Posted on 10/13/2009 7:53:23 AM PDT by SmithL
Several DMV offices closed, but state government escaped largely unscathed Monday from a Columbus Day contract dispute that had union leaders threatening to shut down operations.
Government officials said the day was largely uneventful.
"Of our 168 field offices, 164 opened and stayed open," said DMV spokesman Mike Marando. While some offices in San Francisco scaled back services, he said, "This was largely a non-event."
Service Employees International Union Local 1000 offered a different assessment, saying eight Department of Motor Vehicles offices in Southern California and the Bay Area were closed.
They said an additional 45 statewide opened late because of staffing shortages created by the union's call for employees to take Columbus Day off.
"It's a victory," Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker said.
It's not surprising that the two sides would have different versions of what happened on Columbus Day. They've publicly traded jabs for weeks over whether it's still a state holiday.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature in February took Columbus Day and Lincoln's Birthday off the state's list of 14 paid days off that employees get each year. Dropping the two holidays saves the state more than $26 million annually in premium pay, the administration says.
The SEIU and the governor also negotiated a new contract that dropped the holidays in exchange for two personal days off. But Republican lawmakers twice blocked the new contract, and Schwarzenegger backed away from it, citing the state's financial crisis.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
If Arnold wasn’t such a girly-man lightweight liberal, he should fire each State worker that fails to show up. Too bad he’s such a girly-man, and such a stain on the Republican party.
I didn’t get any mail yesterday but I had to go to my private industry job.
Happy Holidays, no, wait... Happy Columbus Day (post).
Answer: About half.
LOL
Or to put it another way: What's orange and sleeps 3?
A CalTrans truck.
It’s not like they’re doing any work even if they ARE there.
S.E.I.U. thuggery!
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