Dan Walter’s column Oct. 19, and the “Thumbs Down” Oct. 17, altogether miss the point on state workers’ legal, contractual rights to observe the Columbus Day holiday.
SEIU Local 1000 negotiated an unprecedented pain-sharing contract with the governor through the California Department of Personnel Administration.
The good faith negotiation fell victim to partisan politics and has stalled in the Legislature.
California law is clear under the Dills Act. The expired contract supersedes all until the parties reach “impasse,” which has not occurred.
Collective bargaining laws are not merely suggestions where the state can pick and choose when they apply. Neither the governor, nor the state Legislature is above the law. Denying state workers the Columbus Day holiday was outright illegal. The Bee does a disservice to educated readers by publishing Mr. Walters’ column who concludes with trite sound bites of “turnabout being fair play” and “what goes around comes around.”
Perhaps using the phrase, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” popularized by economist Milton Friedman in 1975, would have been more appropriate to characterize the message from state workers to the governor.
Hrair Messerlian
Fresno
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