State workers brace for drastic cuts

GLEN ELLEN -- Gabrielle Beneitone, a registered nurse at the Sonoma Developmental Center, spent Wednesday nervously awaiting news of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to lay off 22,000 temporary, part-time and contract state workers today and convert 200,000 other workers to federal minimum wage.

"I'm the breadwinner in my home," said Beneitone, who lives in Sebastopol. "I wouldn't be able to pay the mortgage. I wouldn't be able to pay for gas because I commute to work."

Schwarzenegger Thursday signed the order to deal with a budget crisis. He's trying to pressure state lawmakers into passing a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 and thus avoid a pending cash crisis.

The layoffs could mean longer lines at Department of Motor Vehicles offices, fewer food safety inspections and cutbacks in the programs that stock fish in the state's rivers and lakes. None of the laid-off workers would get their jobs back under the Schwarzenegger plan.

For Beneitone, conversion to $6.55-an-hour pay would not only jeopardize her mortgage, but make it impossible to replace a car her teenage son totaled on Tuesday.

She said she's yet to come up with a backup plan should the governor make good on his promise, saying she's been in "denial" about it up to now.

"I mean, what could I do?" she said. "I can't quit. Hopefully we'll get reimbursed. There's always credit cards."

The governor has said all workers will be reimbursed for their full salaries once a budget deal is reached.

Democrats want to close California's $15.2 billion deficit for this fiscal year through a combination of spending cuts and tax increases. They want to raise $8.2 billion by boosting taxes on the wealthiest Californians and corporations, and say another $1.5 billion can come to the state through an amnesty on tax scofflaws.

Republicans oppose any new taxes.

Many state employees who work at the Glen Ellen facility were in the same situation as Beneitone on Wednesday. Adding to the tense mood was the presence of state licensing officials, who were conducting their regular review of operations.

A longtime special education teacher who asked not to be identified said he took Wednesday off to recover from the strain of a protest held at the center earlier in the week.

He said he helped construct a 16-foot float that made a direct appeal to Maria Shriver, California's first lady, to persuade her husband to forego the pay cuts.

The employees were hoping that Shriver would feel a special connection to their cause because of the Kennedy family's long history of supporting programs for the developmentally disabled.

The teacher said he's concerned he would be paid even less than minimum wage under the governor's proposal because of his job classification.

With a mortgage and other bills to pay, that could prove "devastating," he said.

"I'm hoping she (Shriver) carries the torch for us in this Olympic year and advocates for special ed services, and for students who desperately need us," he said.

Daniel Solnit, an organizer for Service Employees International Union 1000, estimated that about 2,500 state employees who live in Sonoma County could be affected by the sudden pay cut.

They include those who work at the DMV, CHP, within public health agencies and on behalf of the already unemployed.

"These are not lavishly paid people," he said. "Some work two jobs to make ends meet or work overtime. These are people who work hard and haven't seen a raise in years."

At the developmental center, some employees had been celebrating getting pay increases following a two-year battle for parity with those with similar jobs within the correctional system, only to have their hopes dashed when the governor announced his plan to cut wages.

"People are definitely concerned," said Karen Kuehl, a registered nurse at the center, Wednedsay. "We're hoping it's just posturing by the governor and that he's using this as a ploy to get the budget done and the legislation signed."

If it turns out otherwise, Kuehl said she'll have to resort to savings for her monthly mortgage payment.

"Like anybody, I have bills to pay," she said.

This story was compiled from reports by Staff Writer Derek Moore and the Associated Press. Moore can be reached at 521-5336 and derek.moore@

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