By Henni Espinosa, ABS-CBN North America Bureau
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San Francisco – About 200 workers rallied in front of the State Building in San Francisco this afternoon, calling on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to stop abusing them and their paychecks because of the recession.
California faces a deficit of $19 billion, even after two years of deep cuts.
Nancy David has worked for California as an apprenticeship consultant for 18 years. She said that every time the state budget is in crisis, the state workers’ salaries are the first to get cut. “We always feel we’re being played as pawns,” she said.
These state workers face a 75% cut in their salaries, because Schwarzenegger wants to cut down their hourly salaries to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
They want California lawmakers to pass an appropriations bill that would protect their salaries even when there’s a budget crisis.
Sally Diamante, who has worked for the state for 20 years as a cashier, had a mild stroke and has to pay for an aide to help her out at home.
She said because of the salary cut, she could not only lose her aide, she could even lose her home.
Diamante said, “All of us are suffering from stress, from nightmares right now. Everyday we think, how are we going to pay our bills?”
Others have resorted to looking for second jobs.
“It’s taken a toll on me. I’m very tired. I work 60-80 hours a week. I have no time for my studies anymore,” said Julian Venci, an Employment Development Department (EDD) employee who is also a part-time student.
These California workers say they worked for the government thinking they would also be rewarded for their services.
Fatima David, another EDD employee said, “We always work with the public in trying to meet their needs because people are desperate for help. Now we’re the ones needing help.”
State Controller John Chiang has filed a lawsuit to stop the salary cuts. But if Governor Schwarzenegger is successful in his plan, the state workers’ salaries could get cut in the next couple of weeks.
For now, the state workers say they are not walking out of their jobs because they honor their commitments to people. They expect Schwarzenegger to do the same.
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To Alex of TN:
Your comments about Communism and Socialism don’t make sense. A Republican Governor is trying to reduce the salaries of all government workers to minimum wage, minimum benefits. This essentially puts everyone on the same playing field….. too poor to support a family. This circumvents free market principles for sure and doesn’t differ much from Castro’s Cuba. So….. who is the real Commy? You can say that unions are responsible but unions afforded this country a 40 hour work week, laws against “sweat shops”, a decent wage and benefits. What is wrong with a union workers salary when compared to one day’s pay for the “average” CEO? A little wealth redistribution just might be in order because there isn’t any way that CEO does more work or better quality work than the cook. He just gets paid an astronomical salary that he’s not worth. Corporate America has created a class warfare not the union.
I feel terribly sorry for our kababayans in California. But 19 Billion is bigger than most countries GDP. California has a leak. Not just a small one but a huge one. Welfare programs As well as growing Government and attatched to this are Unions. California cannot print money unlike the Federal Government. But the more the Government prints money the more it devaluates our currency. 47% doesn’t pay income taxes in this country. Government employees are making more than the private sector. The haves and have nots are now being pitted to one another. Wealth Redistribution is Obama’s agenda. Communist and Socialist are now emboldened. Unions are now picketing. Can you see GREECE from your window?