As the governor and legislators continue to battle over the budget in California, leaders of SEIU Local 1000 have issued a strike authorization vote to the union's 95,000 members beginning today, July 20. SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker sent a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week , declaring the union "will fight" his latest proposal to pile on a fourth furloughed work day for more than 230,000 state workers.

No end in sight: The Governor must've decided he was on a roll, because just days after issuing the latest pay cut threat, he ordered state department heads to eliminate 2,000 jobs on top of the 5,000 positions he wants to cut as part of his budget solution. "Governor, we've sacrificed. And we've now reached our limit," said Walker.

Strike ballots were mailed out to members on Saturday and SEIU spokesperson Doug Crooks told California Progress Report that he'd be "surprised if [the union] didn't get 80 percent approval." State workers have been without a contract for more than a month. The vote to authorize a strike will end on July 31, 2009.