Assembly approves state worker pay raise

Sacbee — The Assembly voted today to ratify a two-year contract for the California's largest state workers' union, voting 63-8 to approve the pact, which includes a 4.5 percent pay raise by 2015.

The bill, AB 1377 sponsored by Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, would give SEIU Local 1000 employees a 4.5% pay raise either in two parts over the in 2014 and 2015 or all at once in 2015. The contract, negotiated with Gov. Jerry Brown, still requires ratification in the Senate and by rank-and-file workers.

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R- Twin Peaks, opposed the deal, saying raises aren't justified "until we get our economy moving again...Until that day, we have to say no."

But most of the speakers on the floor, including Republicans, spoke in favor of the bill.

Assemblyman Brian Nestande R- Palm Desert, said the deal represented "a prudent contract."

Other legislators noted the number of cuts and furloughs state workers have been through in the past years.

"I have watched over the last decade as they (state workers) have been increasingly squeezed by reductions and furloughs," said Assemblyman Rodger Dickinson, D-Sacramento. He said that state workers have been "digging in, digging deeper, doing the job, performing the public service that they are dedicated to....we are in a position to restore some of that which has been sacrificed over the last decade."