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.

California public employee unions already reeling from pay cuts have been dealt a new blow by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger – a push to lower pension and retiree health care benefits for state workers hired after today.

Tactics some state employee unions have deployed to counter talk about whacking the budget:

Pat Whalen didn't foresee himself throwing a legal wrench in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furlough machine.

Numbers, like 2-year-olds learning to talk or great works of art, leave plenty of room for interpretation. Take what state workers make in pay and benefits. Is it too much?

State workers, you're the face of California government – and for many outside of it, you're also the hired help.

Gov. Schwarzenegger will ask for a 5 percent across-the-board pay cut for state workers to save $470 million in next year's general fund budget and to preserve cash.

State workers know that some (many? most?) of the public believe they are pampered, overpaid and underworked.

CalSTRS, hit with significant investment losses in the past year, is preparing to ask the Legislature for billions of dollars in higher pension contributions from the state, school districts and teachers.

Snapshots of California's financial mess from ground level:

A big fat political target. That's how many worried state workers say they're feeling these days.

The Bee's Dan Walters answers readers' questions about the state budget and the budget-related measures on the May 19 special election ballot.

The caller could have been describing a Mafia hit: "It's dead! Check with your sources! I'm hearing it's a payback."

Another twist in California's state worker furlough saga: Jan Frank, president of the quasi-public State Compensation Insurance Fund, lost a furlough court fight on Wednesday – and she assisted in her own legal demise.

One furlough civil war ends. Another begins. The "constitutionals" are gearing up for a court appeal in their faceoff with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over who has the authority to furlough their workers.

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