I spent my lunch hour today in front of the student union at SJSU where we leafleted, passed out information about the rally 11:30 Thursday at the Student Union amphitheater and spoke to employees that will be affected by the layoffs. We plan to be in front of the Student Union Tuesday and Wednesday as well.
According to the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal SJSU is going to cut, "approximately 76 staff members and reassign 48 more in accordance with labor agreements effective July 1." Some employees are being brought in at 1:00 p.m. today to be given the news. The Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal said:
Facing a projected 2010-2011 shortfall of at least $18 million, San Jose State University said Thursday it will implement layoffs, eliminate vacant positions and reduce spending on part-time temporary faculty members. [Read More]
It is my personal hope that the situation will improve when the Leg Analyst office announces it's May revise in mid-May.
This morning in an e-mail to all SJSU employees President Whitmore said:
As we approach the end of the fiscal year, I want to update you on where we are today with the budget and what our immediate future looks like.
In fiscal year 2010-2011, we expect to face the same difficult circumstances that have proven so challenging over the last year. As we have been discussing throughout the year, we had to close a $44 million budget gap in FY 2009-2010. By making budget reductions across all areas of the university, including eliminating many vacant positions, reducing operating budgets, implementing employee furloughs, and raising student fees, we have largely (although not entirely) avoided layoffs of employees up to this point.
This year, we absorbed $19 million of our budget reduction through furloughs. However, we have recognized from the beginning that employees on furlough would not be a permanent solution to our situation. The unpleasant fact is that we must adjust our operations permanently, reducing both our student body and our staffing to fit our shrinking resources.
As I first mentioned in my fall 2009 address, layoffs are a part of our planning for next fiscal year. And while the overall number of layoffs is expected to be limited, we all will most certainly feel the impact. On a practical level, having fewer employees to share the campus workload will present real challenges.
Emotionally, having to see colleagues depart will be difficult for each and every one of us. Logistically, the impacts of layoffs will require flexibility, cooperation, and patience, as staff resources are redistributed according to the provisions of the respective union contracts. And most important, of course, is the difficulty ahead for individuals who will be directly impacted by the layoffs.
The decisions about positions this action will affect and when any action will take place have not been finalized. Once a plan has been developed, it must be approved by the Chancellor’s Office and then reviewed by our union groups. I am sharing this information with you now because I am committed to being as open and transparent about the situation as possible – and I promise to continue to update you as new information becomes available.
In the meantime, I want to reiterate my thanks and appreciation for the passion, commitment, and patience with which you do your work in these challenging times.
Jon Whitmore, President
In short, we have been given notice that layoffs are coming.
According to a post by Josh Keller of the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Some 40,000 students will be unable to attend the California State University system in the next year and a half because of enrollment cutbacks." Keller's post goes on to explore the specific situation at San Jose State:
For the first time in memory, the roughly 1,300 community-college students who expected to transfer to San Jose State next spring are having to make other plans.
In my opinion the cutbacks in higher education are the economic equivalent of being a farmer and eating your seed corn in a drought. When the economic weather improves we will have nothing, nobody, to plant in the jobs that would otherwise be created. It is hard to see any good coming from any of this.
The California State University system is a union shop. Most non-manager employees in the CSU system are covered by one of several collective bargaining agreements. When CSU wanted to make cuts in its overall employee compensation it only had one option under the agreements, that option was layoffs.
When the CSU decided instead that it wanted to furlough university employees it had to go to the unions and negotiate a side agreement to do so. Employees who were in their unions then had an opportunity to vote to ratify that agreement and almost all the CSU unions voted to accept furloughs for one year.
At this time it appears the budget problems may go on beyond a year. You may see the unions and CSU negotiating again on this topic. Any tentative agreement that may come out of a future agreement would most likely have to again go through a ratification process.
Under the agreement currently in place, management is apparently being given a great deal of discretion in how they are dealing with furlough days. For example, at SJSU, President Whitmore has decided to not close the campus on at least some furlough days. Some university employees are being asked to work on some furlough days and to take other non-furlough days off instead.
This is not the understanding some employees had who voted for furloughs of how furloughs would be implemented. Many employees expected the campus to be closed on furlough days. These employees made other plans on these days (for example for daycare) and some resent that it is not being closed and resent the possibility that they could possibly be asked to work and to take other days off instead. These employees are sometimes feeling taken advantage of.
If employees do not feel that the university is respecting the spirit of the furlough agreement it may be a lot harder for CSU to get a second agreement ratified, if that becomes necessary. It is important for the universities to remember that university employees have made a sacrifice here and if that sacrifice is not respected, it may not ever be repeated.
This was sent to all SJSU staff employees by SJSU President Jon Whitmore on August 6, 2009:
Please note our designated furlough days for this month are August 10 and 17. These designated furlough days will be observed by nearly all MPPs, confidentials and staff members. Exceptions include some public safety, auxiliary, library, athletics, housing and custodial personnel. If you work in these areas, please seek guidance from your supervisor.
Also, bargaining unit members can request alternative furlough days for August by completing the Employee Alternate Furlough Day Request Form noted at the end of this message. Please submit the completed form to your supervisor. Keep in mind that campus operational needs will determine if employee requests are granted.
With respect to the remainder of 2009-2010, we have submitted our proposed furlough plan to the chancellor's office. Once the chancellor's office approves the plan, we will share it with you. Our proposed furlough calendars were carefully constructed with much thought, consultation with employee groups, and concern for our operational and academic needs. Thank you for your patience.
Many of you would also like to know how to word absence greetings for email and voicemail on furlough days. Here is suggested language: "Due to state budget cuts, San Jose State University will offer reduced services on Monday, August 10. Most staff members will be on furlough. Please leave a message, but remember we may be unable to return your call until the next business day."
If you have questions, there are a number of resources available to you. Consider speaking with your supervisor or contacting SJSU Employee Relations Manager Cindy Delgado at 408-924-2151. You may submit your questions and comments via the SJSU budget information website. Human Resources will also offer furlough informational workshops open to all employees.
Please understand that the decision to ask you to furlough was not an easy one. However, given the magnitude of our budget shortfall, we have few good choices. Thank you for your commitment and sacrifice on behalf of our students and your fellow employees.
Sincerely,
Jon Whitmore
More Information:
On August 6, 2009 the following was sent to union employees from Dennis Fox, the chief union steward for the California State University Employees Union, at SJSU:
The first furlough day for most SJSU employees is coming up on Monday, 10 August 2009. Unfortunately, President Whitmore has not declared the furlough days to coincide with campus closure days so there is going to be a lot of confusion at the outset of this experiment. It is very important for all of us to have a clear understanding of what happens or does not happen on a furlough day. First and foremost, you don't do any work on a furlough day. Don't check your email or your voice mail or work on a project at home.
Since a number of people will still be at work on our furlough day, there are going to be a number of you who will receive calls from those at work who need to know something that only you know. I strongly encourage you to NOT ANSWER that call. Only a manager/supervisor has the authority to call you back to work. Any call to you from work, even if it is just a question, constitutes a "call back". In the academic areas there is a lot of confusion about who is a manager/supervisor. Many employees do not realize that only the Dean and, in the larger colleges, one of the Associate Deans are manager/supervisors. Department chairs, directors, confidential employees, and CSUEU represented employees are not manager/supervisors and are not authorized to call you back to work. I want to hear from anyone who gets a work-related call on a furlough day -- even if you don't answer it. I will forward the information to HR in an attempt to get the problem resolved. If it is a legitimate "call back" from a manager we need to be sure you get full credit as outlined in the contract.
The furlough transition is going to be especially confusing for exempt employees. Hopefully, all exempt employees know by now that, during a week that includes a furlough day, they are non-exempt. If you have any questions that have not been answered in the FAQs that have been distributed let me know. If necessary, perhaps we will have a Q&A meeting over the lunch period to address some of these issues.
According to a post in the State Worker, a Sacramento Bee blog, "CSU faculty union rejects management 'pig in a poke' furlough plan." According to the Bee blog, the California Faculty Association (CFA) said:
"Would you buy a "pig in a poke" -- in this case, a pay cut deal composed of vague promises about what is inside the paper bag? CFA won't. [Read More]
CFA represents 23,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches who teach in the California State University system. Just about everyone I have spoken to says if CFA does not agree to furloughs they will not happen and instead we will be facing massively massive layoffs, as opposed to less massive layoffs with furloughs.
Here is a link to a PDF formatted letter dated July 1 from CFA union leadership to faculty in the CSU system.
I have a Twitter feed I try to keep up to date about this issue on a real-time basis. Please feel free to check it out and/or subscribe here:
http://twitter.com/my_union
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
These links off Twitter this morning are very interesting:
For more updates please check out my union Twitter feed.
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
The following message is being sent by Enrollment Services to the 29,600+ students who have enrollment appointments posted for Summer 2009.
Please note that because of the state budget crisis, course offerings are limited this summer. Summer term information, instructions and the course offerings are posted at:
http://info.sjsu.edu/home/schedules.html
If you need to meet with an academic advisor, consider scheduling an appointment now. (NOTE: I think now means NOW!)
For qualified students, financial aid is available for the summer term.
SJSU Budget Forum April 2
Faculty, staff, students and administrators, mark your calendars. An important forum for the San Jose State University community on the state budget crisis will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 2, in the Student Union, Barrett Ballroom. Boxed lunches will be provided by the campus union groups. Please RSVP at 408-924-7787 by Wednesday, March 26.
The forum is a collaborative effort between President Don W. Kassing, campus labor groups, the Academic Senate and Associated Students. Members of the campus community are encouraged to attend to get the facts about the budget crisis and to learn how we can take action to let lawmakers know the importance of the California State University and the education we provide to students.
Speakers include President Kassing and representatives of faculty, staff, students, alumni and labor groups. The SJSU budget forum is one of a series of similar events being held on each CSU campus.
For more information, contact Nancy Stake, director of government and community relations within the Division of University Advancement, at 408-924-1167 or nancy.stake@sjsu.edu.
Read more about the CSU budget:
http://www.calstate.edu/BudgetCentral
Pat Lopes Harris
Media Relations Specialist/SJSU This Week Editor
San Jose State University
San Jose, Calif.
(408) 924-1748
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, California State Budget, ssloansjca
