By SAMANTHA YOUNG
SACRAMENTO
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration has begun the process of laying off thousands of state workers, but there’s a big loophole.
Those who belong to the state’s largest employee union, which represents 95,000 state workers, are exempt.
That’s because a new tentative bargaining agreement protects members of the Service Employees International Union Local, 1000. The agreement was struck over the weekend between the Schwarzenegger administration and union leaders.
State agencies will send layoff notices to 20,000 of their least senior employees in a move to trim 10 percent of the government payroll. Some 10,000 workers ultimately could be let go in a process that takes about six months.
Lynelle Jolley, spokeswoman for the Department of Personnel Administration, could not say how many of the 20,000 workers receiving notices would be SEIU members. The SEIU represents about 40 percent of all state employees.
