In announcing Democratic legislators' budget proposal today, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said that he has an "obligation to be a voice for the voiceless" and that the cuts included in the proposal are "made from necessity, not to make a point."
In the same breath, he pushed state employee pension reform as a priority for California.
Your ACSS maintains that slashing and burning your modest, hard-earned benefits is not a necessity. While eliminating rare abuses like spiking are necessary, we feel that major components of current pension attacks - such as risking a portion of your retirement savings in a sketchy, unreliable 401(k) plan - are not necessary. These are absolutely cuts made to make a point, contrary to the Pro Tem's statement.
In order to speak out against cuts that unfairly target excluded employees, we need you to .
- don't forget your name! - to Senator Steinberg now by email or phone. Find your state legislators here and copy the message to them as well. Get the word out to your colleagues, family, and friends and let's to his pledge to "stand for the middle class, the poor, and struggling Californians."
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg
Phone: (916) 651-1529
Fax: (916) 327-8754
Senator Steinberg,
For too long, California has balanced the budget on the backs of its most skilled and dedicated employees - supervisors, managers, and confidential employees.
We're not protected by collective bargaining, but instead must rely on you to protect our modest, hard-earned benefits.
That's why I was so dismayed today to hear you refer to the budget cuts that will slash my salary by 5% and attack my modest pension as "cuts made from necessity, not to make a political point."
As you yourself noted in your press conference today, my peers and I in state service have lacked a strong ally in the Capitol for too long now. Senator, please have the courage to stand against a partisan tide of anti-public employee sentiment that is sweeping over this nation's great history of public service.
Please don't make a political point by forcing my peers and I to default on our mortgages. Please don't make a political point by forcing us and the next generation of state employees to throw our modest pensions to the sharks via a risky 401(k). Please don't force state employees to leave their children in daycare for 10 hours a day.
You said today that you will fight budget proposals "if it means standing up for the middle class, the poor, and struggling Californians."
Please hold true to your word and avoid balancing the budget on our backs once again in your own plan.
YOUR NAME HERE, Member of the Association of California State Supervisors