"Local 1000 attorneys are asking the court to apply the decision immediately and block any stay, in part because of the hardship furloughs have caused to our members and their families,” said Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker. Gov. Schwarzenegger’s attorneys are expected to appeal the decision and seek a stay.

Judge Frank Roesch also awarded back pay for all those workers in his final judgment in Local 1000's lawsuit challenging the governor's furlough scheme

"CSU is using preemptive layoffs to deal with a projected budget shortfall in FY 2010-11,” said CSUEU President Pat Gantt. “They’ve arrived at this plan without any consultation with the union, which would have been willing to discuss alternatives. Bear in mind that the impacted employees are sharing the pain this fiscal year by voluntarily agreeing to furloughs that amount to more than nine percent in salary cuts.”

On employee compensation, look at real numbers – not myths. Our median salaries are down to $43,000 annually. And the median pension of our members is $2,300 a month.

The Bee's positions are puzzling and inconsistent. The editorial opposes staff cuts at agencies such as the DMV that receive no state general fund money. Why then, support pay cuts at these very same agencies? Neither cost-cutting method at these non-general fund departments would trim a dime from the general fund deficit. 

"The governor is taking his furlough policy that is losing in the courts and dumping it in your laps asking you to make it permanent because he doesn’t have the integrity to resolve this issue at the bargaining table,” Walker told an Assembly committee on Feb. 10