[cryptonector]

Private sector employees carry the risk of being fired or laid off. I don't see why public sector employees should not. They should have some protections from political firings, but that's it.

Salary levels have nothing to do with it. Perhaps they might have to be higher if public sector employees had to have this risk, or perhaps there would be fewer people willing to work in the public sector (a win, that).

And again, if you hard to work w/o pay, you should get back-pay. This is only about furloughed employees.

[munk-a]

This comment and the one above have bits that are clearly just snipes at public employees and the federal government.

> They practically cannot get fired.

> or perhaps there would be fewer people willing to work in the public sector (a win, that).

If you disagree with the size of our federal government on a political level that's no excuse to disrespect the people who work in it. Everybody is working for a pay check the virtues of the federal government have nothing to do with whether some people deserve to get what they negotiated for when they accepted a position.

[cryptonector]

Where is the disrespect?

[bastawhiz]

Getting back pay isn't sufficient (and not guaranteed). If you have a job, you should get paid. Full stop. Being a government job shouldn't mean you can't pay your bills. Back pay doesn't stop you from becoming homeless.

[richardwhiuk]

Public sector employees take the risk of being fired by an administration who decides that unit isn't a priority.

Salary levels do determine risk - if you want someone to do a riskier job, you generally have to pay more - obviously there are a large number of other factors.

[dragonwriter]

> Public sector employees take the risk of being fired by an administration who decides that unit isn't a priority.

They mostly don't, both because the Administration has limited legal and even more limited practical political ability to do that, and because civil service rules further mitigate that risk with noncompetitive reinstatement eligibility.

They do take the risk that the political branches together decide a function is unnecessary, mitigated somewhat by civil service reinstatement rules.

[cryptonector]

> Public sector employees take the risk of being fired by an administration who decides that unit isn't a priority.

Never happens.

[astrodust]

They can be fired and laid off just like everyone else.

The difference is they work for the oldest, singularly largest organization in the country and should, as part of that, expect some job stability.

The pay is usually marginal compared to private sector. The advantage you usually get is the government won't go bankrupt or get bought up and downsized.