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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><FONT face=Tahoma></FONT><BR>Schwarzenegger'<WBR>s
budget plan puts unions in the<BR>cross-hairs<BR>By Shane Goldmacher<BR>January
25, 2010<BR><A
href="http://latimes.comlatimes.com/news/local/la-me-arnold-union25-2010jan25,0,3601107.story"
target=_blank>latimes.comlatimes.<WBR>com/news/<WBR>local/la-<WBR>me-arnold-<WBR>union25-2010jan2<WBR>5,0,3601107.<WBR>story</A><BR><BR>Reporting
from Sacramento<BR><BR>Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has put organized
labor<BR>squarely in his cross-hairs in 2010, opening a fight<BR>that will
largely determine the shape of his final year<BR>in
office.<BR><BR>Schwarzenegger'<WBR>s proposals would cut the size of
the<BR>union workforce, reduce pay, shrink future pensions and<BR>roll back job
protections won through collective<BR>bargaining.<BR><BR>Labor and the unions'
Democratic allies are already<BR>girding for battle.<BR><BR>"It's a continuing
jihad against organized labor," said<BR>Steve Maviglio, a Sacramento-based
Democratic<BR>strategist. "The governor thinks public employee unions<BR>are
Enemy No. 1."<BR><BR>Among the plans in the governor's budget:
privatize<BR>prisons, which would strip members from the influential<BR>guards
union; curtail seniority protections for<BR>teachers, a key union-won
protection; and reduce the<BR>number of sick, disabled and elderly Californians
cared<BR>for through the state's In-Home Supportive Services<BR>program --
almost all union jobs -- while cutting what<BR>their caregivers are
paid.<BR><BR>Schwarzenegger also wants to permanently lower state<BR>workforce
salaries by 5% without returning to the<BR>bargaining table with public-sector
unions. And he<BR>would require state workers to chip 5% more into
their<BR>retirement plans.<BR><BR>"The public sector also has to take a
haircut,"<BR>Schwarzenegger said, arguing his policies would save<BR>California
billions of dollars, now and in the future.<BR><BR>Matt David,
Schwarzenegger'<WBR>s communications director,<BR>says the governor's proposed
budget makes hard but<BR>necessary choices, given a $20-billion
deficit.<BR><BR>"This budget wasn't about attacking any specific<BR>group," he
said. "It was about trying to fix what's<BR>broken in this state and prioritize
the funding we have<BR>so we can protect education."<BR><BR>Yet even in
nonbudget proposals, union leaders see an<BR>antilabor agenda. For example,
Schwarzenegger has<BR>pushed to limit seniority protections for teachers
and<BR>expand charter schools, which are largely staffed by<BR>nonunion
teachers. He argues both moves would improve<BR>the quality of
schools.<BR><BR>Union leaders see their members as the targets. "That<BR>seems
to be his goal, to basically change a unionized<BR>sector of the economy to a
nonunion sector," said Marty<BR>Hittelman, president of the California
Federation of<BR>Teachers.<BR><BR>The unions have spent millions to thwart some
of the<BR>governor's past initiatives and hope to do so again.<BR><BR>"To go
after unions means tearing down the middle<BR>class," said Laphonza Butler, head
of United Long Term<BR>Care Workers, a branch of the giant Service
Employees<BR>International Union that represents 180,000 in-home<BR>services
workers.<BR><BR>Democratic lawmakers, who hold the majority in
the<BR>Legislature and are the largest recipients of union<BR>campaign money,
thus far have given the governor's<BR>plans a chilly reception.<BR><BR>"I did
take note that in his State of the State address<BR>[the governor] said that we
had only Sophie's choices,"<BR>said Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). "Do we
harm<BR>seniors, do we harm the disabled, do we harm the poor?<BR>But you didn't
hear him suggest there were tax<BR>loopholes we could close to pinch
corporations.<WBR>"<BR><BR>State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, a Democrat, explained
the<BR>legislative balance of power during impassioned<BR>legislative testimony
last fall: "It's impossible for<BR>this Legislature to reform the pension
system," he<BR>said. "I don't think anybody can do it here -- because<BR>of who
elected you," he added, making a barely veiled<BR>reference to labor's
power.<BR><BR>Top Democratic lawmakers have suggested Schwarzenegger<BR>is
driven by a corporate special interest agenda.<BR><BR>Assembly Speaker Karen
Bass (D-Los Angeles) dismissed<BR>the governor's prison privatization plan as a
sop to<BR>"another special interest, and that's the private<BR>prisons
industry." One company that operates private<BR>prisons, the Corrections Corp.
of America, donated<BR>$100,000 to the budget ballot measure
campaign<BR>championed by the governor last year.<BR><BR>From his earliest days
as a candidate, Schwarzenegger<BR>has railed against the grip of "special
interests" on<BR>Sacramento. More often than not, he has defined them
as<BR>organized labor.<BR><BR>Joel Fox, a business advocate who worked closely
with<BR>the governor during his last big union battle in 2005,<BR>said that
agenda "goes back to his election in the<BR>recall."<BR><BR>"He had a mind to
fix the problem and restructure the<BR>way government operates," Fox said. "The
structure<BR>right now is heavily controlled by the unions."<BR><BR>In 2005,
Schwarzenegger went to the ballot with four<BR>measures that would have rolled
back pensions, unions'<BR>abilities to collect dues and job
protections.<BR><BR>The unions fought back with a $100-million campaign
and<BR>defeated all four of the governor's proposals.<BR>Schwarzenegger vowed a
more contrite approach en route<BR>to his reelection in 2006.<BR><BR>But 2010
has seen a return to confrontation. In part,<BR>that's driven by the state's
huge deficit. In some<BR>state programs, particularly healthcare, most of
the<BR>money pays directly for services. But in most other<BR>parts of the state
budget -- schools, prisons, parks --<BR>cutting spending mostly means tackling
payroll.<BR><BR>One notable shift from the 2005 battle is that<BR>Schwarzenegger
has moderated his tone. This year he<BR>justified privatizing prisons because it
would "save us<BR>billions of dollars." In 2005 he vowed to put "the<BR>corrupt
people in our prisons on the same side of the<BR>bars."<BR><BR>The strategy of
softening rhetoric while still pressing<BR>severe proposals dovetails closely
with the negotiating<BR>philosophy of his influential chief of staff,
Susan<BR>Kennedy: Always leave interest groups with something
to<BR>lose.<BR><BR>The California Correctional Peace Officers Assn.
has<BR>responded to the governor's plans with a TV ad<BR>declaring itself part
of the solution for "real reform"<BR>in the state's beleaguered prison system.
The union<BR>stopped short of attacking Schwarzenegger directly.<BR><BR>"It's
politically smart not to scream bloody murder for<BR>your own pet cause when
everyone is being slashed,"<BR>said Maviglio, the Democratic strategist. But
he<BR>predicted that Schwarzenegger'<WBR>s "divide and conquer"<BR>strategy --
forcing each union to defend its turf<BR>simultaneously -- could result in a
reprise of labor's<BR>united, multimillion-<WBR>dollar political fight of
five<BR>years ago.<BR><BR>"It wouldn't surprise me," he said, "to see the
same<BR>2005 coalition resurrected.<WBR>"<BR><BR>shane.goldmacher
@latimes.com<BR><BR>Copyright (c) 2010, The Los Angeles Times<BR><BR></DIV>
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