The State Worker: CASE cancels bargaining meeting with administration

The State Worker

Chronicling civil-service life for California state workers

July 12, 2010

CASE cancels bargaining meeting with administration

Brooks Ellison, the chief negotiator for California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment, has canceled a bargaining session set for Tuesday with to the Department of Personnel administration.

In a July 8 letter sent via snail mail to DPA Director Debbie Endsley, Ellison blamed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's July 1 minimum wage order for the cancellation.

"Unfortunately, we have been forced to postpone the upcoming bargaining session in order to address the more immediate pressing legal crisis created by the Governor's order directing that no paychecks be issued to Unit 2 members until a budget agreement is reached," Ellison wrote.

Schwarzenegger's actions "have created a counterproductive, hostile, and unlawful environment" for contract talks, Ellison's letter says, but CASE is still willing to talk. The administration hasn't yet responded to the union's latest offer.

While most state workers would receive the federal minimum hourly pay of $7.25 if Controller John Chiang complies with Schwarzenegger's pay letter, state attorneys would receive nothing. (Doctors and a few other job classifications fall into this same zero-pay category. Exempt employees such as managers and supervisors would receive $455 per week.)

Click here to read Ellison's letter.

About Comments

Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.

What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com

Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)

Here are some rules of the road:

• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.

• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.

• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.

• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.

• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.

• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.

• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.

• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.

blog comments powered by Disqus