State slashes workers’ hours

SACRAMENTO – More than 200 000 state government employees were to stay home without pay on Friday as California began its first-ever furlough, a move intended to save money during an ongoing fiscal crisis.

State agencies scrambled in the days before the furloughs took effect to avoid confusion for the public, such as people trying to register vehicles or obtain professional licences.Among the offices closed on Friday are those of the Department of Motor Vehicles and Department of Consumer Affairs. The governor’s Office of Emergency Services was also dark as part of a cash-saving move ordered by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.Critical and revenue-generating agencies were scheduled to remain open, including fire stations, parks and employment centres that process unemployment insurance claims. California’s unemployment rate is 9,3 per cent, a 15-year high.Schwarzenegger ordered the two-day-a-month furloughs, reducing the average state worker’s salary by 9,2 per cent, as he and lawmakers try to solve the state’s US$42 billion budget shortfall.The governor had hoped his order would apply to some 238 000 state employees, but each of the seven other constitutional officers have said they will not comply. Employees of the Legislature are not under his authority.Schwarzenegger’s legal affairs secretary, Andrea Hoch, said the administration was prepared to sue the state controller if he did not reduce pay cheques for more than 15 000 workers in the other constitutional offices, which include the attorney general, secretary of state and insurance commissioner.A judge who affirmed Schwarzenegger’s authority to order the furloughs said his ruling did not apply to statewide elected officials because they were not a party to the lawsuit. The administration has maintained that employees of constitutional offices are covered by the furlough order.Schwarzenegger’s administration estimated that cutting worker hours would save the state US$1,3 billion over the next year-and-a-half. – Nampa-AP