An estimated 2,500 UCLA employees gathered in Pauley Pavilion today for a Q&A with Chancellor Gene Block and other campus officials, seeking details about a proposed University of California-wide pay cut and other budget issues.

 

The pay cut, which could take the form of unpaid days off, salary reductions or a combination of the two totaling 4 percent for some employees and 8 percent for others, is one of several steps the University of California system is taking to address a $619-million state reduction in UC funding for fiscal year 2009-10.

 

UC President Mark Yudof has put three options on the table for discussion and is expected to recommend a pay-cut plan to the UC Regents for approval on July 16.

 

UCLA officials said they are asking him to consider a number of changes.

 

"Our [share of the state budget] cut will really be devastating," Block said. "There is no doubt it will have an impact on salaries."

 

Several employees at the event asked why all staff should face cuts, when many employees are paid out of funds that cannot be diverted to solve the budget crisis.

 

"The proposal that we have seen has introduced this broad concept of equity, which translates into equal treatment for all employees," answered Steve Olsen, the vice chancellor of finance, budget and capital programs. "We're very concerned about the way that this proposal is affecting different areas of campus, especially in areas where the savings generated from this proposal won't actually benefit the general fund."

 

Block, Olsen and Lubbe Levin, associate vice chancellor for campus human resources, said they are asking the UC Office of the President to consider creating a multi-tiered system of salary reductions, with a range of lower percentages taken from most UC employees and higher percentages from high-earners. UCLA officials are also asking UC to consider giving the campuses more local flexibility in applying the salary cuts, with the possibility of exempting employees whose salaries cannot be used to reduce the budget deficit, and to allow employees a choice of whether to take a salary cut or unpaid time off.

 

Dozens of union representatives protested outside the meeting, arguing that UC should focus on reducing top earners' salaries or dip into its endowment rather than turn to across-the-board employee pay cuts. More than 20,000 of UCLA's 29,000 staff are union-represented.

 

Anticipated reductions in state funding for 2009-10 are expected to leave UCLA about $110 million short of what it needs to balance its budget. Departments have been required to cut their budgets 5 percent for a savings of $33 million, and a salary cut of about 8 percent could save $40 million, leaving UCLA looking for ways to cut more than $40 million more by next week's July 1 deadline.

 

A June 17 letter from Yudof laying out options for the proposed salary reductions galvanized UCLA staff, transforming Wednesday's meeting from just another semi-regular budget town hall into a mass event. When RSVPs surged, the session was shifted from Schoenberg Hall to Royce Hall, then finally to UCLA's basketball arena.

 

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