(cross-posted from Calitics)
Yes, you read that headline correctly. Federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour, not California minimum of $8 hour. The SacBee has this gut shot of a story.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to sign an executive order next week that will reduce pay for more than 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour to preserve cash in the midst of a month-long budget standoff, according to a draft copy of the order obtained by The Bee.
Administration officials said the governor expects to take the action Monday.
How are these employees going to be able to pay for their groceries on $6.55 an hour, or fill up their car with gas, let alone pay their rent? The short answer is they aren't.
This is going to result in a lot of employees needing governmental assistance for basic needs, not that the state has the money to help with that anyways at this point. This is a crisis and this damn well better get some folks up in arms.
Here is the law that Arnold is using to justify this move.
He says that his action complies with a 2003 ruling by the California Supreme Court that made clear that without a state budget in place, federal labor laws require the state to pay most workers "either federal minimum wage or, for those employees that work overtime, their full salaries."
You have to assume there will be some lawsuits, most likely by the unions representing these workers. The pay cut is not the only thing Arnold is doing.
The order would require state agencies to stop authorizing overtime for most employees.
The governor also plans to issue a hard hiring freeze except for state jobs "directly related to the preservation and protection of human life and safety." He also will suspend work for all retired annuitants, permanent intermittent employees, seasonal employees, temporary help workers, student assistants and some contractors.
The one group I know for sure that will be fired immediately are the seasonal employees at the state parks. No longer will they be manning gates and working on preservation policies. There have to be a ton of other agencies effected as well.
This is obviously a breaking story. If anyone has anything to add to what the Bee has up, please leave it in the comments. We don't have a budget and this is a crisis. This is exactly what the Republicans want to see, the government failing and getting smaller. This is what happens when you have a two-thirds rule for both taxes and a budget. A small minority can cause a whole lot of pain to a huge number of people.
Just shameful.
dday chimes in over at his blog. He and Bob Brighams also have updates to my post on Calitics.
Really, that's disgusting. Balancing the budget on the backs of the working poor is intolerable. I recognize that Republicans have no intention of doing anything but cutting services to deal with this problem. But this goes even further - cutting salaries in the midst of a budget crisis, along with putrid economic indicators and rising prices everywhere. Because of the total failure of leadership, we get failed solutions, like raiding local government and transportation funds, to put a band-aid on a persistent structural deficit.
Update [2008-7-23 21:51:25 by juls]: Via email. Here is Speaker Karen Bass's statement on the governor's move.
"I don't believe the Governor would put public servants in the crossfire of this budget battle. But this action would speak to the need for all us -- including the Governor -- to negotiate a balanced, responsible budget that protects our schools and the safety net before we run out of cash."