Gov to Order Cuts to State Worker Salaries

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to announce deep cuts to state workers' salaries by Executive Order next week.

Sources indicate that 200,000 state workers may see their hourly wages reduced to the federal minimum of $6.55 per hour. Jim Zamora, a spokesman for SEIU Local 1000, which represents 95,000 state workers commented, "Because they can't sit down and pass a balanced budget, state workers must live in fear of having their wages slashed as much as 90 percent. We are not chess pieces, we are real people."

The governor also will order a freeze on state hiring and the immediate layoff of nearly 22,000 temporary, seasonal and student workers. The governor's position is that there is not enough cash in the state coffers to pay them, a fact strongly refuted by State Controller John Chiang.

Holding state employee salaries' hostage is the governor's latest tactic to put pressure on legislators, both Republican and Democrat, to quickly agree to a plan for fixing the budget.

Meanwhile purchases of yachts and private jets are not subject to the taxes that could be one of many such sources of money for the state. The governor counts owners of such luxury items amongst his rich friends.





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