No love from state workers in L.A. for Schwarzenegger’s wage-cut plan

State workers at the Ronald Reagan State Office Building in downtown Los Angeles were unhappy this morning with plans being prepared in Sacramento to cut their pay to the federal minimum wage until a budget is signed.

They said slashing their salaries to $6.55 an hour to avert a cash crisis would cause unnecessary hardship.

“I’d probably be out on the streets … learning how to eat out of garbage cans,” said Zola Salena-Hawkins, a legal secretary at the attorney general’s office.

Salena-Hawkins left the private sector nine years ago for job security and benefits, but with the way things are going, she says she’s “thoroughly disappointed.”

“I’m a Republican. Ouch!” she said. “It really hurts to see the way everything is falling apart, especially during a Republican watch.”

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was expected to sign the order early next week. The deadline for passing a budget was July 1, and without one soon, California may be unable to borrow billions of dollars needed to keep the state solvent, officials have warned.

State Controller John Chiang has said he would not implement such an order, asserting the state has enough money on hand.

The Republican governor’s controversial plan would likely be challenged in court by public employee unions if carried out. It would allow the state to defer paying about $1 billion a month, administration officials said.

Workers would be repaid their lost earnings once a budget was in place. But many workers questioned how they would pay their immediate costs: mortgages, food, gas, child support.

“I won’t be able to survive,” said Carolina Castillo, a legal secretary. “I have three kids, I’m a single mom… . There’s just no way.”

Castillo, 34, says if her wages were cut, she might need welfare and would have no choice but to return to the private sector, which she left a year and a half ago for a steadier schedule and more time with her family.

As drafted, the order also calls for the state to immediately lay off 21,855 part-time workers, stop overtime payments for almost all employees and cease all hiring until a budget is enacted.

“I’m kind of worried that one of them might be me,” said Jason Kwan, a part-time student assistant in litigation support.

Kwan, 24, is worried that without his job, he won’t be able to pay off his student loans at Cal State Los Angeles or afford law school.

The response from unions to Schwarzenegger’s plan was immediate and angry.

“The governor is turning a budget crisis into a catastrophe,” said Yvonne Walker, president of Service Employees International Union Local 1000, which represents 95,000 state workers. “How can you tell people, ‘We will just pay you this amount and you can catch up later?’ ”

“We are in the middle of a housing crisis, and people are losing their mortgages,” she said. “Are they going to issue a notice to mortgage companies that employees will just catch up later?”

Walker said she believed the governor’s plan was illegal, and union attorneys are already drafting a lawsuit to file if the order is signed.

In the meantime, some state workers had their own suggestions for Schwarzenegger.

“I think the governor should fund the budget with his own resources until he and the Legislature can get together,” said Paul Ablon, who has been a state attorney for nearly nine years. “And maybe he’ll appreciate how it is to worry about paying your expenses.”

joanna.lin@latimes.com

Times staff writer Evan Halper contributed to this report.