Schwarzenegger's budget plan puts unions in the cross-hairs - latimes.com

Schwarzenegger's budget plan puts unions in the cross-hairs - latimes.com
His proposals to privatize prisons, curtail teachers' seniority protections and reduce the number of in-home care workers would be major blows to powerful labor interests. They're girding for a fight.
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Among the plans in the governor's budget: privatize prisons, which would strip members from the influential guards union; curtail seniority protections for teachers, a key union-won protection; and reduce the number of sick, disabled and elderly Californians cared for through the state's In-Home Supportive Services program -- almost all union jobs -- while cutting what their caregivers are paid.

Schwarzenegger also wants to permanently lower state workforce salaries by 5% without returning to the bargaining table with public-sector unions. And he would require state workers to chip 5% more into their retirement plans.

"The public sector also has to take a haircut," Schwarzenegger said, arguing his policies would save California billions of dollars, now and in the future.

Matt David, Schwarzenegger's communications director, says the governor's proposed budget makes hard but necessary choices, given a $20-billion deficit.

"This budget wasn't about attacking any specific group," he said. "It was about trying to fix what's broken in this state and prioritize the funding we have so we can protect education."

Yet even in nonbudget proposals, union leaders see an antilabor agenda. For example, Schwarzenegger has pushed to limit seniority protections for teachers and expand charter schools, which are largely staffed by nonunion teachers. He argues both moves would improve the quality of schools.

Union leaders see their members as the targets. "That seems to be his goal, to basically change a unionized sector of the economy to a nonunion sector," said Marty Hittelman, president of the California Federation of Teachers. ...