Yvonne Walker
The Bee’s editorial “Dems must bend on state payroll” (Feb. 2) is promoting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s misguided plan to slash state employee compensation by 15 percent – which would harm thousands of local families and eliminate $683 million in economic activity in the Sacramento region. This is an attack against state employees using a misleading mix of myths, misconceptions and mathematical errors to justify its position.
Let’s start with the misconception about what the editorial board calls the “dysfunctional” collective bargaining process. The fact is that collective bargaining does work during tough times, as well as good times, as long as both sides enter into good-faith negotiations in an effort to reach agreement.
Last year, when the recession pushed the state into crisis, SEIU Local 1000 stepped up and negotiated a contract with the governor’s representatives, which included a 5 percent pay cut, and would have saved the state more than $350 million annually and $1 billion if applied to all state workers. Then Schwarzenegger broke his word and refused to sign the agreement he negotiated.
Now we are stuck with the governor’s furlough mess, court challenges all over California and a state in shambles.
In addition to the huge contract cost savings we agreed to, we offered recommendations for another $1 billion in annual savings. These include collecting unpaid corporate and income taxes, ending overpriced vendor contracts and implementing legally mandated prison reforms.
The Bee also missed the math in Schwarzenegger’s proposed salary reduction – it’s 15 percent. The first 10 percent is a direct pay cut (which drops to 5 percent if President Barack Obama magically provides a $6.9 billion bailout) with 5 percent more of our paychecks moving from salary to retirement contributions.
On employee compensation, look at real numbers – not myths. Our median salaries are down to $43,000 annually. And the median pension of our members is $2,300 a month.
The Bee’s positions are puzzling and inconsistent. The editorial opposes staff cuts at agencies such as the DMV that receive no state general fund money. Why then, support pay cuts at these very same agencies? Neither cost-cutting method at these non-general fund departments would trim a dime from the general fund deficit.
If anything, the editorial highlights the need for all concerned parties to work together on difficult, but realistic, solutions instead of relying on overblown rhetoric and half-baked ideas.