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Show State employees wage increase ATT: J. Wayland Mattsson As a Utah State Public Employee, and as a representative for our Association, I was horrified to read your letter to the Public Forum in the February 14 issue of the Vernal Express. Ex-press. Knowing your view on raises for state employees is a product of bad information, please let me set your mind at ease. Utah State employees did not receive any merit raises in the 1979 fiscal year, but we did ha ve a nominal cost of living increase at the beginning of that year, a whopping 5.25 percent. For me, and I am one of these rich clerk-typists who will make $40,000 in 8 years (absurd), that 5.25 percent amounted to a check increase of $10. Yes, 1979 was a very hard year for us, considering the jump in the cost of living. We realized everything in Utah was tight, so we cinched our belts and hoped for a fair shake in 1980. During our wait, several salary surveys were done to check how Utah State compared with the private industry sector in that regard. Consistently, Con-sistently, and in all parts of the job spectrum, Utah State employees were below private industry wage standards. Although this fact had little to do with our 11 percent cost of living increase, it should shed some light on a Utah State employee's financial situation. Personally, Per-sonally, I could not continue working for the State had we not received this promised increase. I don't believe state employees should solely be expected to bear the brunt of Utah's inflationary problems. ' KATHYLYN M. BECK Deputy Court Clerk & UPEA Representative Vernal, Utah |