Budget Battle Update
The struggle for the final California state budget continues into the second week of August. The awareness of the impacts are now very real for 10,000 or more part time workers in the state civil service who are without jobs and paycheck.
The budget stalemate continues with more drama and no end in sight. The Executive Order by the Governor to lay off over 10,000 part-time employees and to cut the pay of state workers to $6.55 per hour was a shameful act. Making the state workforce pawns for the budget fight does little to address the real problem: the legislature is working on the budget behind closed doors rather than voting on it in public.
To add insult to injury, the Executive Order was issued while Local 1000 was in full contract bargaining, and they have filed a suit. Last Friday, the whole CSEA Board of directors attended a rally to protest the Executive Order and its impact on Local 1000 members. CSEA walked the picket line for the rally and listened to stories of the order’s impact from members. This was the first time in 25 years that the CSEA Board has attended a rally together, reflecting the renewed unity within the parent organization.
The rally ended with Local 1000 leadership trying to deliver to the Governor a copy of the lawsuit and his pink slip. The Governor’s staff would not accept the pink slip or the suit. You can see reports on the activities at Channel 1000.
On Monday, August 4, the CSUEU Legislative committee made several legislator office visits to get some feedback on the budget. The message we heard was clear: no real end is in sight, and Republican legislators are not offering any real solutions in the budget fight besides cuts. It is clear that we need to continue our efforts to push for a budget solution that funds the CSU. If you have not done so already, send a message to the Big five on funding for the CSU at the Alliance for the CSU website.
Also on August 4, there was a Senate information hearing in the Capitol dealing with the Governor’s Executive Order. The hearing, which lasted many hours, included compelling stories by workers detailing the impact of the order on their lives. State Controller John Chiang spoke about the impact and about the finances of the state. He told legislators that he could not implement the minimum wage order, as it would take six months to program California’s antiquated payroll system, which has not been upgraded in over three decades. In the strange-but-true-trivia category, he told legislators that California has the second-worst credit rating of any of the 50 states. Don’t you want to just say out loud: Thank God for Louisiana! Read a Sacramento Bee story with more details.
On the afternoon of Wednesday, August 6, the Governor held a short press conference advocating a one-cent sales tax increase—certainly a new position for him. He explained that he had changed his mind on taxes because we need to end the budget problem this year. He also said that we need a solution that includes revenue and that we must avoid borrowing, as that only creates more problems. This is the first significant shift by the Governor to recognize a true possible solution to the budget problem. A sales tax increase will not be greeted warmly by either party, but it is the first real revenue solution offered that does not create a bigger budget problem in subsequent years.
If you have followed the state budget as I have over the past 20 years, you will know the cycle and will know that bad budgets ripple out for two to three years. This time the national economy has pulled the state economy farther backward; there must be some real revenue solutions to end the dive in the state budget. If the final state budget does not include a revenue solution, next year’s State budget will be worse, and the CSU will face greater cuts than are proposed this year. The CSUEU and the Alliance for the CSU continue to press hard for adequate funding for the CSU and for a resolution to the state budget impasse.
In Union,
Pat Gantt