State of the Union

Those wishing to understand the full power public employee unions hold over state government — or who simply feel too good about life in general and want to come down a few notches — ought to peruse today’s new Legislative Analyst’s Office report titled, The Governor’s Employee Compensation Proposals.

It starts off pretty easily, with the stat that the state pays rouhgly $24 billion in payroll each year and the view that the LAO itself “believe[s] that employee compensation reductions are necessary due to the magnitude of the budget problem.” But then it’s all doom, all the time from then on…

* On the governor’s proposal to increase employee pension contribution rates by 5 percent of pay: “Pension Contribution Shift Is Very Risky. There are serious concerns about the legal viability of the Governor’s proposed 5 percent shift in pension contributions from the state to employees — particularly if the shift is accomplished through the legislative process, instead of through collective bargaining.”

* On the governor’s proposed 5 percent salary reduction: “Under the current budget climate, with state employee unions at odds with the Governor… and given the unprecedented level of personnel cost cuts sought by the administration, it is virtually impossible for the administration and state employee unions to reach the level of savings assumed in the Governor’s budget through bargaining… With about a $20 billion deficit, the state has little of value it can give now.”

* On the governor himself: “In the last year of his term, the Governor is in a poor negotiating position with state employee unions.”

* On the several dozen pending lawsuits challenging worker furloughs: “The furlough program is credited with over $2.5 billion of state savings over [2008-09 and 2009-10], most of which has been credited to the General Fund. If the state ultimately loses these lawsuits, it might have to pay several hundred million to billions of dollars in back pay and penalties.”

Seriously, I’ve got stop reading these things when I first get to work.

-Anthony Pignataro