Many State Employees Still Face 5% Pay Cut

Gov. Pete Wilson on Thursday set the stage for another year of stormy relations with the state’s public employee unions by writing a proposed state budget that continues to call for a 5% pay cut, as well as a cap on health and dental benefits for rank-and-file workers.

“It’s sad news. It’s appalling. It looks like nothing has changed,” said Perry Kenny, head of the 78,000-member Civil Service division of the California State Employees Assn.

The CSEA was one of the unions that battled Wilson through most of last year over the governor’s proposal to reduce the pay of state employees by 5%, require them to take at least one day off a month (equivalent to another 5% cut), and have them pay for increases in health and dental plans.

Last year, union members picketed state agencies, participated in work slowdowns, organized a recall drive, strongly criticized Wilson in radio commercials and successfully beat the governor’s efforts to cut their pay in court.

The process is likely to be repeated this year.

Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), who backed state workers last year, again vowed to fight the proposed pay cut in the Legislature. “I think we’ve administered too many kicks in the groin to state employees. Enough already,” Roberti told reporters.

Even if they can fight off the proposed pay cut, the new budget virtually assures no pay raise, and the continuing standoff with Wilson means union members will continue to work without collective bargaining agreements.

The state workers’ last pay raise was a 5% increase they received a year ago.

A spinoff in the fight over pay is the issue of increasing numbers of job vacancies in state agencies, as Administration officials continue to impose a strict hiring freeze to make up for the money the governor hopes to save through the pay cuts and cap on benefits.

Thousands of jobs have been left unfilled through attrition or outright firings, and state employees have been shuffled from one state agency to another to fill positions. The Wilson Administration foresees a similar scenario this year, if public employee unions are successful in fighting off the proposed 5% pay cut.

State employees believe that roughly 10,000 job vacancies have been created as a result of the hiring freeze. Workers complain that they have been forced to reduce public services and take on significantly increased workloads because of the large number of vacancies stemming from the budget crunch.

Roberti told reporters, “It’s a morale buster when people have to do extra work because their colleagues have been fired and laid off--and then they’ve got to do the extra work for less money.”

Even at that, rank-and-file workers are better off than supervisors and managers. Their pay was reduced 5% last summer, and their health and dental benefits were capped by administrative actions initiated by Wilson.

Wilson had held out the possibility of restoring the cut to managers and supervisors this year--but only if there is a balanced budget and the state finishes the fiscal year with money in reserve.

On Wednesday, leaders of the California State Employees Assn. announced that more than 94% of its members who voted have authorized the union leadership to call a strike if necessary. Kenny said he still hopes state workers will be able to settle their differences with the Administration and will not consider a strike “until we have exhausted our other options.”