Posted on 07/23/2008 5:35:51 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is planning to cut the pay of about 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour until a budget is signed, according to a draft of the governor's order obtained by The Times.
Administration officials said Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the order early next week as part of an effort to avert a cash crisis. The controversial move, likely to be challenged in court by public-employee unions, would save the state about $1 billion a month, the officials said.
Workers would be repaid their lost earnings once a budget was in place.
The order also calls for the state to immediately lay off 19,000 part-time workers, stop overtime payments for almost all employees and cease all hiring until a budget is enacted. The deadline for passing a budget was July 1, and without one California may be unable to borrow billions of dollars needed to keep the state solvent.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
$6.55 is a bit high, dontcha think? Cut their benefits to zero too.
Oh man, that’s gonna smart.
Will he be working for the same rate?
Well, the Dems arent cutting anything....they want to raid the Transportation Lockbox while increasing the gas tax, income tax, whiteman tax, you name it. no cuts.
I betcha betcha that he won't cut teachers’ pay. Betcha!
When a state's budget is out of whack, one the first places to start looking is their government schools.
Isn’t Schwarzenegger a state employee himself?
I give it until tomorrow morning until our girlie gov drops this hot potato.
The guy sets himself up to fail. Who is advising him, the Jimmy Carter Institute for International Disaster?
Are they state employees in California?
Will he be working for the same rate?
He doesn’t need no stinking state money. He gives his salary back to the state.
this state would be better off with less government employees,
and their new cars and trucks.
have you ever noticed the fleets of vehicles that various governments—city, county, state and feds—have?
new cars and trucks.
meanwhile, at a red light i was looking at the 10 yr old verizon truck and
an equally old plumbing truck ahead of me; the people that pay the taxes drive older vehicles.
The Gub doesn’t collect his salary. I think he takes 1 dollar a year,, which is about all he is worth.
Too bad they just can’t put the legislators on commission. For example, they get to personally keep a share of 1/10 of 1% of every dollar they cut from the budget.
They are in my state.
I am a CA state employee (and former gubernatorial appointee of this governor). The money this will allegedly save will not equal the costs to reprogram the State Controller's Office payroll programs.
I have lots of friends that joke that I should get a paycut. You could eliminate every single state employee and the number it takes out of the budget is miniscule in the scheme of the budget. I am a police officer and my latest case saved the taxpayers $2 million. But hey, I'm not earning my keep right?
Why is no one asking him why the budget is $130 BILLION now, as opposed to $69 Billion when Gray Davis took office?
Teachers are employed by the school districts....
LA Unified will have 132,000 empty seats this fall, yet there are no layoffs. They are putting some admins back into classrooms and not renewing non certified special ed teachers in order make some types of numbers.
I hear ya. That is a good question. The answer is that the legislature couldn’t hide from the question any more than Schwarzenegger could. Couldn’t have that.
It is a PR ploy, no doubt about it.
BTW, don’t say that you saved the state $2 million too loud. You’re the kind of guy they want to get rid of.
Arnold is ALL talk but his accent is so affectatious, I can never understand what he is saying.
Norm: I owe you an apology. All those years ago I fought you about Arnie...I was sure, absolutely sure, he was the best thing for California. I can’t believe I wore that stupid “GOVERNATOR” T-shirt.
I ended up leaving California and all the bad things you guys talked about came to pass. What a huge disappointment, and liability,this guy has been...Do you think there’s anything that can bring California back to it’s splendor of yesteryear?,
Yeah. That’ll work.
More and more he is starting to resemble Gov. Gray Davis, whom he replaced.
What has changed overall in CA since the shakeup that brought the Governator to office? The budget is out of control, the state is bordering on financial collapse, spending and taxes are somewhere circling the Andromeda Galaxy and all the Governator can do is threaten to slash state worker’s salaries!!?? Yeah, let’s punish the people who are just trying to earn a living, NOT the elected representatives in the state (nut)house who CONTROL spending and taxes!!!
Yeah he is and he gives his salary back to the state general fund
Set the salaries and benefits to match the California National Guard and you’d have the people behind you in about ten seconds, Arnold.
Hey Arnie—CUT the workforce and stop playin’ stupid transparent games.
You gonna cut back the salaries of your favored few makin’ over 250K? I thought not.
It is actually worse off because the state cant refinance its debt again.
Oh well....housing prices keep falling and the beat goes on.
Overpaid gubment workers.
Apology accepted. :-)
any way to restore the splendor of yesteryear? nope, it’s gone. tho if ya get way off the beaten path in the hills, you can almost recapture a piece of it.
too many damn old hippies and Northeasterners here now...
and a leviathan of a gubamint.
Sometimes the evidence simply becomes so overwhelming that even the politically challenged get it.
I’d just fire 90% of them. Just as I’d dissolve 90% of the Federal government.
With your silly comment about teacher pay cuts, you might also make note that teacher are not hourly wager earners, they're salaried. It's hourly folk who are the victim of Arnie's brilliance. READ.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
$12 billion a year - from a pay cut. Just wow. You folks on the left coast love your government.
Yeah, the unions will love that. Liberal vs. liberal - get the popcorn!
I think they really are going bankrupt this week.
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