Jan 10 2009
Governor Says Closing California State Offices Will Help Budget Crunch
Beginning February 6th California state offices are set to close 2 days a month giving workers an unpaid furlough. This is an effort to help California cut the budget deficit which is expected to grow to $42 billion in the next 18 months. But before the ink was even dry on the memo (link) telling workers about the furloughs, lawsuits were filed by the state employees’ unions challenging The Governator’s authority to do this. They will get their day in court on January 29th so a judge can decide if it is legal for the Governor to cut the budget with furloughs.
I understand that government workers don’t want a pay cut any more than the rest of the people in California, but at least the memo didn’t say we are cutting jobs. Wouldn’t it be better to just cut back a little than close offices on a permanent basis because there just isn’t money to pay the bills? With all the job losses and businesses closing across the country it seems a little scary to keep spending even if there is a budget deficit. It’s kind of like when a person just keeps on using that credit card even though there’s not enough money to pay when the statement comes.
One thing that doesn’t seem quite fair about this is that legislative workers aren’t included, I guess because they don’t work directly for the state? I think it would also be a good idea to include elected officials since they have a big part in creating this budget mess. That should give the budget a boost.
Maybe we can all get together and think of ways to cut the budget deficit. How about we all take our cans and bottles to recycle and donate the money to the budget. That $5.42 for all those bags of empty cans could really make a difference. Okay, so if that’s such a dumb idea what do you think we should do?
California Budget Deficit
I think they should be lucky to still have a job rather than no pay check at all. Plus, I heard that the state is going to stop welfare payments – that is going to be chaos!
[...] this month Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered furloughs for state workers to help the budget crunch. Two state employee unions took the governor to court to challenge his [...]
I do not see legislators taking any State cut. Why is that?
Maybe all Californians should step up to the plate to help. I am State worker already taking a two day furlough and pay decrease every month. We have been doing this for 3 months. Now the Governor suggests we take another one day pay cut. I do not see the rest of the State stepping in to help. Just us underpaid State workers. In our office two of the girls have had to move home with their parents to make their ends meet. We as clerical staff do not make much pay to begin with. Cut it two or three days and we cannot pay our bills.
There are many ways to cut expenses without taking food out of the mouth of my child. Someone suggested everyone turning in recycled cans. Why is this silly? If others who are concerned with their home state step up and help we might find our way out of this mess. And the legislators who created this mess should be the first ones to take a pay decrease and get to work fixing what they should have fixed in the first place. Seems to me the weight of this problem has fallen on the little guys who had nothing to do with creating this problem. And the weight of this delima should not rest entirely on State workers.
Lorraine Taylor