to have private firms patch holes and mow the r.o.w., and then sat back, waiting for the savings to roll in. They didn�t Finding contractors who had the equipment wasn�t usually a problem. Finding contractors who would bid low enough was. In some cases, the work wasn�t done correctly, or response time to make emergency road repairs was slow. And remember, I said the experiments in privatization happened in SOUTHERN states. I have been told many times that the reason why the state hasn�t replaced us (more than any other reason) is snow removal. To get that job done properly, you have to have full-time employees who are willing to hop out of bed at 3 am to rush to work and remove the snow. The machinery and manpower involved in the job make it nearly impossible to do without civil servants. So I am not too concerned about the security of my position. I am just a few weeks away from starting my 21st winter. Unless they shut us completely down, I will still have a job (I don�t think a first-term Governor wants to anger the Teamsters Union by shutting us down- do you?) But our 4 brand-spankin�- new full time employees? I don�t know the answer to that question. Everybody has to go through 6 months of probation after they are hired. The state can fire you for a just cause any time in that time. The union doesn�t take dues from your check, and don�t represent you if you are fired during those 6 months, either. So if our new Gov. decides he wants to dump anybody on probation (so he has jobs to give everybody he promised for helping him get elected), there is nothing to stop him. Well, maybe common decency. From what I know about this person�s background, I don�t think he will have much of that�� I need to catch up on everybody�s diaries (too much time editing my photos the past few days), so I am out of here. Tomorrow? Maybe I can post a more upbeat entry��.
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