Gov. Schwarzenegger adds another furlough day

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1993230.html

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today said he will reinstitute "furlough Fridays" for state workers and ordered a third furlough day each month through June 2010 next year.

At a morning press conference, the governor also repeated his refusal to sign any piecemeal budget bills to avoid IOUS and said he will not sign bills on any other subject until he and the Legislature reach agreement on an overall budget solution.

"Though the legislature failed to solve our budget problem yesterday, rest assured that solving the entire deficit remains my first and only priority, and I will not rest until we get it done. I will not be a part of pushing this crisis down the road - the road stops here," Schwarzenegger said.

Beginning July 10, the state Department of Personnel Administration will direct almost all state offices to be closed the first, second and third Friday of every month through June 2010.

The administration said state hospitals, prisons and other 24-hour care facilities will maintain normal hours of operation, along with the California Highway Patrol and CAL FIRE fire stations.

I think this is not the right way to go. I work for one of the state agencies that is not affected by this (currently held up in court since constitutional entity), but they should not be using state employees as bargining chips and should focus on balancing the budget by getting rid of programs.

----
Moved to P&N
AnandTech Moderator Evadman

 

[TridenT]

It's not like they would actually do anything on those Fridays anyway...

 

[TechBoyJK]

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1993230.html

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today said he will reinstitute "furlough Fridays" for state workers and ordered a third furlough day each month through June 2010 next year.

At a morning press conference, the governor also repeated his refusal to sign any piecemeal budget bills to avoid IOUS and said he will not sign bills on any other subject until he and the Legislature reach agreement on an overall budget solution.

"Though the legislature failed to solve our budget problem yesterday, rest assured that solving the entire deficit remains my first and only priority, and I will not rest until we get it done. I will not be a part of pushing this crisis down the road - the road stops here," Schwarzenegger said.

Beginning July 10, the state Department of Personnel Administration will direct almost all state offices to be closed the first, second and third Friday of every month through June 2010.

The administration said state hospitals, prisons and other 24-hour care facilities will maintain normal hours of operation, along with the California Highway Patrol and CAL FIRE fire stations.

Thoughts?

They should legalize weed, and let every body involved with minor weed crimes out of jail.

 

[mugs]

I think you should have posted this in P&N

 

[amdhunter]

Heh, furloughs aren't that bad. I am currently on my 1 week furlough as I post this, and, quite honestly, I am enjoying the time off.

Better than getting laid off IMO.

 

[her209]

STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Originally posted by: mugs
I think you should have posted this in P&N

"To keep P&N a discussion forum and reduce the amount of inflamatory troll posts, please post more than simple links or complete quotes of articles that can be found by anyone. If you believe something is important enough to post, you must have some opinion of your own about the content of the article or link."

 

[Joemonkey]

how would furlough work if you are on a salary? would they take your yearly salary, divide it by 52 (weeks in a year), then divide that by 5 (days in a workweek) and deduct that amount from your paycheck for that pay period?

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: amdhunter
Heh, furloughs aren't that bad. I am currently on my 1 week furlough as I post this, and, quite honestly, I am enjoying the time off.

Better than getting laid off IMO.

yeh as long as you are not living paycheck to paycheck... which is why I think that is why most americans are suffering.

 

[olds]

Headline/reading fail for the OP

 

[JS80]

Good. Maybe state workers will think next time they vote for Congressmen who don't want to just spend spend spend.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: TechBoyJK

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1993230.html

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today said he will reinstitute "furlough Fridays" for state workers and ordered a third furlough day each month through June 2010 next year.

At a morning press conference, the governor also repeated his refusal to sign any piecemeal budget bills to avoid IOUS and said he will not sign bills on any other subject until he and the Legislature reach agreement on an overall budget solution.

"Though the legislature failed to solve our budget problem yesterday, rest assured that solving the entire deficit remains my first and only priority, and I will not rest until we get it done. I will not be a part of pushing this crisis down the road - the road stops here," Schwarzenegger said.

Beginning July 10, the state Department of Personnel Administration will direct almost all state offices to be closed the first, second and third Friday of every month through June 2010.

The administration said state hospitals, prisons and other 24-hour care facilities will maintain normal hours of operation, along with the California Highway Patrol and CAL FIRE fire stations.

Thoughts?

They should legalize weed, and let every body involved with minor weed crimes out of jail.

They should tax the hell out of it as well... just like everything else in CA.

 

[OCGuy]

Get those Democrats to fucking work fixing our budget. :thumbsup: to the Governator.

 

[Modelworks]

It isn't like they were going to be able to cash their paychecks if they paid them for those days.
No banks want anything written by the state of CA

CA checks bounce so high they need FAA clearance.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
I think this is not the right way to go. I work for one of the state agencies that is not affected by this (currently held up in court since constitutional entity), but they should not be using state employees as bargining chips and should focus on balancing the budget by getting rid of programs.

Honestly, if they cut the FAT out of most of the upper agencies, then it wouldn't be quite so difficult to balance the budget.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Joemonkey
how would furlough work if you are on a salary? would they take your monthly salary, divide it by 52 (weeks in a year), then divide that by 5 (days in a workweek) and deduct that amount from your paycheck for that pay period?

You're a little off on the math, but yeah - being forced to take 36 unpaid days off each year is essentially a ~14% paycut. The upsides are that you get extra days off, and when they end the furloughs you go back to making what you used to make, because your hourly rate didn't change. Compare that to my former employer, which cut everyone's pay by 5% shortly after I left. You work the same hours for less money, and when the economy improves you won't get back to your old salary until your annual review indicates that you deserve a "raise." Since they canceled raises last year and probably will again this year, my former co-workers are looking at a pretty significant setback in pay. Two years with no raises + a 5% paycut = 3 years total just to get back to where they were.

 

[Joemonkey]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Joemonkey
how would furlough work if you are on a salary? would they take your monthly salary, divide it by 52 (weeks in a year), then divide that by 5 (days in a workweek) and deduct that amount from your paycheck for that pay period?

You're a little off on the math, but yeah - being forced to take 36 unpaid days off each year is essentially a ~14% paycut. The upsides are that you get extra days off, and when they end the furloughs you go back to making what you used to make, because your hourly rate didn't change. Compare that to my former employer, which cut everyone's pay by 5% shortly after I left. You work the same hours for less money, and when the economy improves you won't get back to your old salary until your annual review indicates that you deserve a "raise." Since they canceled raises last year and probably will again this year, my former co-workers are looking at a pretty significant setback in pay. Two years with no raises + a 5% paycut = 3 years total just to get back to where they were.

heh, i was typing and doing the math at the same time and figured yearly would be better but didn't change it in my original typing, fixed now

and yeah, no yearly raise + increased inflation = pay cut every year, so it would still take longer than 3 years

if you make $100 a year, get a 5% pay cut + no raise for 2 years and inflation goes UP 3% (i know, high estimate) every year, (so 100 * .95 pay cut, * .97 *.97 *.97 for inflation) by the 3rd year you'd be actually making $86.70 a year based on what you originally started making if you take inflation into account

Then say inflation stays at 3%, and you get a 5% raise every year over the next 3 years you'll still only be up to making (86.70 * 1.05 * .97 * 1.05 * .97 * 1.05 * .97) $91.60 taking inflation into account. So, over the course of the next 6 years you'll be making 91% of what you were making originally

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

WHAT! The mods throwing in competition to my thread? Hell no!

[/UHC_CREATES_OR_REDUCES_COMPETITION]

 

[TechBoyJK]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: TechBoyJK

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1993230.html

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today said he will reinstitute "furlough Fridays" for state workers and ordered a third furlough day each month through June 2010 next year.

At a morning press conference, the governor also repeated his refusal to sign any piecemeal budget bills to avoid IOUS and said he will not sign bills on any other subject until he and the Legislature reach agreement on an overall budget solution.

"Though the legislature failed to solve our budget problem yesterday, rest assured that solving the entire deficit remains my first and only priority, and I will not rest until we get it done. I will not be a part of pushing this crisis down the road - the road stops here," Schwarzenegger said.

Beginning July 10, the state Department of Personnel Administration will direct almost all state offices to be closed the first, second and third Friday of every month through June 2010.

The administration said state hospitals, prisons and other 24-hour care facilities will maintain normal hours of operation, along with the California Highway Patrol and CAL FIRE fire stations.

Thoughts?

They should legalize weed, and let every body involved with minor weed crimes out of jail.

They should tax the hell out of it as well... just like everything else in CA.

Exactly. I think people would actually pay slightly higher prices for quality, legal weed. However, if it were legal, it would probably cost 95% less to manufacture, creating a massive profit margin for the government. MASSIVE. like, billions.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1993230.html
"..... they should not be using state employees as bargining chips and should focus on balancing the budget by getting rid of programs."

So, they should be making cuts to programs (thus pretty much cutting various offices/departments, and likely laying off scores of people) as opposed to essentially a pay cut for everybody?

There is no "good answer", lots and lots of states fvcked up and overspent (and lived paycheck to paycheck), A balanced budget is the only option, and I for one don't think they should "fix"it by raising the revenue. Taxes are already a huge burden, they needn't get any worse.

 

[sapiens74]

THey just did this in Hawaii and the unions are not happy about it


They mentioned we should dip into the hurricane fund.....

 

[olds]

Furloughs are starting to look illegal.
At least for one union:
http://www.sacbee.com/latest/story/2431148.html
An Alameda Superior Court judge has ordered the Scharzenegger administration to cease and desist its practice of furloughing thousands of state workers who are members of the Service Employees International Union, Local 1000, offering the powerful union a huge victory as it enters 2010.
In a ruling handed down late Thursday, Justice Frank Roesch said the governor's reliance on provisions of the state's Emergency Services Act to order mandatory furloughs was flawed and illegal, saying "the emergency necessitating them was the failure of the Legislature to pass the budgets" yet the administration continued the furloughs even after the budgets were passed.
Roesch also said that the furlough plan has "interfered with the objectives of agencies" whose activities were funded with special funds, not general fund revenues, including the processing of Social Security disability reviews.
The governor's controversial executive order used his emergency powers to impose twice-monthly furloughs on more than 200,000 state workers in February when the general fund was sloshing in $40 billion of red ink. He added a third "Furlough Friday" in July to cover a portion of what was then a $24 billion budget hole.
The administration had said the policy was expected to save $2.2 billion in payroll costs this fiscal year.

 

[AmerDoux]

Unfortunately McLear has already stated they will immediately appeal it and until it is heard in the Supreme Court we will continue to be on furlough.

 

[Patranus]

Furloughs are starting to look illegal.
At least for one union

LOL - So instead of being able to keep your job and being forced to take a day off now some members will be forced to lose their jobs. Good times.

The real solution is to start downsizing government and reasserting states rights in matters of federally mandated spending.

 

[Hacp]

LOL - So instead of being able to keep your job and being forced to take a day off now some members will be forced to lose their jobs. Good times.

The real solution is to start downsizing government and reasserting states rights in matters of federally mandated spending.

No one loses their jobs. They are union members. Once you hire them, they stick around forever.