Schwarzenegger to Cut Most California State Workers’ Pay to Minimum Wage?
July 24th, 2008It’s not the Onion.
Via: San Francisco Chronicle:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans next week to slash the pay of more than 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum of $6.55 per hour to help ease the state’s budget crisis, according to a draft executive order obtained by The Chronicle on Wednesday.
The governor also will order an end to overtime pay for all but critical services, a freeze on state hiring and the immediate layoff of nearly 22,000 temporary, seasonal and student workers.
“As a result of the late state budget, there is a real and substantial risk that the state will have insufficient cash to pay for state expenditures,” the executive order states.
Schwarzenegger’s staff would neither confirm nor deny that the governor plans to issue the executive order, but sources said he could take action as early as Monday. The state, facing a projected $17.2 billion budget deficit for the fiscal year that began July 1, has not approved a budget.
“The governor is looking at a number of different options to ensure that the state does not run out of cash,” said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor.
But administration officials, who asked to remain anonymous, said that about 200,000 of the state’s 245,000 workers, both hourly and salaried, will see their pay trimmed back to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour, saving the state up to $1.2 billion a month. Dropping the temporary and short-time workers will save an additional $28.5 million each month.
While the layoffs could be made immediately, the pay cuts might not be completed until mid- or late August.
The proposed pay cut for hourly employees would take their wages well below the state minimum wage of $8 an hour. But a 2003 California Supreme Court decision allows the state to chop workers’ pay to the federal minimum when a state budget has not been enacted.
Research Credit: ltcolonelnemo
So is this the beginning of the end (or the end of the beginning) for the People’s Republic of Kalifornia?
How many state employees are going to hang around for $6.55/hour? Especially managers, professors, engineers and white-collar salaried types? Hah. Highly trained blue-collar technicians, plumbers, electricians and foremen aren’t going to stand for it either. Anyone who expects decent pay for their skills and labor would be a fool to stick around in that situation.
What’s going to happen to the already shoddy state services when anybody who expects to make more than minimum wage leaves?
Is this just an executive threat to convince a recalcitrant legislature to Do Something, or is this part of Schwarzenegger’s Final Plan to collapse what’s left of the CA state government?
Dear California,
Enjoy the full fruition of your vaunted “Tax Revolt” of thirty years ago!
Signed,
Loveandlight
A Nutty Librul Heathen
My father was showing me a Tom Tancredo article warning about Mexico as a ‘failed state’, with police officials seeking sanction in the U.S. Clearly Schwarzenegger is blustering, and this won’t work, especially when he won’t cut 6-figure prison guard salaries etc. The federal gov’t once shut down under Bush I in a similar standoff designed to divert attention away from big capital expenditures for military programs, in order to imply the gov’t largely consists of useless bureaucrats at the HUD or USDA and whatnot. By the way, my friend, with a 4-year degree and social work training was making $8 at this facility, doing difficult work with depressed and schizophrenic clients— distributing city work to nonprofits via contracts is a trick which prevents labor organizing among the staff. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003986851_suicide01m.html
Isn’t the Terminator also a “state worker?” Yes well is, but his “package” probably elevates him above the rest of the supposed morons he can’t bullwhip into a shape he can abide by.
I suppose his tadpole will be flying to dry in the wind on the flagpole of the state capitol if he even thinks he could get this one by.
I don’t think Ahhrnold will be ” back.”
Schwarzenneger, the honker, is probably more despiZed in California, than Bush is in the world.
So much for putting any idealogical group in charge of ANYTHING.
If YOU DON”T HAVE BRAINS – OR COMMON SENSE- it doesn’t matter whether you are Republican or Democrat. Being a Guvenator of the second or third largest ecomony in the world requires adding 2 puhluss 2.
Ahnold needs to go back to school for remedial education.
Kiss Kiss Ahnold. You Pinhead.
If that is true it will never work. You will only get low skilled labour and morons working for that wage.