The state of California began its series of "furlough Fridays." The state is nearly out of cash, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has issued an executive order in an attempt to save the state from bankruptcy.
State employee unions sued, but lost, as a court determined that Schwarzenegger has the right to create such an order.
More than 200,000 state workers were expected to stay home without pay. Affected officers include the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), where an MSNBC TV reporter caught up with someone who was there to get documentation to try to get his car out of impound.
He told the reporter he would be forced to pay hundreds of dollars more to keep the car in the impound lot over the weekend.
Schwarzenegger ordered the two-day-a-month furloughs, which effectively reduces the average state worker's salary by 9.2%. When unions sued, Schwarzenegger said he would then just lay them off, which he definitely has the power to do.
For state workers, they should use common sense: 9.2% wage cut or 9.2% layoffs. You choose.
It is, admittedly, difficult on Californians who go to an office and find it closed. But with a state budget deadlocked because of the necessary 2/3 majority required to pass it, there is little choice.
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