The State Worker

Welcome to your Tuesday roundup of state employee news from California and around the country, including a piece on how furloughs have affected Corrections ... Washington state's crackdown on state workers who get a state pension and a full-time paycheck ... "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" goes in search of the "Wisconsin 14."

Result of furloughs - $1 billion liability: Prison guards, supervisors rack up millions of hours in paid time off
California prison guards and their supervisors have racked up 33.2 million hours of vacation, sick and other paid time off - an astounding accumulation that amounts to nearly half a year per worker.

Viewpoints: All labor has stake in Wisconsin standoff
Autoworkers sat down to win collective bargaining rights during a cold Flint winter in February 1937. For the last few weeks, 14 Wisconsin state senators have been sitting in motel rooms somewhere in Illinois to preserve those rights for public workers. In both cases, thousands of supporters braved the cold in solidarity. Flint was a watershed moment; Wisconsin could clearly become one. What are the stakes?

He's been bitten in the neck, impaled on a spike, clubbed in the head and slugged in the place no man wants to be slugged. Now you can see 20 years of Arnold Schwarzenegger taking his lumps -- and inflicting a few -- distilled into 7 minutes and 39 seconds. Click the video embedded above for "Every Arnold Scream from Every Arnold Movie."

Happy holidays, State Worker blog users!

Bee Capitol Bureau reporter David Siders just posted this on our sister blog, Capitol Alert:

Legislative heavyweights wearing "I'm Not a Girlie Man" T-shirts sang a budget-themed version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at his wrap party last week ,,, Among the gifts they said Schwarzenegger gave in their "Big Five" negotiations were "eight accounting gimmicks," "five bucks for schools," "three furlough Fridays," and "two vetoed bills." ...

Click here for more about the parody, including a video of the performance.

We've plucked this from our daily mountain of e-mail. Despite the times, some state workers still have a sense of humor.

Here's a poster that takes off on "The Expendables," a movie featuring Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Click here for more information about the film, due out Aug. 13.

Thanks to Blog User G for letting us in on this.

Thanks to blog user D for passing this along.

Several folks have sent this unattributed photo that has been making the rounds among state workers. (We assume the message Photoshopped in.) Given the recent Furlough Friday events in Marin County that we wrote about in today's State Worker column, it seemed appropriate to post the picture.

Thanks to retired "Ranger Bill" and the California State Park Rangers Association for sending this our way.

Speaking of budget cuts, Bee Capitol Bureau Chief Dan Smith reports that the Schwarzenegger administration doesn't like the idea of whacking umbrella agencies under the governor's control. Click here for the post on our sister blog, Capitol Alert.

A few weeks ago we posted an op-ed piece from The Appeal Democrat that called for Sutter County to change its public employee pension system, "which will eventually consume most of the county's budget."

Attorney Holly Stout takes on that assertion in a rebuttal op-ed.

Here's a key paragraph:

Most government employees earn less money than their counterparts in the private sector. Personal experience suggests the majority of these fit into one of two categories. There is the employee who takes the government job to get work experience to transfer to the private sector for more money. This employee costs the government employer its training costs without the benefit of a long-term employee. The other type is the employee who is willing to accept the lower salary in exchange for the better benefits, including retirement, health care, and better working hours. The only way the government can retain valuable trained employees is by offering better benefits.

You can read the entire piece by clicking here.

On an entirely different note, Capitol Alert blog users sent lyrics to a couple of traditional Christmas songs with the words tweaked for these troubling times. Hum the tunes while you read the lyrics here.

This item first ran on Dec. 10. We're posting it again to to complement our story in today's Bee about John "Happy Jack" Hastings, the "cubicle cowboy." Scroll down to find the link to an audio download of his popular song, "The State Worker Blues."

Hastings last weekend shot footage around town for a music video. He tells The State Worker that he plans to wrap up editing this weekend. We'll debut it here early next week.

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Hi Jon:

I am a +30-year state employee. For the past four years, I have been performing a song I wrote called "The State Worker Blues" at the Department of Health Care Services/Department of Public Health food drive talent show. Every year I update it to throw in a little something about our current state of affairs.

My colleagues have been insistent about sharing this song with you and, never being the shy and retiring type, I soon relented. Anyway, the lyrics follow and are also available at, of course, www.stateworkerblues.com along with a link to the Sacramento Food Bank which is really what I hope to draw attention to.

Anyway, this cubicle cowboy has got a lot of pencils to push, so adios for now ...

John "Happy Jack" Hastings

We're honored to debut the 2008 version of "The State Worker Blues." You can listen to the 4 minute, 54 second clip by clicking here.

While you're listening to Happy Jack, click here to go to the Sacramento Food Bank's Web site. You can make a donation online through a link at the bottom of the home page.

The State Worker Blues

words and music by Jack Hastings

When I was a kid my Momma said son
Don't work for the State like your daddy done
It ain't a lot of money and it ain't a lot of fun
And you'll owe your soul to the Golden One
But the private sector ain't where it's at
Got tired of sayin' you want a mocha latté with that?
So I took me a test, got on a list
Started pushin' that paper and I done my best

Chorus:

I got the state worker blues
I been payin' my dues
Have you heard the good news?
... well, there ain't none!

For year after year we done more with less
And the less got less,
now there's less than nothin' left
If you want a paperclip
you gotta get your chief to sign
And they're handing out staples one at a time
And every time I try to spell "relief"
I get D E F I C I T
And every year I think that we've hit rock bottom
The blues get deeper and I've still got 'em

Chorus

Now the gubernator, he came up with a plan
A little bit of song and a little bit of dance
Gonna take away our holidays and cut our pay
All for a penny or two it might save
But if the Legislature sees eye to eye
That'll be the day that pigs can fly
So just sit back and enjoy the show
As around and around the drain we go

Chorus

Now I'm not complaining about my fate
The food at the potlucks is always first rate
And I'll tell Saint Peter at the Pearly Gate
That I'm proud to be a worker for the Golden State
And my fellow state workers are as good as gold
Helpin' out the people who are hungry and cold
So to the best civil servants in all of the land...
This is for you, give yourselves a hand!

Chorus

IMAGE: www.cowboyclipart.net