A reasonable analysis of California Politics, IMHO

[Hellabad]

Courtesy of John Wildermuth, San Francisco Chronicle (believe it or not)

Quote:

The furlough ordered by the governor has Sacramento in a tizzy, with employee union leaders warning that closing state offices two Fridays a month not only will cost workers pay but will harm Californians seeking to do business with the state.

The customer-service argument wasn't heard back in 2000, when Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill making March 31 a state holiday in honor of Cesar Chavez and closing state office doors as tightly as any furlough.

There was no talk then about how shutting state offices on that day - or on any of the other 12 paid holidays (plus a personal day) that state workers currently receive - would inconvenience Californians.

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed eliminating two holidays for state workers a few months back, you didn't hear union leaders saying, "At least it will be good for Californians to have state offices open two more days."

As for department heads who are wondering how they're going to cope with furloughs beginning today: They can do what they've always done - put a "Closed" sign on DMV offices and tell people to come back Monday.

State officials convinced that state workers have too many holidays don't have to look far to assign the blame.

When Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed the first proposal for a Cesar Chavez holiday in 1994, he said 13 paid holidays were enough. Since then, governors have had to regularly negotiate with state employees but OKd contracts giving them the holidays.


This article appeared on page B - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Perhaps it is not so surprising that this analysis would appear in the SF paper, it certainly will NEVER be seen in the Sacramento paper, but I would have expected it in the El Dorado County Mountain Democrat, the oldest newspaper west of Rockies.

At our local DMV office, in Folsom, workers were recently reprimanded after telling "customers" that their office was forced to close early, and shooed them away in order to lock the doors several hours early on October 10th. Why would the California DMV employees do that? Why of course to extend their 3 day paid weekend for Columbus Day.

And if you think thats bad, how would you balance the irony of a paid holiday for a "racist" like Christopher Columbus? Easy. I present you with the paid holiday of Cesar Chavez Day.

http://www.lasculturas.com/lib/lawCesarChavezHldyCA.htm

[Farbin Kaiber]

But, are you saying that Ca's paid public werks folks are spoiled, bratty, and do silly things?

[Hallen]

I heard on the news this morning that at least one California state employee wanted to file for unemployment benefits for the furlough day. lol Hell, it's an extra vacation day, just roll with it. At least you still have a job.

[Surtr]

I heard on the news this morning that at least one California state employee wanted to file for unemployment benefits for the furlough day. lol Hell, it's an extra vacation day, just roll with it. At least you still have a job.

My girlfriend is a union rep for state workers. I said the same thing to her. Apparently it's not the spoiled office workers making $90k a year that are a big concern. A lot of them only work 4 days a week anyway. It's the janitors and other employees that make minimum wage or slightly above it. If you're making $1000 / a month, a 10% pay cut is a LOT more noticeable. You don't just drive your SUV less, you have to cut stuff that's necessary.

[z31maniac]

My girlfriend is a union rep for state workers. I said the same thing to her. Apparently it's not the spoiled office workers making $90k a year that are a big concern. A lot of them only work 4 days a week anyway. It's the janitors and other employees that make minimum wage or slightly above it. If you're making $1000 / a month, a 10% pay cut is a LOT more noticeable. You don't just drive your SUV less, you have to cut stuff that's necessary.

Guess that'll teach the rest of you not to be worthless pot smoking hippies and get some skills other than spraying Lysol on a toilet then.

[Surtr]

Yeah, that's the general attitude people have.

How about getting rid of the janitors and having the office workers clean up after themselves? OH GOD NO. Somebody else has to do it! But who cares if doing it provides them enough money to feed themselves.

/sarcasm

I worked at an oil company and one of the janitors had a Ph.D in civil engineering. He most likely had more job skills than you (I'm not insulting you, just stating that people with Ph.Ds tend to have more job skills than those who don't...and the majority of the world do not have them). Who knows, you could end up being a janitor some day. With the economy, it wouldn't be unheard of. I think it's dumb to try to take stuff away from people who are in a position that you might find yourself in. Or anybody, actually, as long as they need what is being taken away.

[z31maniac]

Yeah, that's the general attitude people have.

How about getting rid of the janitors and having the office workers clean up after themselves? OH GOD NO. Somebody else has to do it! But who cares if doing it provides them enough money to feed themselves.

/sarcasm

I worked at an oil company and one of the janitors had a Ph.D in civil engineering. He most likely had more job skills than you (I'm not insulting you, just stating that people with Ph.Ds tend to have more job skills than those who don't...and the majority of the world do not have them). Who knows, you could end up being a janitor some day. With the economy, it wouldn't be unheard of. I think it's dumb to try to take stuff away from people who are in a position that you might find yourself in. Or anybody, actually, as long as they need what is being taken away.

Take your pinko commie hippie bleeding heart somewhere else chief.

[joshh]

California makes no sense ever.

[Hallen]

Yeah, that's the general attitude people have.

How about getting rid of the janitors and having the office workers clean up after themselves? OH GOD NO. Somebody else has to do it! But who cares if doing it provides them enough money to feed themselves.

/sarcasm

I worked at an oil company and one of the janitors had a Ph.D in civil engineering. He most likely had more job skills than you (I'm not insulting you, just stating that people with Ph.Ds tend to have more job skills than those who don't...and the majority of the world do not have them). Who knows, you could end up being a janitor some day. With the economy, it wouldn't be unheard of. I think it's dumb to try to take stuff away from people who are in a position that you might find yourself in. Or anybody, actually, as long as they need what is being taken away.

McFly... Hello McFly...

PhD's usually have no work experience and are generally unqualified for anything but teaching at a university. The point is, he took a job as a janitor. The reason he has that job is that he probably has no work history and he isn't qualified for anything else.

Sure, we all might find ourselves in some crappy (pun intended) job some day. But, his job is like anybody else's job, it can be taken away at any point for any reason. That's the way it works. Thinking otherwise will simply lead to disappointment and resentment against something that cannot and should not be changed.

[Surtr]

McFly... Hello McFly...

PhD's usually have no work experience and are generally unqualified for anything but teaching at a university. The point is, he took a job as a janitor. The reason he has that job is that he probably has no work history and he isn't qualified for anything else.

Sure, we all might find ourselves in some crappy (pun intended) job some day. But, his job is like anybody else's job, it can be taken away at any point for any reason. That's the way it works. Thinking otherwise will simply lead to disappointment and resentment against something that cannot and should not be changed.

Everybody I know with a Ph.D has worked a shitload of jobs, to slow down the debt of their education. My point was that not everybody that's a janitor is lazy and / or uneducated. This guy in particular did have a job history and was qualified for a lot of jobs (in the US, like 95% of the time you have to a B.S./B.A. before a Ph.D, and having a B.S./B.A. means you're qualified for a lot of jobs. Plus he was in the army. That looks good on a resume). I actually don't know why he was a janitor. I guess maybe he could have just wanted to be. I'm fairly sure it was not his sole means of income. Anyway, it was weird for the janitor to be smarter than the upper management.

My point with ending up being a janitor is that people higher up tend to think "fuck 'em", but it's not unreasonable to think that you might end up being one these days. It's better than nothing. If I were them, I'd try to keep as much pay for janitors as I could...in case I end up being one :).

My girlfriend is fighting for them because she gets paid to. It's in the union's best interest to keep as many of them making as much money as possible, because a certain percentage of their pay check goes to the union. I was simply passing along one of the points they are making.