Courage Campaign | Call Arnold: Protect 200,000 State Workers

Call Arnold: Watch the video and then call the governor to protect 200,000 state workers

Tell Governor Schwarzenegger to halt the wage cuts

On the same day that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger received 28,016 petition signatures from the Courage Campaign, True Majority, and CREDO Mobile, Arnold announced that he would delay signing an Executive Order slashing the wages of over 200,000 state workers to $6.55 an hour, the federal minimum wage.

That's the good news. The bad news is that Arnold delayed the Executive Order signing to Thursday.

That's 24 hours from now. Which means we still have time TODAY to pressure Arnold to stop holding state workers hostage to his political budget negotiation games.

As a community of concerned citizens, we've got just a few hours to take action together. On behalf of hundreds of thousands of state workers, please pick up your phone right now and call Arnold.

Let's flood the Governor's phone lines. Here are several numbers for Arnold -- call one, call some or call them all:

Sacramento: 916-445-2841 (press 1, 2, and 0 to speak to a live person)

Fresno: 559-445-5295 (a live person should answer your call)

Los Angeles: 213-897-0322 (a live person should answer your call)

Riverside: 951-680-6860 (a live person should answer your call)

San Diego: 619-525-4641 (a live person should answer your call)

San Francisco: 415-703-2218 (a live person should answer your call)

Washington D.C.: 202-624-5270 (press 0 to leave a general message)

Here is a sample script for your call:

I am calling to demand that the Governor not sign the Executive Order that will cut the pay of state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour.

Governor Schwarzenegger needs to stop holding working people hostage and make sure that his fellow Republicans in the legislature support a responsible budget.

The Governor needs to show leadership, instead of threatening the ability of innocent state workers to afford basic necessities. We need solutions to this budget crisis, like closing the Yacht Tax loophole which allows yacht and private jet purchasers to get off tax-free.

No more games and gimmicks. Don't use workers as pawns and push them to the brink of financial disaster. Thank you.

UPDATE: We're flooding their lines. And here are some interesting reports from callers:

Gary:

Staff member tried to convince me that things will be alright with our finances because my partner, who is a teacher, can get a zero-interest loan since the banks know that the employees will be getting the money eventually. I told her that we didn't want to be pawns in their political games and that the governor & legislature need to work it out. She said she would pass it along.

Kathleen:

I called the Los Angeles line and a live person answered the phone. I have never done anything like this before. I was a little nervous, but I said a little bit from the script and then the man said he would log it and send it up to Sacramento. I think I'm going to make one more call to the SF office. Thanks for getting those petitions to our capitol.