He’s Committed to Cut in Jobs--Even His Own

An old saying has it that if you want to know the difference between involvement and commitment, take a look at a plate of bacon and eggs. The chicken that laid the eggs is involved; the pig that contributed the bacon is committed.

In that respect, Larry Wilson, a 54-year-old administrator for the state Department of Rehabilitation, is committed to the program of sharp cutbacks in state employment being proposed by Gov. George Deukmejian.

He is an administrator responsible for helping make the job cuts work.

He also knows that one of the jobs being eliminated is his own.

But he is not worried about losing a paycheck.

Steven A. Merksamer, the governor’s chief of staff, said the proposed reductions in the work force were designed to be done “in a way that does not substantially impact on human beings,” causing neither layoffs nor an interruption in service to the needy.

A Year to Look

Wilson, an 18-year veteran who has worked for seven different departments in state government, said: “The governor is standing behind his word--and his word is that there is a job for everyone who wants to work. I think it’s an orderly drill. It is well calculated. It is being handled very well.”

A member of Civil Service who holds down a $3,900-a-month job as a staff services manager III, Wilson, like other department employees whose jobs are being abolished, said he has a year to find another, comparable position.

In fact, because the wholesale changes in state employment are taking place over a period of years, his job was eliminated--on paper, anyway--in Deukmejian’s first budget two years ago, when 165 positions were cut from the Department of Rehabilitation.

The proposed budget for the next fiscal year calls for an additional cut of 126 positions in the department.

Wilson said that jobs were found for all but 20 people who held positions abolished in the first round of cuts, and that he fully expected that the second round would be achieved without layoffs.

Claims Improvement

Echoing the Deukmejian Administration claim, he said that service has been improved, despite the employee cutbacks, through improved efficiencies and contracting with community colleges and local school districts for rehabilitation services previously provided by the department. He noted that while Deukmejian plans a 16% reduction in staffing levels, he has provided for a 27% increase in funding--from $139 million to $176 million.

Some employees interviewed about layoffs, however, appeared concerned despite assurances from the Deukmejian Administration that work would be found for all employees now holding jobs. And they complained about the pressure to produce more because of the numerous vacancies in their departments.

“There’s a lot more pressure. There are verbal threats. You hear all sorts of things,” said an employee of the Department of Motor Vehicles, another department where a large number of jobs are being abolished, primarily due to continued automation of record keeping that began under ex-Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.

Rumors Abound

Another DMV employee, who like the first asked that her name not be used because of fear of reprisals from supervisors, said rumors abounded of workers being fired to create vacant positions, but she said she believed management officials when they said all state employees now on the job would continue to work.

However, she added: “There is a lot of uncertainty. You want to know where you are going, the kind of work you will be stuck with and,” with a smile, “whether you will be given time to clean out your desk.”