State Workers Demoralized by Pay-Cut Threat : Budget: Governor calls for minimum 5% reduction. People who took government jobs for security are considering strikes.

Job security has been replaced by job uncertainty for demoralized state workers struggling to fend off demands by Gov. Pete Wilson that they accept pay cuts, layoffs and big increases in the cost of health insurance.

With state workers in large numbers trying to transfer out of targeted agencies to safer havens, the traditional advantages of government work have been turned inside out.

“You really can’t plan anything,” said Parks and Recreation Department office worker Priscilla Davis, mirroring the concerns of other state employees. “You don’t know what your future is like.”

Along with other state workers, she is being asked by Gov. Pete Wilson to take a pay cut of at least 5%, maybe 15%, perhaps even more. The governor also wants to make state workers pay for increases in health and dental insurance.

The Administration’s aim is to trim $800 million in payroll costs to keep the $55.7-billion state budget in balance.

Until recently, Wilson also was demanding an unprecedented two unpaid days off a month and a freeze in merit pay.

But voluntary reductions in the state payroll--triggered by a record number of retirements and a hiring freeze that left 16,000 jobs vacant--reportedly have caused the Wilson Administration to soften its stance.

The California State Employees’ Union, which represents 130,000 active and retired state workers, said the Administration no longer wants both a 5% pay cut and two mandatory days off a month, which would amount to another 10% reduction in take-home pay. But the union said the governor still wants the 5% pay cut.

If Wilson succeeds, it will mark the first time that state workers in California will be taking a collective pay cut. Already, Wilson has reduced his own pay and the pay of top state managers by 5%.

None of that sits well with Davis and other state employees, most of whom said in interviews that a major reason they joined the state was its reputation for job security, fair pay and decent benefits.

The job freeze has greatly increased the workload for employees who have chosen to remain with the state. In some institutions, such as prisons and mental hospitals, representatives of prison guards, psychiatric technicians, doctors and others are reporting an increase in mental and physical stress.

There is talk of strikes, and already there have been sick-ins, slowdowns and picketing, although a wholesale walkout of state workers is considered unlikely.

Like Davis, who is employed in one of the largest state agencies headquartered near the Capitol, many state workers already are feeling an impact on their lives.

Davis said she and her husband, who also works for the state, have had to reconsider plans to send their daughter, now attending a local community college, to Howard University.

“It’s just not fair,” Davis said during a recent smoke break outside the office building where she works. “For us, (the proposed pay and benefit reductions) will be like losing $400 a month. Where are you going to get it from?”

Several blocks away, another state worker--a single mother with two young children--detailed her expenses for a reporter and asked much the same question. The legal secretary, who asked not to be identified, said her job allows her to bring home $1,800 a month. One of her biggest expenses is child care, nearly $700 a month. After paying rent, child care and other fixed costs, she has $300 to $400 a month for food, dry cleaning and other expenses.

A 5% pay cut would reduce her monthly pay by more than $100. The increased cost for health insurance would put another $50 dent in her monthly budget.

“What would I do?” she asked.

The immediate problem facing the state bureaucracy and its remaining employees concerns the 16,000 unfilled positions.

Statewide, there is a general shortage of doctors, dentists, psychiatrists and other professionals who staff state hospitals and prisons.

“There are severe staffing problems at state hospitals,” said Joan Bryant of the Union of American Physicians and Dentists. “Even before all this, the state was not able to recruit or retain doctors.”

Bryant told legislators at a hearing last week that the state, in its recruitment efforts, was not telling new doctors and other professionals about efforts to reduce pay and benefits. Since the word went out, she said, 300 of the 1,200 state doctors in her union have indicated they will either retire or quit.

At the same hearing, Jeff Thompson, a lobbyist for the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., said more than 2,000 prison guard jobs have been left open because of various hiring freezes and budget actions in recent years. He said a yard at one state prison camp where there are 10 vacant positions recently was overrun by inmates and several guards were “beaten to a pulp.”

Further demoralizing state workers is a feeling that they are not appreciated by the public. To overcome that, state employee groups have mounted a public relations effort designed to remind Californians that they do valuable work.

One of the most polished campaigns was put together by the California Assn. of Professional Scientists, which has been running a series of full-page newspaper ads and catchy radio commercials. The theme of the ad campaign is that state workers are “everyday heroes” who provide a variety of important services, like policing toxic waste disposal and enforcing structural safety standards that keep buildings safe, and deserve better treatment from Wilson. “Some thanks,” the ads say.

Wilson, in a public relations campaign of his own, points out that someone has to pay if the state is to be kept reasonably whole. About $7 billion in temporary and permanent tax increases have already been enacted to partially close a projected $14.3-billion budget deficit that plagued Wilson and the Legislature earlier this summer.

Questioned about the pay cuts and benefit reductions, Bill Livingstone, the governor’s press secretary, said: “We are asking the public to contribute to the solution in the form of higher taxes. State workers should not be exempt.”

As to suggestions from state employee groups that the state has not exhausted its revenue-raising possibilities, Livingstone said: “If they are trying to argue that taxpayers should reach deeper into their pockets, that is an argument that doesn’t get much sympathy. We aren’t getting any letters coming in saying, ‘Gee, why don’t you raise my taxes so you can give state employees higher benefits?’ ”

Wilson himself has become the focal point of state worker anger. He is lampooned in crude cartoons and angry flyers, like the one advertising an opening for a “Bag Person I.” In another widely circulated cartoon, Wilson is seen asking himself: “How will I ever make national office if these state workers won’t roll over and play dead?”

The dispute has presented a major challenge to state employee unions, which just 10 years ago were given collective bargaining rights and the right to strike.

There has been only one strike in recent state history. About 500 state water project workers walked off the job for four days in 1972. But union leaders have been rattling their sabers in recent weeks.

Leaders of the California State Employees’ Assn. Civil Service division are preparing for a strike vote in September. The California Assn. of Psychiatric Technicians has asked its 7,800 psychiatric workers for strike authorization. With the count nearly complete, 99% favor a strike authorization, according to one union official.

The California Highway Patrol already has contingency plans ready if officers walk off the job. Plans are also being readied to use National Guard personnel to replace psychiatric technicians in facilities where dangerous mental patients are confined.

Still, Wilson Administration officials express hope that they will be able to reach agreement with the unions. “The bargaining is not over. We’re still optimistic,” said David J. Tirapelle, director of the state Department of Personnel Administration.