Like much of the private sector, state employees have been facing serious financial problems in recent months and years. Those financial problems are even more serious because public employees are some of the lowest-paid workers around.
Lobby Day this year will drive home that point to our state lawmakers, as OPEA presents
“Soup Line ’09.” It will be held Tuesday, March 10th at the State Capitol in Oklahoma City.
“Every state worker needs to make plans to be at Lobby Day this year,” said Sterling Zearley, OPEA Executive Director. “We are reaching crisis proportions in public service, with some of our state workers receiving food stamps. That’s why we believe the ‘soup line’ theme will really help us make our point that state employees can’t go on much longer.”
“Lobby Day: Soup Line ‘09” will begin at 9 am with registration in the second floor rotunda. OPEA members and state workers can visit with their legislators until 11 am, and the Soup Line Rally will be held on the Capitol’s south steps at 11:30. Following the rally, OPEA will provide free soup and crackers to everyone in attendance.
“We keep hearing about how much less money our legislators have to work with this year,” Zearley said. “Now they know exactly what state employees face each month…trying to stretch that dollar a bit farther. But we have gone as far as we can, and now is the time to get us out of the soup line.”
