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State employees gather in San Bernardino to protest cuts
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/10/2009 04:48:03 PM PDT
Saying the state needs to cut elsewhere or find more revenue before cutting state workers' pay, about 80 state employees gathered Wednesday outside the state office building in downtown San Bernardino to protest impending budget cuts.
Protestors, all represented by the Service Employees International Union's Local 1000, said California lawmakers need to preserve state services despite the state's estimated $24.3 billion budget deficit.
"The public needs to realize budget cuts are detrimental to public safety and public health," said union representative Pablo Murillo.
The common thread for workers at the rally was pay cuts. Most state employees, including all of those at the rally, are already taking two unpaid days off each month.
That amounts to a 9.2 percent pay cut, union spokesman Jim Zamora said. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed another 5 percent pay cut.
"We don't minding helping out," said union steward and Caltrans employee Delores Bonner. "But it's 10 percent here, then 5 percent here. When does it stop?"
Aside from being universally against smaller paychecks, though, workers at the rally, including Caltrans, Employment Development Department and Department of Mental Health employees, did not have a united message.
Some, including union steward Laverne Archie, a Caltrans digital print operator, said getting rid of outside contractors is her chief concern.
"They shouldn't be contracting
out our jobs and displacing a state employee," she said. "Cut consultants (and other contractors) and you'll save a lot of money."
SEIU spokesman Jim Zamora said the state has about $34 billion in outside contracts and that, while the union doesn't want the state to cancel all of them, it would like the contracts to be on the bargaining table.
Others protestors, like Caltrans right-of-way agent Fernando Gandera, said Caltrans employees have been treated unfairly because not all state workers have been forced to take furloughs.
"Why isn't everybody on the same ship?" he asked. "I have no problem biting the bullet, but it aggravates us to no end that it's selective."
Others said the state needs to bring in more cash by closing corporate tax loopholes.
Regardless of the proposed solution to the state's budget woes, workers were clearly frustrated, not only with the looming budget cuts but also with what some see as a sentiment that cutting their pay should be part of the budget-balancing equation.
"We've seen people drive by and ... give us thumbs down," said Denise Barrios, a Caltrans labor compliance analyst. "It's like, if you don't support us, stay off our freeways."
That frustration will continue to be released at monthly protest rallies in San Bernardino, Los Angeles and other cities, said Gandera, a union steward.
"If we just sit there and do nothing, the legislature and the governor are going to think it's OK," he said.
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/10/2009 04:48:03 PM PDT
Saying the state needs to cut elsewhere or find more revenue before cutting state workers' pay, about 80 state employees gathered Wednesday outside the state office building in downtown San Bernardino to protest impending budget cuts.
Protestors, all represented by the Service Employees International Union's Local 1000, said California lawmakers need to preserve state services despite the state's estimated $24.3 billion budget deficit.
"The public needs to realize budget cuts are detrimental to public safety and public health," said union representative Pablo Murillo.
The common thread for workers at the rally was pay cuts. Most state employees, including all of those at the rally, are already taking two unpaid days off each month.
That amounts to a 9.2 percent pay cut, union spokesman Jim Zamora said. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed another 5 percent pay cut.
"We don't minding helping out," said union steward and Caltrans employee Delores Bonner. "But it's 10 percent here, then 5 percent here. When does it stop?"
Aside from being universally against smaller paychecks, though, workers at the rally, including Caltrans, Employment Development Department and Department of Mental Health employees, did not have a united message.
Some, including union steward Laverne Archie, a Caltrans digital print operator, said getting rid of outside contractors is her chief concern.
"They shouldn't be contracting
out our jobs and displacing a state employee," she said. "Cut consultants (and other contractors) and you'll save a lot of money."
SEIU spokesman Jim Zamora said the state has about $34 billion in outside contracts and that, while the union doesn't want the state to cancel all of them, it would like the contracts to be on the bargaining table.
Others protestors, like Caltrans right-of-way agent Fernando Gandera, said Caltrans employees have been treated unfairly because not all state workers have been forced to take furloughs.
"Why isn't everybody on the same ship?" he asked. "I have no problem biting the bullet, but it aggravates us to no end that it's selective."
Others said the state needs to bring in more cash by closing corporate tax loopholes.
Regardless of the proposed solution to the state's budget woes, workers were clearly frustrated, not only with the looming budget cuts but also with what some see as a sentiment that cutting their pay should be part of the budget-balancing equation.
"We've seen people drive by and ... give us thumbs down," said Denise Barrios, a Caltrans labor compliance analyst. "It's like, if you don't support us, stay off our freeways."
That frustration will continue to be released at monthly protest rallies in San Bernardino, Los Angeles and other cities, said Gandera, a union steward.
"If we just sit there and do nothing, the legislature and the governor are going to think it's OK," he said.