Absent a state budget, state employees would have salaries cut to level of beginning dishwasher
Date: 1/25/2010
It has become the "Touch me, and I'll sue" threat of legislators and the administration: No budget! Down to the minimum wage you go!
According to a Jan. 21 article on The State Worker blog of the Sacramento Bee, "...government and labor officials around the Capitol are murmuring the phrase, since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will probably order state employee wages cut to the federal minimum if lawmakers drag out budget talks."
"We guessed correctly that this issue would resurface in a short time," said CSLEA President Alan Barcelona, "which is why we never lost focus and continued our efforts on appeal in the Gilb v. Chiang lawsuit, while closely monitoring the dozens of furlough lawsuits to assess where CSLEA could appropriately seek relief for our members." The Gilb v. Chiang suit is currently in the 3rd District Court of Appeal. Also, CSLEA will ensure that any remedy ultimately afforded by the courts as a result of the implementation of furloughs will be afforded similarly situated Unit 7 members.
When budget negotiations dragged into a new fiscal year in 2008, the governor order state pay cut to the federal minimum wage, which was then $6.55 an hour. Today it's $7.25 an hour. A legal battle between the Schwarzenegger Administration and State Controller John Chiang prevented the cuts from happening, but the courts have ruled the state can't fully pay its workers until the Legislature has appropriated money in the budget.
"The unions want a vote on Assembly Bill 1125," reported The State Worker, "which would make the state's $13 billion payroll a 'continuous appropriation' instead of a budget item that requires a vote every year. Democrats, usually labor-friendly, control the Legislature but have largely ignored the bill. It probably wouldn't pass, since it needs a two-thirds vote, but the unions want a head count anyway."
In a letter to Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Senate President Darrell Steinberg jointly signed by 14 state employee unions, including CSLEA, it stated: "We believe ... that if our members go to work, they should be paid in full and on time. If you do not act now ... some 230,000 state employees will be unable to meet their basic financial obligations and California's struggling economy will be further damaged."
The full blog story can be ready at the link below, which also contains a copy of the letter.
For more information:
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