California State Employees—Prisoners of the Budget Deadlock
By Susan Pomeroy | September 12, 2008
A friend of mine is a California State employee. She’s pretty upset about the inability of the State legislature to come to an agreement about the State budget, because she has an inside view of the disastrous effects that the debacle is having on the lives of employees and ultimately the public. Interestingly, she reported that employees have been instructed not to talk to the press with the threat that they will be fired if they do. Therefore, in the halls of State funded offices, disgruntled workers can only talk among themselves about their frustrations while their futures are held in the hands of a group of politicians who don’t have to worry whether their paychecks will arrive on time to pay their bills. In fact, they even have a three-day weekend since they took today off.
So, my friend is wondering, how can a small group of politicians hold thousands of State employees hostage, while bickering amongst themselves over the conditions of a budget? She calls it hostage, because employees are shut down from talking to anyone about the now miserable working conditions. Miserable because thousands of part-time workers have been laid off and actually shut out of the computer systems — those part-time employees who are crucial to the internal workings of the various State programs. Instead, the work of those part-time employees is being “dumped” onto already overworked and underpaid employees. Apparently, the morale is the worst it has ever been.
My friend says that the public has no idea what State employees are now going through. She said that the average State employee’s pay scale is already extremely low as compared to Federal or County positions. So it’s a real insult when the governor states that employees will receive Federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour in September if the budget is not settled. Supervisors will receive $455 per week, and doctors and lawyers will receive nothing. As you can guess, the governor is not a popular person these days within the halls of State agencies. And those legislators are going to do everything they can to protect their own paychecks!
My friend is wondering if there is some loophole in the law so that a class-action suit could be filed against the State of California and its legislators, by not only State employees, but also consumers whose very lives are being negatively impacted by the ineptitude of the legislature. She says that what is being delivered to State employees is tantamount to posttraumatic stress, since their financial futures are in the hands of these legislators. Most of the employees she has talked to are so worried that they are not sleeping well, are experiencing somatic complaints, are crying, and are very concerned about the future. Some of these employees have a spouse or child who is disabled and they rely on the one paycheck to live. Some employees themselves are disabled. Others are so burned out by the experience that they are looking for other jobs. The lack of a budget also impacts the ability of many workers to help the consumers obtain the services they need. And for dedicated employees who care about helping others, this is an added stress.
My friend said she is going to continue to write to me and let me know what it’s like being in the invisible prison of State employment, where the legislators are the guards and the governor is the warden. I feel compelled to let people on the outside know what she and other State employees are going through, and will continue posting further installments on this story as long as the impasse lasts.
Topics: politics |
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