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Brown's Budget Calls for State Worker Pay Cut, Four-Day Workweek

Brown's Budget Calls for State Worker Pay Cut, Four-Day Workweek
The DMV and many other state agencies would be open only four days a week – but for longer hours – under a new budget proposal from California Governor Jerry Brown.

The DMV and many other state agencies would be open only four days a week - but for longer hours - under a new budget proposal from California Governor Jerry Brown.

The governor's spending plan released earlier this week calls for state workers to take a five percent pay cut.

Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Marty Morgenstern said the proposed four-day, 38-hour workweek would apply to most state employees, but not all.

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"Some places can't close every Friday," said Morgenstern. "Maybe they'll close on Monday. Maybe they'll have half the people on Monday and half on Friday. It's a big state, we have 214,000 employees, they do a lot of different things and so we have to have some different approaches."

The governor and legislative Democrats said they plan to negotiate the compensation cut with each of the unions that represent state workers. That's a departure from former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration, which imposed unpaid furloughs that infuriated the unions