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Clerical workers at several terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach went on strike after their contract expired early Thursday. There was no extension when the labor contract elapsed at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, said Stephen Berry, lead negotiator for the Harbor Employers Association. Berry said the shippers rejected the latest proposal which called for a wage increase of 21% over three years. Berry said the shippers countered with a proposal that includes a 10% increase in monthly pension payments and protection from layoffs. The shippers want to use new computer programs allowing customers access to booking information....

An ocean of purple washed over the west side of the state Capitol today as thousands of SEIU Local 1000 members wearing the union's signature t-shirts rallied for a new contract and held signs that pushed a new message, "I am California." Guadalupe Gonzalez carried a sign that read, "Hey Arnold, I can't feed my dog on minimum wage! Why do you want to kill my puppy?" Gonzalez said she makes less than $30,000 per year working in a Los Angeles-area office of the Department of Food and Agriculture. She's worried that just one or two months of her pay...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he was wrong to say during the campaign that he could change the state worker contract that Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine negotiated. Corzine reopened the workers' contracts in late 2008 after state revenues plunged and New Jersey's budget deficit ballooned. Under the renegotiated deal, the unions put off a 3.5 percent pay raise for 18 months and took furlough days in exchange for a no-layoff-pledge through December 2010. Christie now said his lawyers have told him that laying off state workers would accelerate the raise payment schedule under the current contract. The Republican said...

Are Union members to blame for for California's budget crisis or is the Union leadership?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will direct his administration to send 5,000 layoff notices to state workers Friday, according to a source familiar with the governor's budget plan. The Republican governor plans to eliminate 5,000 workers by the end of June, ..

SACRAMENTO — Thousands of protesting employees from the state's largest union, working without a contract since June and pay increases since 2003, threatened Monday to strike if they do not get a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars from deficit-plagued California. "I'm ready to strike" was the mantra of the day at a Capitol rally, both from union officials and members. A strike would affect government services of all kinds across the state. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's aides declined to comment on the 87,000-member union's strike-authorizing vote, scheduled for Monday. But administration officials said they are ready to begin negotiating...

About 6 million, or 4% of American workers, largely in government jobs, don't pay the taxes or get the pension - and most prefer it so. In some plans for revamping Social Security, there's a call to make the system mandatory.You're forgiven if you thought it already was.Roughly 4 percent of American workers - as many as six million - are outside the system. And most of them have no desire to get in.The vast majority are state and local employees, including members of police and fire departments in Philadelphia and throughout the country.Most state and municipal workers in most...

Sacramento -- Thinking about heading to the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew your registration? Or going to a Franchise Tax Board office for help on a tax return? Don't go on Thursday. The doors to state offices will be locked for the holiday honoring Cesar Chavez. It's one of 13 official holidays that 200,000 state employees enjoy, along with a floating paid personal day that can be taken at their pleasure. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed eliminating two state holidays, eventually saving the state $17.6 million annually. "We're looking to achieve savings large and small," said H.D. Palmer,...

California auditors uncovered state employees submitting false expense reports, sleeping on the job, getting paid for unperformed work and living rent-free on state property, according to a report released Tuesday. In the state's latest semi-annual report on whistle-blower complaints, the Bureau of State Audits pinpointed at least eight cases of employee or agency misconduct between July and December of last year, costing the state $250,000 or more. The bureau has seen a sharp increase in complaints since 2002, when a law took effect requiring state agencies to notify employees about California's whistle-blower hotline. "It's very helpful because there have been...

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) - A Michigan couple and two employees of the Secretary of State's office were accused Friday of selling forged driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and wanted criminals, officials said. According to police reports, Rogelio Gonzales took payments and steered undercover officers posing as illegal immigrants to the Secretary of State office in Pontiac. At the office, Gonzales' wife acted as an interpreter while two employees issued fraudulent driver's licenses, said Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca. Secretary of State employees Andrea Cortez, 23, and Melinda Garrison, 37, were charged with conspiracy to sell forged driver's licenses and selling...