Posted on 01/10/2009 1:15:33 PM PST by BenLurkin
Some were furious. Others were sad, even tearful. Many more accepted the news with graceful resignation, trying to hide their worries.
At the end of a week that brought nothing but more grim economic news, that's how dozens of state workers greeted the state personnel department's announcement that thousands of California public servants will be furloughed two Fridays a month and lose 10 percent in pay, starting Feb. 6.
None found the prospect of two three-day weekends a month appealing in the current economy.
"Sweet Jesus, help me God," sighed Jolene Deaton, a vital records staffer at the Department of Public Health who lives in West Sacramento.
Deaton fought back tears outside her downtown office building as she clutched a state memo announcing the furloughs in one hand and a sacbee.com news report about the plan in the other.
"I'm a single parent. I'm barely making it as it is," Deaton said. "It's just devastating to me. It's awful."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furloughs aim to save the state more than $1 billion in an effort to cut a $40 billion budget deficit and avoid running out of cash. State employee unions argue that the Republican governor's plan is unconstitutional, and their lawyers have taken the governor and the state to court.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette agreed Friday to hear arguments in the case on Jan. 29.
Susan Mattson, 51, said she and her husband, Mike, who work for different offices of the Department of Employment Development's disability insurance branch, will suffer if furloughs proceed.
"We get hit twice," she complained during a walk around the state Capitol. "We didn't think it would happen."
Mattson was commiserating with two office colleagues, including Margo Hattin, 36, who was horrified by the news. Hattin just bought a home on her own.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Mr. Nguyen is correct, the state of California needs to do what it needs to do. I frankly find it hard to understand those people who are yelping about getting 90% of their pay instead of 0%.
Since when did the law matter in California? Please tell me... I MOVED OUT OF THERE THREE YEARS AGO and it was a lawless police state then.
whether you like it or not
Gavin Newsome?
But how will she afford the sombrero?
Or at least wherever FREEPERS live, their should be clean islands left in the sea of crap.
i have people in my family who work for the state of ca. they have to by law contribute to union labors or indicate otherwise by gaining an exemption the state of ca is following the law
are you saying you wouldn’t be affected by a ten percent pay cut?
Where are the father(s) of her children> Are they paying child support?
My mother was a school teacher in New Jersey during the depression. She took a 10% pay cut, but because travel was so cheap she went to Europe 3 summers in a row to visit relatives there. Every Sept. she came back and lived on oatmeal until her paychecks started again.
You are quite mistaken. I really don’t care if this State implodes. I’ve paid and paid and paid for years and gotten nothing in return; and those leaches in Sacramento want still more. Enough! Let it die.
They can’t cut benefits to illegals. Think about it, how many of those state jobs were created in the first place to provide services for the illegals? It’s a big scam. Many of the state workers are actually advocates for the rights of illegals. Maybe we should solve our problem by deporting those traitors too. If only. It would serve them right though. Those people don’t have a clue. They are surrounded by their own kind. That’s why they don’t understand.
The only solution is for them to quit their State jobs and apply for welfare in the State of California.
That would be fantastic. Eliminating those benefits would be the most useful domestic policy change government has made in the last couple decades.
Much of the country is not nearly so bad off. The ulyness is not uniformly spread across the country.
The intractable moonbats need to die before there can be economic resurrection.
Give Obama a couple months. Unemployment will rise about 10% am month as businesses go under and cut back. Tax revenue will decline and there is no way out of it.
This is the same thing that killed (or is well on its way to killing) Detroit.
i escaped fifteen years ago. They’ve had plenty of time to flee the carnage. Remaining in the premier insanely blue state is just plain stupid.
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