PDC workers protest extra mandated employee furloughs

Union members protested outside of Porterville Developmental Center Thursday in response to a July 1 executive order by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger stating that state employees will be furloughed for an additional day each month.

Previous furloughs have closed state facilities two days per month. State-run facilities will now be closed the first, second and third Friday each month through June 2010.

Employees at facilities that provide essential services, such as emergency medical care, will take “self-directed” furloughs over the next year.

PDC, because it is a 24-hour facility, is one location that will have employees taking furlough on days other than Fridays since the center must be staffed regularly.

PDC employees held signs, carried noisemakers and chanted “What’s outrageous? Furlough wages” while walking in a slow circle next to the PDC entrance.

They waved at passersby and asked cars to honk in support.

A total of 24 protestors were present at the event; Service Employees International Union Local 1000, which has more than 90,000 members statewide and is composed of state employees, organized the event.

“I don’t think the local community really realizes the local impacts that [furloughs will] have,” SEIU senior steward and PDC registered nurse Janet Alexander said.

Alexander, who organized the rally, said she believes that the reduced services will negatively affect the surrounding community as well as state employees.

“We have a health center [in Porterville], we have two or three prisons in the area, we have the DMV,” Alexander said. “[These facilities are] the backbone of this community.”

Client services at PDC have not been greatly affected by the furloughs as of yet, director John Sawyer said.

He said he has observed growing employee concerns about shrinking paychecks.

“A lot of employees are very concerned about the loss of their wages,” Sawyer said.

“My personal feeling is that when we had two furlough days, employees were willing to do their share,” he said. “But I think the third furlough and rumors of more have impacted employees’ morale.”

There are no plans to have additional furloughs at the moment, said the governor’s press secretary, Aaron McLear.

“But, the longer we go without a budget, the more likely it would be for the governor to cut back wherever he can,” McLear added. “Just like every family and business is doing, we need to cut back in state government.”

Employees at the governor’s office are taking the same furloughs as the PDC employees, he said.

City Council member Cam Hamilton estimates that the furloughs will cost Porterville roughly $15 million in lost revenue. He also questioned the future of the expansion currently taking place at PDC.

“We’ve looked forward to them expanding the facility by 90 beds,” Hamilton said.

“Are they going to do what the county did and build a place they can’t staff?” he said, referring to the Tulare County Pretrial Facility which stood vacant for more than two years after it was constructed.

PDC nursing instructor Jim Cannon, who has worked in Porterville for 20 years, said he participated in the rally to alert the community about the effects of the furloughs.

“If you don’t say anything, than you don’t have the right to complain,” Cannon said.

-- Contact Sarah de Crescenzo at 784-5000, Ext. 1045, or sdecrescenzo@porterville.com.