Posted on 08/01/2009 3:20:34 PM PDT by SmithL
California's largest state employee union has voted to allow job actions including a strike, officials said Saturday.
A spokesman for Service Employees International Union Local 1000 said no strike is imminent. Union leaders will meet in the coming week to decide what steps to take, spokesman Jim Zamora said
The union announced that 74 percent of its membership approved the strike authorization in votes counted Saturday.
President Yvonne Walker said the overwhelming support shows employees are outraged at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to unilaterally furlough state workers three days each month.
The three furlough days effectively reduce pay by about 14 percent for most of the state's more than 200,000 workers. The furloughs also shut down most of state government three Fridays each month.
SEIU had negotiated a contract with the administration in February that would have limited its 95,000 members to a single monthly furlough day. Republican legislators blocked the contract's ratification, and Schwarzenegger said he had no choice but to add furlough days to help the state close a $26 billion budget deficit.
The three monthly furloughs will continue through June 2010 under the budget revision Schwarzenegger signed into law Tuesday.
"This is about our contract," SEIU President Yvonne Walker said in a statement announcing the vote. "Whether it is through litigation, negotiations or any other actions that are necessary, we're in this for the long haul to right this wrong to our members. We negotiated in good faith, we have offered cost-saving solutions, and we need our contract to be ratified."
She said the contract negotiated with the administration would have saved the state $340 million, and she blamed the Republican governor for the plan's failure in the Legislature.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Good, this expose show corrupt the California State Government is, go ahead with the strike, but expect punishment at the voting booth from legal citizens that don’t collect a welfare check and pay taxes.
Good, this expose shows how corrupt the California State Government is, go ahead with the strike, but expect punishment at the voting booth from legal citizens that don’t collect a welfare check and pay taxes.
Go for it Socialist EIU. The sooner they provoke a showdown with the public the better.
Correct me if I'm wrong but don't these guys make huge salaries and overtime?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Is this a chance to break the union?
If so, let em strike!!!!!
Oh, for Pete’s Sake. What’s the difference if they’re at home not working versus being at WORK and not working? ;)
(Rhetorical!!)
I have two friends that work for The State. They’ll be taking EIGHT unpaid days this upcoming year. Both of them look at it in the light that, ‘Hey! We’ll still have our jobs for a little longer!’ They’re both civilians who work for the Wisconsin Army National Guard...most of which are currently deployed to Iraq & Afghaniztan & Kosovo, but that’s Bush’s Fault! *SMIRK*
Wisconsin is $64 BILLION in the hole...Welcome to ‘The Socialist Workers Paradise,’ Comrades, LOL!
SEIU is connected to ACORN I have heard. Does anybody know whether this is true?
Yes, they are joined at the hip. Even share headquarters.
Like Siamese twins.
I first encountered ACORN / SEIU collaboration about 15 years ago. They were trying to shut down an urban airport to build "low income housing" for of course...more ACORN and SEIU members.
They were surprised by our energy in resisting them. Tactics they would use with their allies in city government: pack the council chambers early with their people and then try to shut the doors and prevent anyone but themselves from being heard; we literally pounded on the doors and forced them open.
The one thing I noted about them is that by and large their "troops" are not real bright (kinda explains why a lot of them aren't too well off, huh?). They are easily outmaneuvered, but they are prone to violence and you have to be willing to protect yourself against them. They are, in fact, ordinary thug Bolsheviks, trying to bully their way to a free meal, since that's pretty much the only way they know how to get one.
This State is in a mess! If you want to see the USA in 10 years, just look at California. We need new leadership now! We must find someone who can lead Conservatives and convince the majority of the voters that we can govern better.......YES,WE CAN!
HUMMM, I wonder if Arnold has the cajones of Reagan. Fire them!
California needs to privatize its prison system and drastically reduce its costs.
Go Ahead. Make my Day!!!
Based on the quality services offered, will anyone notice? Or could this be just the cost cutting measure to save the state?
I think they should strike right away, and then go out and get those high paying jobs with generous benefits in the private sector. A strike should be considered a resignation, and any essential jobs filled with new applicants from the non government ranks.
SEIU is agroup of uneducated thugs who started as a JANITOR’S UNION.
One thing about politicians has finally dawned on me. Most of them see no political downside to voting for obscenely expensive programs that are bound to self-destruct financially because by the time we finally go bankrupt and the programs run out of money they will be out of office, or dead. These politicians live for the moment promising wonderful programs with great benefits and pensions but they could care less about the future.
We’ve seen this in the auto industry where auto companies gave into union demands contract after contract because the officers of the companies wanted union peace and no strikes to interrupt company profits- but they didn’t care a bit about what giving into these excessive demands meant for the ultimate future and viability of their companies-now it has all come to a head but the shortsighted company executives (and union leaders) who are really responsible for bankrupting their companies have all long since retired to Florida on their fat pensions.
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