Well, here in California, most of us are back on furlough Fridays as of today. State workers were docked two days' pay per month starting in February (after a couple of bureaucratic hiccups), but we were allowed to either take those unpaid days off, or bank them for later. In this way, we were able to keep the offices open five days a week.
As of this month, however, Arnold has imposed three furlough days per month, plus ordered that they be taken on Fridays, to save on building maintenance costs on those days. He'd like to take away another 5%, which might result in a fourth furlough day down the road.
My husband and I are two state workers out of the many, and we can't help but read the signs that say this is not only about the money, but about political blackmail.
1) There is no safety in numbers. Over 200,000 employees can have their salary cut 14% by one former action hero, just like that.
2) It doesn't seem to matter from which fund a salary originates. For instance, Employment Development Department state workers are actually paid from federal accounts, not from the state's General Fund. The state does not pay EDD salaries. So what's the deal with docking their pay 14%?
3) Worse for the EDD employees: so okay, the state gives EDD employees "furlough days" by docking their pay 14%, but then won't let the employees take those days off. EDD employees must work anyway, because applications for Unemployment Insurance are still going through the roof. (BB's working today, and he says the mood in the office is ugly.)
4) Arnold tries to justify deep cuts to the in-home health care program by claiming that state-paid home health care workers are responsible for defrauding the state by 25%. But he can't come up with a definitive place where such a high number comes from.
State workers completely understand that costs must be cut. But against all logic, Arnold is cutting costs with an axe instead of a scalpel. Maybe he's playing with the livelihood of public employees to try and blackmail the legislature into passing a budget he feels he can sign.
[Yo, Sacbee! You do not have my permission to reprint this blog post. Kthx.]
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