By Alan Burke
Michael Bonbon was employed by the state Department of Social Services for roughly 20 years. He drove children under the care of DSS, and he drove them everywhere. Then, last month, in the midst of the state's mounting budget crisis, Bonbon was laid off.
More such layoffs might be on the way, as Gov. Deval Patrick has challenged public employee unions to accept concessions, giving back hard-won benefits and pay — or see up to 2,000 jobs eliminated in an effort to close a $600 million budget deficit.
A Haitian by birth, Bonbon, 55, is both a U.S. citizen and a steward in the Service Employee International Union. He was urging his local to make concessions last spring, he said, instead of fighting for pay increases in a new contract.
"I told everybody I don't need a new contract because of the way the economy is," he said yesterday. "Let's leave it as it is. ... All I want is for everybody to keep their jobs. ... But the union didn't want that."
Today, Bonbon is looking for work and offering bitter criticism of both his union and the governor he campaigned for. "The president of the union is a buddy of Deval. And the truth is they didn't support little workers like me."
SEIU Local 509 in Watertown represents state workers on the North Shore. Director of Operations Cliff Cohn disputes Bonbon's assertion that the union has abandoned the "little worker."
"It's absolutely not true," he said. "The president of the union (Michael Grunko) is 100 percent committed to defending our workers." He added that the union remains willing to discuss the governor's proposals, although, "We have sacrificed a lot of already. We're not sure there's more to go."
State workers have voluntarily taken furloughs, he said, and they've forgone some pay increases and taken on larger workloads. "And they're getting less in return." He blamed the situation on a reluctance to raise taxes. "The state cut taxes 20 times in the '90s."
Cohn did not argue when told legislators are unlikely to embrace more taxes.
Rep. John Keenan, D-Salem, feigned a hearing impairment when asked if taxes are on the table.
"A lot of my time right now is spent trying to help people find jobs," Keenan said.
He suggested that the unions keep that in mind.
Meanwhile, he noted, the legislative leadership has charged its members to come up with ways to cut costs.
Rep. Ted Speliotis, D-Danvers, is likewise cool to the notion that taxes ought to rise.
He urged everyone in government to show a willingness to make cuts.
As to the governor's ultimatum, he warned, "It's not an idle threat. It's going to happen before we do anything else."
Patrick also hinted he needs the authority to make midyear cuts in state aid to cities and towns.
Rep. Joyce Spiliotis, D-Peabody, is doubtful about extending him that power.
Moreover, she laments the governor's statement was vague and delivered without any consultation with rank-and-file legislators.
"I don't know what he's talking about."
At the same time, Spiliotis sees few signs that a bad situation is likely to get better soon. "More and more people are losing their jobs. ... The (federal) stimulus package is not working." She urges administrators in state government to sacrifice more than the nine unpaid furlough days they've already been asked to serve.
Rep. Brad Hill, R-Ipswich, expects that Patrick will get the authority to make more local aid cuts. "But without my vote."
He believes the pain should come on the state level. "We're in a position where we're going to have to do some cutting. And the cuts are going to have to be deep."
Hill sees the current budget quagmire as the result of ongoing mistakes — in spending and taxing. Republicans had warned against hiking the sales tax, he said.
It was increased, but a corresponding increase in revenues did not occur.
Finally, Hill points to Red Sox Nation as a symptom of just how critical the commonwealth's problems are. The devoted fans who show up at Rangers home games, he said, "aren't people originally from Texas." They're largely Massachusetts expatriates, mostly young people, driven out in their thousands by grim job prospects and high taxes.
