California’s State Employee Unions Don’t Expect Big Contracts From Gov. Brown – Contract talks kicking off this month between the state and four employee unions present Gov.

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Scottsdale, Arizona, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) February 13, 2012 -- Contract talks kicking off this month between the state and four employee unions present Gov. Jerry Brown with a political dilemma: How does he deal fairly with his key labor constituency without exposing himself to charges he’s kowtowing to them?

The 73-year-old Democrat needs labor’s continued backing if he decides to run for another term, but California’s $9.2 billion state budget deficit limits what he can offer at the bargaining table. Beyond that, Brown wants to put a tax increase before voters in November, but employee contracts that don’t share the fiscal pain would give opponents plenty of ammunition to blast the initiative.

“The governor will say to the unions, ‘You guys have got to give me something or I’ll never get the tax increase,’ ” said Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College. The unions are coming off several lean budget years that fueled epic battles with Brown’s GOP predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, over their pay and pensions.

Ken Murch, who will negotiate in the coming months for the 7,000-member California Association of Psychiatric Technicians, said that even though Schwarzenegger is long gone, the budget picture remains bleak. He’s not expecting a big payday for his members. “Jerry Brown is a pragmatist, and he understands the collective bargaining process,” Murch said. “But my clients are not expecting much, to be honest with you.”

The psychiatric technicians union is one of four whose state contracts run through July 1, the first day of the 2012-13 fiscal year. The others represent doctors and dentists, building maintenance workers and health and social service professionals – roughly 24,000 state employees in all.

The state has set a series of public meetings this month and next, during which the unions and the government may publicly disclose their opening contract proposals.

California Association of Psy     Claremont McKenna College     collective bargaining     Gov. Jerry Brown     Ken Murch     Schwarzenegger     union resource center     www.unionresourcecenter.com