State workers fret over minimum wage threat
| Monday, Jul 12 2010 07:02 PM
Last Updated Monday, Jul 12 2010 07:02 PM
Cereal or milk?
It's a decision Catherine Razo might soon have to make, not based on preference but a grim possibility.
For Razo, a control cashier for the Department of Motor Vehicles in Bakersfield, the threat of the federal minimum wage being imposed on thousands of California state employees is frighteningly real.
And it's a topic of discussion every day at work.
"We're trying to keep the sunny side up," she said, "knowing that at any moment the world could fall backward."
Whether or not that moment will come remains to be seen. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently ordered State Controller John Chiang to cut the pay of state workers to $7.25 per hour until the state legislature approves a budget, but Chiang has refused to comply. They have sued each other.
Average pay for state workers would drop from about $1,200 a week to $300 per week, The Sacramento Bee reported over the weekend.
State employees would receive back pay once a budget is passed, but that doesn't make the situation any less troubling to Razo and other locals in the California payroll system.
There are about 9,000 state workers in Kern County, according to the state personnel department. But at least a little more than 900 would be exempt from the minimum wage order because they are in bargaining units that recently struck deals with the state to keep their paychecks coming despite the lack of a budget.
It would be unprecedented in California for the vast majority of state workers to see their pay cut to minimum wage, The Bee said.
"I think it's a real shame that state workers have to deal with this," said Ray Finnell, Bakersfield chapter president of the California State University Employees Union. "The budget is not their making. It's the legislators and the governor who make the budget. State workers suffer for their shortcomings."
Finnell said many of them would cope with the minimum wage order by searching for additional employment or cutting personal expenses, but those options would seem like luxuries.
"Other people are living at the bare minimum as it is," he said. "They don't have any cushion room."
Representatives of Service Employees International Union Local 1000 also feared the consequences of the governor's mandate. Homes will be foreclosed on, they said. Cars will be repossessed.
In addition, they said, the order would affect local businesses because state employees would be far less likely to contribute to the economy. A Bee analysis showed at least $170 million in state worker wages would leave California's economy every week during the governor's edict.
"People are scared," said Manuel Rodriguez, president of a local SEIU chapter. "They're angry. A lot of people are just confused."
Rodriguez, an office technician at Wasco State Prison since 2001 and a state employee for 17 years, said Local 1000 leaders are lobbying for the state Senate's approval of Assembly Bill 1699. The bill, already approved by the state Assembly, would guarantee full paychecks for California state workers during budget stalemates.
Union leaders met last week with staff of state Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, to discuss the budget impasse and AB 1699.
"They were very sympathetic," Local 1000 political organizer Marcia Guzman said. "However, they weren't giving us a solid response."
Guzman said union representatives will meet today with staffers for Republican state Assemblywoman Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, who wouldn't confirm Friday whether or not she supported the minimum wage mandate.
"It is obvious that this is only a temporary solution," Fuller said in an e-mail. "It's time for the majority party to come to the table, in good faith, and negotiate a responsible budgetary solution."
Until then, the daily drawbacks of Schwarzenegger's order will continue swirling in Razo's head.
Three years ago, Razo moved in with her retired 82-year-old mother, who suffers from glaucoma, to save money. The lifelong Bakersfield resident lives paycheck to paycheck, unable to afford daytime care for her ailing mother.
Furlough days were bad enough, Razo said. Minimum wage would be devastating, not that she'd be surprised if it takes effect in the coming weeks.
"I'm hoping and praying that (legislators) realize what impact we have on the state as consumers and voters and taxpayers," Razo said. "At this point, though, I've been with the state long enough to see that it could go either way."
