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The Hard Truth about Salary Expenditure Reductions by the City:

When they desire to reduce salary expenditures, City officials have only three options, all of which should include negotiations with the affected employee representatives (unions). They are staff reduction (attrition or layoff), furloughs, and salary cuts. The following does not address the validity of their desire to reduce salary expenditures as that is an issue for another day.

Layoffs:
The applicable laws allow the layoff of public employees, generally by reverse seniority. The process is sometimes convoluted and time-consuming due to the need to identify which positions are non-essential.

Properly constructed layoffs can make a permanent change in the cost of doing business by downsizing the bureaucracy. However, in most cases this does not happen as the City Council and department managers do not really want to make the changes and ramp back up when they can. Unfortunately, a small percentage of the workers are put out of work, adding to unemployment and requiring them to seek new employment. The remaining employees continue with full salary. A buyout program may reduce the effects, but must be affordable. Morale among the remaining employees is reduced until the layoff and/or redeployment is completed, but a short while later improves to its former level.

Furloughs:
The mandatory furlough of EAA members violates both contract law and labor law. Furloughs are a permissible subject for negotiation if there is a re-opener in an MOU or if both parties agree to discuss the issue. Negotiated furloughs in an MOU without a re-opener would need to be voted by the union’s members. California law gives "extraordinary" powers to the Governor so the State mandatory furloughs are legal. This power does not exist at the local level or in most other states.

Furloughs let the bureaucracy roll along and are an easy way out for the City Council. The bureaucracy merely becomes somewhat slower, potentially setting up requests for additional personnel and/or higher fees to the citizens and what politician doesn’t like higher fees? All the employees are adversely affected and the pain continues for a significant duration, severely impacting employee morale. On the positive side, all changes in salaries occur as scheduled and required by the MOU.

Salary Cuts:
Unilaterally imposed salary cuts violate both contract law and labor law. Negotiated cuts are unwise for employees as they will never recover the cuts. Delaying the implementation date of previously negotiated raises is, in effect, a negotiated salary cut. It is generally unwise for employees because these raises are usually difficult to obtain in the first place and will not be recovered. Delaying raises, in effect, gives management a "freebie" MOU for the length of the delay.

Either layoffs or furloughs, if properly negotiated between management and the union, have the advantage of keeping all the hard-won wages and benefits that are part of every MOU.

You can find additional information on this and every other issue affecting your employment by continuing to check this website.