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Friday, February 10, 2012
Supervisors nix plan to cut employee work hours
by Kathleen Haley, published on October 20, 2009 at 10:27 PM
Storyline: Sacramento County Budget
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A highly controversial plan from county executives to shorten the work schedules of about 7,000 union-represented employees failed Tuesday when the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted it down.
Instead of adopting the contentious plan, which union officials had alleged was illegal, the supervisors decided to lay off 76 employees.
However, the 76 layoffs are not set in stone — the county is allowing room to lower that number through more negotiations with unions.
Sacramento County, which recently faced a $76-million shortfall, approved its budget earlier this month. More than 700 county employees have been laid off since July, according to county spokesman Zeke Holst. County officials cite the poor economy as the reason it is in a financial crisis.
Steve Keil, the county’s labor relations director, told The Sacramento Press outside the meeting that the 76 planned layoffs could change depending on the possibility of new concessions from unions.
“If we can get additional concessions, we will either not lay those people off or restore them after we lay them off,” Keil said.
The proposal rejected by the board would have cut 16 hours per month from employees represented by unions, according to county documents.
Ted Somera, executive director of United Public Employees Local 1, said he was frustrated with the day’s events. The union had fought against the plan to shorten work schedules.
With the controversial work hours plan no longer in the picture, the union will now negotiate with the county to lower numbers of layoffs, Somera said. The union wanted to negotiate about layoffs, but had to fight the work hours plan first, he noted.
“I’m frustrated because we’re back at ‘Square 1,’ ” Somera told The Sacramento Press.
All five supervisors spoke out against the proposal to shorten work schedules, which was formally called the “.908 plan.” Supervisor Jimmie Yee called it “a bad idea.”
The plan would have resulted in the county facing grievances and legal actions “with no certainty of the outcome,” said Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan.
Photo by Anthony Bento.
Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.
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No matter how bad the economy gets, and no matter how many in the private sector suffer. Our government will always grow, and public employess will have a standard of living not seen in the private sector.
Tax payers deserve this, we allowed our government to grow out of control.
What's your warrant for this claim? Can you see into the minds of thousands of people? If you were really interested in making an argument against the efficacy of unions, you can do better than spreading lazy memes. With the internet, the research is fairly easy, and since you're so opinionated you might as well learn a few things about what you're talking about.
"This is exactly why public emplyee unions should be outlawed in California. " Jim, that's refreshingly plain and forthright. We, of course, would fight you tooth and nail on this one.
"Our government will always grow." Raise taxes! We've made government cheap, so people want more of it.
Speaking of which, I know you conservatives are pretty skeptical of Pelosi, but she did propose a VAT. Isn't that something that could grease the wheels of bi-partisanship?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_added_tax