On Friday, the Schwarzenegger administration won an appellate court ruling saying it has the authority to impose the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour on more than 200,000 state workers as California wrestles with its latest budget crisis.
Hmm. This is an interesting fight; the state vs. the unions. I have trouble believing that Schwarzenegger will actually go through with his "minimum wage" threat, but perhaps it will bring the unions back to the bargaining table. Perhaps. And then there's this:
A cut to a minimum wage would mean state workers would make the equivalent of $15,000 a year. The average state worker makes $65,000 annually, according to the state Department of Personnel Administration.
$65,000 is pretty good clams, even in California. I'd like to see government payrolls brought more in line with private sector payrolls, but I doubt that will happen any time soon. In the meantime, the California clown show plays on. And on and on and on.
My family lives in CA, and my father has always been a City Manager there (he's retired now). I'm actually quite horrified at this - it's awful.
ReplyDeleteIf CA doesn't need the people (and a lot of people work for the government in throw-away jobs), then those people should be laid off. But To cut salaries that much? Seems like the state is breaching their contract with workers.
The state has already cut hours and pay for a lot of people - like prison guards. Call me biased (my cousbian is a prison guard in CA), but that and emergency services are probably the last set of pays I'd recommend cutting. My cousbian is actually working days WITHOUT PAY now. She works with particularly violent offenders, and she does it for free part of the time. Makes me sick.
CA is in awful shape budget wise and something needs to be done. The social services budget would be a good place to start. Start cutting services - if people want their playground to be nice, the neighborhood should get together and clean/paint it themselves.
There are a lot of things that can be done, why CA doesn't want to do them is beyond me.
AFW, the chance of The Terminator actually slashing wages that much is slim to none. It's mostly bluster to get the unions back to the table.
ReplyDeleteIt's maddening that these politicians can't discern the difference between vital state workers such as prison guards, cops, and medical services from the thousands of throw-away jobs. It's idiotic.