Gov. Rendell: Guess who’s coming to dinner?

Pennsylvania state employees facing “payless paydays” took their message that this is “totally unacceptable” straight to Gov. Ed Rendell’s house in the East Falls section of the city on July 17. Workers had just received only 70 percent of their normal pay in what likely will be their last pay until the state’s budget crisis is solved.

The state has been operating without a budget since July 1, when the fiscal year began. With the economic downturn and high unemployment driving revenue collections to an all-time low, state lawmakers have been debating whether to cut program spending or to raise taxes, both of which would have a severe negative impact on poor and working-class families.

Now the state is saying its workers must bear the brunt of the economic crisis by working without pay. A flier calling for Friday’s picket from Service Employees International Union Local 668, Pennsylvania Social Services Union, noted, “Rendell claims that most state workers should be able to get interest free loans and ‘they should put a statue of me upon their mantel place.’ How arrogant!”

Pennsylvania’s budget stalemate has also led to Philadelphia putting a temporary hold on payments to contractors and vendors. The city had anticipated receiving nearly $100 million in state payments in July and August for child welfare and juvenile services. These payments have been frozen until the new budget passes.

The 77,000 state workers scheduled to get paid July 24 will get just 20 percent of their pay. After that, no more paychecks will be issued until a three-week-long budget impasse has ended.

Yet workers are still expected to show up for work.

The workers who protested outside Rendell’s private home carried paper plates to symbolize that they were inviting themselves over to Rendell’s for dinner. “We have families, children to feed,” said Sharon Boyd. “I think they need to pass a budget. They’re not working as hard as we are.”

Rendell has also proposed a 16-percent increase in the state’s wage tax for three years, a move that would hit lower-paid workers the hardest. However, some state legislators, including Democratic Rep. Dwight Evans, are proposing that the state use its $750-million Rainy Day savings fund, impose new taxes on gas drilling, and set aside a planned reduction in certain business taxes to cover any shortfall.

Only 33,000 of the 77,000 state employees are eligible to apply for $1,000 no-interest loans through the Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union. Workers at the rally noted, however, that these loans won’t go far to cover expenses for their families, mortgages and other bills they are obligated to pay.