#Gov. Gavin Newsom didn’t take promised pay cut after slashing state workers’ wages

California Gov. Gavin Newsom failed to take a promised pay cut after slashing state workers’ wages has reportedly failed to take the ten percent pay cut he promised to give himself after ordering reductions in state workers’ salaries due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Newsom had pledged to reduce his governor’s salary by the same amount he was slashing salaries of state workers — 10 percent — back in May when he laid out sweeping reductions in spending.

While most government workers were handed smaller paychecks beginning last month, Newsom still received his full monthly salary of $17,479., the Sacramento Bee first reported.

Newsom’s spokesman, Nathan Click, told the Bee that Newsom was only issued his full paycheck because of an oversight.

The governor has now requested the Controller’s Office reduce his pay retroactively to July 1.

“I know this is the last thing that our partners want to hear,” Newsom had said during the May 14 press briefing announcing the budget cuts.

“But unfortunately we’re in a position where [a pay reduction] is required of all of us — and by the way, including me and including my entire staff.”

The Bee found State Controller Betty Yee to be the only one of the state’s eight elected constitutional officers to take a pay cut last month.

Since the Bee’s reporting, most other constitutional officers have followed suit in requesting their pay reductions at the urging of the governor’s office, the paper reported.

The head of the state’s largest labor union, SEIU Local 1000, which represents service workers, was willing to give the governor the benefit of the doubt.

“If there’s one thing we know, it’s that our governor keeps his word,” Yvonne Walker, the union’s president, said in an emailed statement.

“We can only imagine that with all the things going on in our state…it wouldn’t be surprising if processing the necessary paperwork has taken a backseat to more pressing matters.

“We remain confident that this will take place as promised and that it will be retroactive,” she added.