Most state employees started work Wednesday morning knowing that their pay in coming months will be nearly 5 percent less than June's, since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has added a third monthly furlough day to the two they've endured since February.
That's right, "most."
Of the 235,000 or so state workers under the governor's authority, roughly 22,000 haven't been touched by his furlough orders.
Despite the state's $26.3 billion budget deficit, the 7,000 sworn officers in the California Highway Patrol haven't lost any time.
That's led some state workers to speculate that the governor fears messing with the folks who run his security detail.
The real reason, according to the administration, is that the 7,000 members of the California Association of Highway Patrolmen are the only state employee union under contract. Any furlough would have required reopening that deal and getting lawmakers to sign off on it.
Every other union has been without a contract for at least a year, some far longer. (Several unions are suing to overturn the furlough order, citing their contracts' "evergreen" clauses that keep expired terms in place until they reach a new agreement with the state.)
"I am about to suffer another day furlough equaling 15 percent," one self-identified state employee commented on The State Worker blog. "Fair is fair … three days furloughs (for CHP officers) until we are out of the economic disaster."
Then there are the 15,000 employees working in departments headed by the state's constitutional officers: Controller John Chiang, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, Attorney General Jerry Brown and the Board of Equalization.
When last we left the courtroom, a Sacramento judge had ruled that the governor could furlough those workers.
But the constitutionals said their independence meant they could ignore the furlough order. They lost the Superior Court case in April, but they're still furlough-free.
The reason: They appealed, which allowed them hold off on furloughs while the higher court looks at the case.
The administration's lawyers decided not to fight it. They didn't think they would prevail, since the furlough savings wouldn't be enough to convince the court that not doing so would "irreparably harm" the government.
That's a legal decision, but it still galls many state workers now struggling to pay their bills and who listen to Schwarzenegger and lawmakers talk about "sharing the pain."
Call The Bee's Jon Ortiz, (916)321-1043. Read his blog, The State Worker, at sacbee.com/blogs.
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