US public sector union SEIU slams the Governor of California's proposal to "borrow" $2billion from state employees' pension fund to help balance the state's books.
Union members blasted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to use public sector employees' savings to help plug California's $19.1billion budget gap. The Republican governor and former Hollywood actor signalled that he would consider taking a loan from the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) funds.
By law, however, CalPERS would have to approve this, and is mandated to protect employee interests. Anne Stausboll, chief executive at CalPERS, said she had "significant concerns" about the proposal, which could put the fund under financial stress.
Randall Cheek of the 95,000-strong Service Employees International Union told the CalPERS board that the loan is "more of a $2 billion theft." After initial discussions, Gov. Schwarzenegger then announced that the deal was off the table, but signalled that he would be targeting public sector pensions in his bid to cut spending.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-17/schwarzenegger-drops-proposal-to-borrow-2-billion-from-calpers-aide-says.html
He called on the US Legislature to "pass a budget that lets us live within our means, and includes the necessary reforms to fix our broken budget process and rein in out-of-control pension costs.”
Earlier this year, tens of thousands of state workers were at loggerheads with their Governor over unpaid days off work that were imposed on them three weeks out of four. SEIU took legal action, and a Superior Court judge ruled in January against the unpaid furloughs, adding that, particularly in the cases where they did not actually save the state any money, were "arbitrary, capricious and unlawful".
Readers will recall that UNISON was instrumental in stopping councils borrowing from the LGPS last year!
