California lawmakers join state workers in rejecting proposed salary freezes

Yahoo

15 hours ago

In California's behind-the-scenes budget process, it's hard to know what legislative leaders and Gov. Gavin Newsom will agree to — until the dust settles.
But with just over a week to finalize the budget, or go without pay, lawmakers are weighing the options about which of the governor's proposed cuts they're willing to stomach. One option to help patch the $12 billion deficit would be to delay salary increases for public employees in the upcoming fiscal year. By negotiating pauses in pay raises with bargaining units, the administration hopes to save $767 million.
While some lawmakers have opted to remain quiet on the question, legislators on both sides of the aisle have said they are not willing to balance the budget on the backs of state employees' salaries.
'I'm here in solidarity to support you and to help fight for you in the Capitol,' Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, told a crowd of hundreds of state employees gathered on the Capitol grounds on Thursday morning.
A coalition of labor groups, including Service Employees International Union Local 1000 and smaller unions representing doctors, scientists and other public workers, descended on the Capitol to urge lawmakers to reject the governor's budget-savings measure.
The stakes are high for public sector unions, many of which have spent the last few months pushing back against Newsom's March directive to bring public employees back to offices four days a week.
Now, labor groups are hoping that lawmakers will say no to the governor's proposals.
While the governor has offered to negotiate with the state's 21 bargaining units over the salary freezes, the budget proposal before the Legislature now would grant the administration authority to impose savings anyway, if lawmakers agree. California is required to follow labor contracts that cover its workforce, but only if the Legislature approves the spending for it.
'Take care of state workers, so they can take care of Californians,' Kristen Silliman, a Department of Developmental Services employee, said outside the Capitol Swing Space Thursday waiting in line to lobby lawmakers.
The issue of supporting public employees is close to home for Schiavo, whose constituents have been suffering the health consequences and misery of a perpetually burning landfill in Southern California. Those who live near the Chiquita Canyon landfill have come to depend on the guidance of state scientists monitoring the noxious fumes coming off the literal dumpster fire.
'I want to be here to stand with you, to fight with you, and to make sure that this budget changes before we see it on our desk next week,' Schiavo said to rallying state employees.
While she does not sit on the Assembly budget committee, Schiavo said there is a general consensus among lawmakers that they don't want to balance the budget with the help of public workers who protect California's communities.
The vice chair of the Senate Budget Committee, state Sen. Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, similarly opposed the governor's proposal to freeze salaries.
'State workers' pay is a contractual obligation,' the Sacramento-area Republican said in a statement. 'It would be wrong for the Governor to unilaterally break that contract.'
Additionally, Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton, previously expressed opposition to the cuts while presiding over a budget subcommittee hearing on the issue.
Other lawmakers, including those on budget committees, were not as eager to come out against the proposal.
State Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, D-West Sacramento, and Assemblymember Liz Ortega, D-San Leandro, both declined to comment when asked if they supported freezing public employees' salaries as part of the budget solution.
Meanwhile, state workers and their unions have not been quiet on the subject.
On Thursday, hundreds of public employees from across the civil service spectrum marched from the Capitol to the Swing Space in Sacramento to decry and lobby against the proposed payroll freeze. Equipped with pithy signs and a mariachi band, labor groups also hoped to call attention to various other employment issues at the state.
Dr. Kafia Abbasi, a psychiatrist who treats incarcerated patients at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton, said it's already difficult to recruit doctors to work in state prisons.
'It's taxing to work in a toxic, stressful environment,' Abbasi said, standing with her fellow white-coated members of the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, which represents medical professionals working for the state.
Not awarding these raises will make it more difficult to hire doctors, Abbasi said, which could exacerbate another issue the union has been fighting: the replacement of state-employed physicians with contractors.
Representatives for the doctors union said contracted physicians can earn more than double than what state-worker counterparts make. But because these private employees often work temporary assignments, patients don't receive the same continuity of care that state doctors said they provide, Abbasi said.
The impact of salary freezes on recruitment and retention issues are also a major concern for state veterinarians.
Dr. Everardo Mendes, a veterinarian with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said the state will struggle to hire new veterinary graduates if the government withholds raises that were agreed to the previous year.
'I didn't expect to be here,' Mendes said. 'I thought we had a contract.'
Mendes noted that his bargaining unit, which represents state scientists, went years without raises due to stalled negotiations between the state and California Association Professional Scientists, UAW Local 1115.
Now, Mendes is concerned he won't see raises another year.
Additionally, Newsom's return-to-office order was a major concern cited by protesting workers Thursday.
As an office technician, Carlyn Pipkins is on the lower end of the salary scale for state employees. With the expectation that she will return to office four days a week, Pipkins is expecting her day-to-day cost will increase.
The Department of Water Resources employee hopes lawmakers will reject the proposed salary freezes.
She said she was banking on a raise this year 'just to be able to live.'