Unpaid vacation beats unemployment
Government workers in California might find themselves needing payday loans if Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is allowed to force them to take off two unpaid days per month. However, if the governor does not get his way, he warns, the results will be far worse.
Schwarzenegger says that without the furloughs, he will be forced to lay off government employees instead. State employee unions are saying Schwarzenegger doesn’t have the authority to mandate the unpaid leave. Some union. I’m sure, given the choice, that most state workers would chose having a slightly lower salary above having no job at all. As long as you’re still getting a paycheck, payday loans can help if funding gets tight.
Banking on a bailout
Earlier this month Schwarzenegger said that California was in a “state of emergency” because of its $42 billion budget deficit. Fortunately for Schwarzenegger, and Californians in general, help might just be on the way. About two-thirds of the $819 billion economic stimulus package will go to aiding states.
That means if the current plan passes California could get $63.4 billion. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan has already been approved by House. It now faces a vote by the Senate.
Facing the consequences
Schwarzenegger says the mandated unpaid vacation will save the state $1.4 billion. The governor has told the unions that if they don’t back him on the furloughs or find another way to save $1.4 billion he will be forced to cut jobs. He may not have the authority to force people to take unpaid days off, but he can fire people.
“The fact of the matter is, in the end I have the authority as the governor to, if they don’t go along with the furlough, lay off the amount of people necessary so that we have a savings of $1.4 billion, so that’s what I will do,” Schwarzenegger said.
My advice to the government workers of California is to take the two days off and grab payday loans if they run into financial problems; that would sure beat unemployment.
2 days of unpaid leave? I could handle that a lot better than getting fired. Naturally, people want full time work and full time pay – and they should be getting it – but the fact of the matter is that there’s a massive budget crunch. If they can save the state over a billion in revenue and keep their jobs, then it would seem incredibly selfish for unions to say that it was either work the two days or have everyone get laid off.
Did they finalize the Obama’s economic stimulus package? I know the House approved it but I haven’t heard word about what the Senate has to say about it. I just hope they make this a quick process. That plan needs to get approved and out the door immediately to get on with the economic healing process. There’s really no more time to waste.
I would rather have 2 days off each month than work for less per hour.