Posted on Tue, Jul. 14, 2009

Pa. state workers protest 'payless paydays'

PETER JACKSON

The Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania state employees turned out by the hundreds Tuesday to protest a Rendell administration policy requiring them to work without pay as long as the state budget remains in limbo.

"This ain't funny, we want our money!" chanted about 500 workers who joined in a lunchtime rally on the front steps of the Capitol as the state government finished its second week without a budget in place.

Dozens of protesters, many wearing an orange sticker identifying them as "budget hostages," went inside afterward to march briefly through the halls where legislators were gathered.

Across the state, labor unions organized similar demonstrations and informational picketing at state offices, prisons and other work sites to underscore employees' displeasure with "payless paydays."

"We just want to turn the heat up" on budget negotiators, said David R. Fillman, executive director of Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the largest state-worker union, which represents about 44,000 state workers.

In Pittsburgh, about 75 employees chanted and carried signs. One said, "Mr. Rendell, I want a paycheck, not a rain check."

Bobbie Boyd, 39, a welfare caseworker, carried a placard asking Gov. Ed Rendell to co-sign one of the interest-free loans that some banks and credit unions have offered to qualified employees whose pay is interrupted.

"Unfortunately, I don't have a good credit rating, so I would like the governor to co-sign my loan so I can feed my kid and pay my bills," said Boyd, who has an 8-year-old son.

The state constitution bars the government from making most payments without the authorization of a state budget, and there still is no sign that the Democratic governor and Republicans who control the state Senate are even close to a deal. There were no high-level talks on Tuesday and none was scheduled.

In all, about 80,000 state employees, including the governor and legislators, will see their paychecks affected by the end of the month if no budget has been approved.

On Friday, more than 33,000 executive-branch employees under the governor's jurisdiction will receive only part of their usual pay. More than 44,000 others would see even smaller paychecks a week later. Beginning July 31, normally a payday, they would receive no pay at all.

Workers would receive all their back pay once a budget is passed, and their health coverage is not affected by the budget stalemate.

Rendell and Democratic legislative leaders advocate raising taxes, including the personal income tax, to support about $29 billion in spending for the fiscal year that began July 1. Republican legislative oppose new taxes and would hold spending to about $27 billion.

During a budget stalemate in 2007, the administration furloughed for one day about 25,000 employees whose jobs were judged not to be "critical." Those who did fit that category , state troopers and prison guards, for example , continued to work and be paid as usual.

The current policy stems from a Commonwealth Court judge's decision last year on a lawsuit by state employee unions that challenged the furlough policy.

Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt ruled that, when a budget is held up by politics, the governor must either furlough all state employees during the impasse or keep them working without pay.

She said the state constitution trumps the federal law that requires timely payment of wages , the Fair Labor Standards Act , but noted that employees may file claims for damages for alleged violations of the federal law.

Fillman encouraged participants in the Capitol rally to file FLSA claims with the U.S. Labor Department once they miss a portion of their pay, stressing that unions cannot file claims for them.

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Associated Press writer Dan Nephin in Pittsburgh contributed to this story.