Union members voted, in good faith, to help save the California State University from a budget crisis by cutting their own wages by means of furlough days. You would think the Cal State Long Beach managers would be grateful for their employees’ sacrifices and at the very least allow some leeway for their employees to take these unpaid days off.
Before voting for the furloughs employees were told they would get two 3-day weekends per month to compensate them for their 10 percent cut in pay. But when President Alexander announced a 2009-2010 campus shutdown calendar, employees were surprised to see many shutdown days occurring during the middle of the week.
Worse, CSULB management has chosen to disregard many provisions of the furlough agreement to their own advantage. The employees that saved the CSU from collapse are the heroes here, and should be treated with admiration and respect. Instead, management has found ways to make it difficult for their employees to even enjoy a day off.
Here are some examples of how CSULB management is in violation of the agreement between the CSU and the California State University Employees Union:
1. The president has told employees to make a schedule of “personal choice” furlough days for the entire year and submit it by Aug. 21. The agreement does not have any such provision. The only reference in the agreement to a filing time is in Section 3a: “This consultation shall take place as soon as practicable, but no later than the start of the monthly pay period in which a furlough day is to be observed.”
2. The furlough schedule submitted by the president requires employees to take two furlough days per month. This is not a requirement of the agreement. Section 3d of the agreement states, “With the exception of this one-time observance of up to five (5) furlough days, no employee shall observe more than three (3) furlough days in any pay period for a full-time CSUEU-represented employee from August 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010.” There is no mention of any minimum number of days that would be required.
3. Some employees do not work Monday through Friday workweeks. This results in some “Staff Shutdown” days occurring during these employees’ day off. This should result in the employee getting an extra “employee choice” date. But some managers are not allowing the employee to choose these furlough days and insist on them being taken the same week as the missed Staff Shutdown day. There is no such requirement in the agreement.
4. Some managers have asked employees to take a furlough day in two parts — four hours one day and four hours another day. This is in clear violation of the agreement. Section 2a states: “The term ‘furlough day’ as used in this Agreement refers to a day on which an employee is normally scheduled to work, or is in pay status, that is taken as an unpaid day off.”
Thomas R. Odell,
CSULB Library Media Resources