Pay Cut for State Workers

In response to “State Workers Demoralized by Pay-Cut Threat,” Part A, Aug. 25:

Bill Livingstone, Gov. Pete Wilson’s press secretary, states: “We are asking the public to contribute to the solution (of the state’s budget crisis) in the form of higher taxes. State workers should not be exempt.” The governor asserts that someone has to pay to keep the state functioning.

It is difficult to argue with their reasoning. All of us should do what we can to resolve this crisis, we should do what we can to keep government services from failing because of lack of funding. This means, of course, higher taxes for everyone. But fair is fair. As citizens of California all of us take advantage of its services sooner or later. In this instance, however, the governor and his press secretary aren’t playing fair. They are asking some people--state employees--to pay twice to solve the state’s financial woes.

State employees, after all, are also taxpayers. Like everyone else, state employees are also paying higher sales taxes at the supermarket and higher vehicle registration and driver’s license fees. This isn’t enough for the governor and his press secretary.

Why? Because, the governor claims, he still needs to trim $800 million in payroll costs. But this is simply not true. And arithmetic shows us why. There are currently 16,000 vacancies in state service; another 6,000 employees are scheduled to retire sometime this year--a total of 22,000 fewer state employees by year’s end. For every 25 employees, moreover, the state figures to save $1 million. If we divide 22,000 by 25 and multiply this figure (880) by $1 million, what do we get? $880 million! The governor gets the $800 million he needs--with $80 million to spare. Why then is he asking for further cuts to state employee salaries and health benefits?

DANA GORBEA-LEON, Labor Relations Representative, California State Employees Assn., Los Angeles