Starting today, (almost) every employee throughout the University of California system will begin accruing furlough time based on a graduated salary scale. We'll see the first salary cuts in our September paycheck, which we'll receive on October 1. In my spot on the scale, I will accrue 16 total days of furlough time, which will amount to a 6% pay decrease in each of my paychecks for the next 12 months.
The "(almost) every employee" is probably the most interesting news of the day: at least one major union on campus has NOT agreed to the furlough and pay cuts. This means that in theory, if they do not accept the plan, all union represented employees will have to show up to work on days when the rest of the university is closed, and their supervisors will have to suck-up their own lost pay for mandatory furlough, and show up to work to supervise said union employees. Bad unions. On the other hand, these unions be holding the university to the contract that all parties agreed to, and refusing to compromise with the bullies who accepted pay increases while everyone else gets cuts. Hooray unions.
Here in the trenches, I overheard a fellow staff member having a minor meltdown about some complicated accounting. Seems that in these tight budgetary times we're doing a lot of nickel and dime-ing from various funding sources, which makes the accounting much more complicated. That might be fine and dandy, except that we have fewer staff resources due to layoffs and normal attrition, and will soon have even less when we all have to take extra unpaid time off. And budget cuts add extra stress to the work and personal lives of all employees, even if they are not directly impacted.
On a personal note, while 6% isn't completely traumatizing, I don't exactly have the recommended 6 months of living expenses just hanging out in a savings account, so I'll have to do some acrobatics to keep successfully paying down debt and building my savings without having to move into a cardboard box.
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also exempt from furlough: pretty much everyone with a rich lobby. no furloughs for medical doctors making a million a year, so they don't have to miss a boat payment. no furloughs for engineers with big grants, they just give themselves another raise. no furlough for new hires at berkeley, never mind that no other campus can afford to flaunt the rules like that. no furlough for faculty (but not staff) making less than 85k a year at berkeley. no, the furloughs are only for the kinds of suckers yudof wants to push off the campus.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I agree that Yudoff's intention is specifically to use the furlough to push suckers off campus...this seems a bit extreme and unfair. However, a consequence of the plan may be a drain of furloughed talent from campuses, which I try to get into on Day 8. Yudoff might not be trying to push anyone off campus, but it's possible that he isn't really worried about whether he does or not; after all, mid-level paid staff bureaucrats like me are easily replaced. Thanks for joining the discussion!
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