Angry and Anxious Area State Workers Rush to Cash IOUs

Workers at the State Office Building in Van Nuys were fretting and fuming Friday--about the IOUs they got this week instead of paychecks, a hurtful pay cut and the uncertainty of what will happen next as legislators continue to wrangle over the state budget.

When the IOUs arrived Thursday afternoon, the first “registered warrants” for most state employees, many workers said they immediately scurried to their banks, afraid that if they waited even one day, the pieces of paper would be worthless.

The state started issuing the IOUs a month ago as an alternative to not paying employees at all after the 1991-92 budget expired and the Legislature and Gov. Pete Wilson were unable to reach agreement on a 1992-93 budget.

“I’ve been here 15 years and I have only deposited my paycheck three times on the day I got it,” said work permit technician Candy Jennings, whose office was wallpapered with autographed photos of the child actors she certifies. “Yesterday, as soon as I got it, I closed my door and I was gone.”

From typists to judges, auditors to clerks, most of those interviewed said their banks had informed them that their hurry was prudent. As of Tuesday, the IOUs would no longer be accepted by the banks, who will not be reimbursed by the state until a new budget is signed in Sacramento. Conversations among employees during morning breaks and over lunch Friday turned quickly to what they would do if the budget impasse is not solved by their next payday, at the end of August. Many said they have little savings to tide them over and that they usually have a pile of bills waiting for the monthly check.

“I’m not too worried, because I’m . . . more of a wait-and-see kind of a person,” said JoAnn Newman, a supervisor with the State Board of Equalization. “But I do have to pay my mortgage.”

Others were less optimistic. They said morale is at an all-time low among state workers, who feel like pawns in a tortuous political game.

“It’s a power trip with both of them . . . with Willie Brown and Pete Wilson,” said Auditor Ray Croxen, also with the State Board of Equalization. “It’s just a power struggle.”

This month’s checks were smaller for many of the workers because of a deal negotiated by unions to give back one day’s wages and pay more toward medical and dental premiums. Although some of that money is to be returned in January, 1994, many said that would not help with the bills due now.

Toni Moorhead, a legal typist with the Employment Development Department, said her check was $150 lower than usual this month, which “really hurt.”

“They say we’ll get either the days or the money back in 18 months, but that’s a year and a half from now,” she said. “Besides, I’ve been around here long enough that I know when they take something away, we’ll never see it again.”

Moorhead voiced a question frequently posed at the state building Friday: “Why don’t the legislators take cuts?”

However, she acknowledged that she is more fortunate than friends and colleagues from other departments. Because the EDD is partly funded by the federal government and other sources outside the state’s General Fund, Moorhead received a normal paycheck, not an IOU.

Beyond their financial concerns, state workers said that the lack of a budget makes their lives miserable in other ways, some of which are likely to persist if budget cuts are as severe as rumored.

Supplies are short, they said, and staffs are leaner than ever before. Stanley Feinstein, a workers’ compensation judge, said that his department’s shrinking allocation of stamps means that court orders and other legal documents cannot be mailed out.

“We have to ask people to come in and pick up their documents, which makes them mad and is inefficient,” Feinstein said. “Each day there is no budget, it gets worse.”