Governor Schwarzenegger issued an Executive Order calling for the new round of furloughs. Starting next month, state workers will be required to take three unpaid days off until there’s a budget; it’s a pay cut of about 14 percent. Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear says it’s a necessary evil:
“This is to avert a cash crisis. The Controller this week said that he’s going to start issuing IOU’s in August and the legislature after over seven weeks of failure still has not produced a budget and that’s why we have to do this.”
McLear says the furloughs will save about 150 million dollars a month. It was just this month that the last round of furloughs ended. This time about 70-thousand workers are exempt. Those include employees that bring in revenue, such as the Franchise Tax Board – and those belonging to six unions that have reached labor deals with the Administration. Those deals include increased pension contributions.