During an impromptu Q&A outside his office this afternoon, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a few remarks we want to pass along about strikes and furloughs:
Q: Governor, what about the IOUs? Have you done anything personally to get the banks to accept them?
A: I think that the IOUs are one more reason to get the budget done as quickly as possible ... The key thing is to have a responsible budget and have a budget that, where we can move forward, and stimulate the economy as quickly as possible, avoid possible strikes and all this. Because the way this is going now, having not had a budget, it is very tough on taxpayers, its' very tough on state employees, it's very tough on everybody ...Q: Governor, state employees, many of them are hoping that they will get some relief from the current situation of three furlough days and now a possible 5 percent cut in addition to that. They're hoping they'll get some relief out of this (negotiation) process. Is that a reasonable hope?
A: Well, first of all we are talking about three furlough days. Not four, not five or anything like that. You're talking about three furlough days. I think that as soon as our economy comes back and as soon as we see the revenues coming back, then we can go and begin to put them all back to work full time, get everyone paid full time. I think that's the goal here ...
Our thoughts: Clearly, SEIU Local 1000's strike talk is on the governor's radar.
As to the governor's assertion that he has imposed only three furlough days, that is true. But he also asked the Legislature for a 5 percent across-the-board pay cut for state workers. And we know what happened the last time he did that. (Or maybe you don't. If that's the case, click here.)
Thanks to Bee Capitol Bureau colleague Jim Sanders for passing along a recording of the governor's remarks.
The Author
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.