Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
University of Maine System Chancellor Richard Pattenaude and all the system union presidents agreed to withdraw proposals for furlough days, parties involved announced Friday.
The system managed to close most of its $15.1 million budget gap – a result of budget curtailment at the state level, accounting for $8.4 million of the gap, and investment losses, accounting for $6.7 million.
Furlough days, or unpaid vacation days, were proposed as a cost-cutting measure to prevent layoffs. Under the proposal, classified staff, such as custodians, would have been most affected because they are most likely to be laid off first. An earlier e-mail to members of COLT, a union representing classified staff, warned that if the furlough proposal was rejected, up to 100 classified staff were likely to be laid off.
“We made a conscious decision to shift the focus away from personnel reductions,” said Robert Caswell, a spokesperson for USM.
In addition, a number of senior staff members at universities and at the system level agreed to work five days without pay. These staff – including the chancellor, vice chancellors and presidents of all seven universities – will have one day’s worth of pay deducted from their paycheck each month from February until June. A number of senior staff both at the system level and at individual universities have come forward and offered to do the same.
According to Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Rebecca Wyke, “We have done a tremendous job finding alternatives” to laying off employees. There have been layoffs already that were in the pipeline before the furlough days were proposed, which would have blocked layoffs until July 1.
Strategies used to reduce the budget at different campuses varied. By reducing purchases at the library, cutting back on maintenance and reducing the travel budget, USM was able to almost completely fill its $2.7 million gap. USM was already suffering financial difficulties before curtailment of its funds, and would have suffered 70 of the 100 layoffs had the gap not been remedied. The remaining school with a budget shortfall is University of Maine Fort Kent – though it is possible the University of Southern Maine will encounter new financial difficulties, according to Wyke.
Layoffs are already planned for the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years, Wyke said.
The chancellor’s original proposal for this year would have required every “regularly funded” classified and unrepresented professional employee to take two furlough days before the end of the fiscal year. Unrepresented professional employees include deans, vice presidents and department directors.
Some faculty members spoke out against furlough days, saying that other options had not been fully explored. Other options include delaying cost-of-living increases and paychecks so they fall on the next fiscal year. Such actions would not solve the problem, but would help buy time to find a better solution.
In an e-mail to union members, James Bradley, the state president of ACSUM – which is the bargaining unit for clerical, office, laboratory and technical staff – wrote, “In exchange for agreeing to the furlough days, UMS [would have agreed] not to implement any further layoffs . between now and June 30.”
If all the unions did not agree to furlough days and the proposal therefore did not pass, the system would lay off up to 100 staff members, mostly hourly employees.
According to Bradley, hourly employees require little to no severance pay and only four weeks’ notice, whereas professional staff, who are paid salary, require six-month notice and severance. Faculty cannot be laid off before July 1.
“We simply have no choice but to accept the proposal,” Bradley said.
The system also agreed to offer early retirement to certain employees who have worked at least 20 years. It is unclear whether this agreement was affected.
Heather Steeves contributed to this report.
