Stop Arnold: Sign the petition to protect 200,000 state workers

Tell Governor Schwarzenegger to halt the wage cuts and close the Yacht Tax loophole

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger just announced that he will sign an Executive Order on Monday slashing the wages of over 200,000 state employees to the bare minimum.

Not California's minimum wage of $8 per hour. The federal minimum wage of $6.55. Six dollars and fifty-five cents an hour.

Imagine trying to pay your bills on $6.55 an hour. Now imagine what will happen to thousands of vital service workers forced to live on poverty-level wages. A nauseating irony: many state employees may need to seek aid from the very state services that employ them.

This is absolutely outrageous. And the only way we can stop Arnold is by raising our voices as loud as possible in protest. Please sign our petition to Governor Schwarzenegger and we'll deliver thousands of your signatures to the Governor's office.

UPDATE: as of Monday, July 28, 28,457 Californians have signed this petition. Please add your name below:


Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,

Your announcement to cut the salaries of over 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage is unconscionable.

Instead of slashing pay for state employees, you should be fixing California's massive $15 billion budget deficit. Your proposal will make our budget crisis worse while delivering a serious blow to our struggling economy. As the recession deepens, gas prices skyrocket, stores close, and home foreclosures surge, the governor's wage cuts will force many working families over the financial edge.

To add insult to injury, you are slashing workers' wages instead of taking leadership to close the "Yacht Tax" loophole.

You may claim that you will pay state workers retroactively for wages lost during this budget crisis. But that won't pay their rent or prevent their home from being foreclosed upon before a state budget is eventually passed. Instead of closing the yacht tax and so many other loopholes that favor the rich, you are borrowing on the backs of state workers.

We, the undersigned, call on you to stop preparing to push thousands of state employees to the brink of financial disaster and get back to the budget negotiating table.

Sincerely,

The undersigned
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