10% Pay Cut Urged for Cal State Faculty, Staff : Education: Salary reductions would avert layoffs and program eliminations, San Diego State president says.

Faculty and staff at the 20-campus California State University should take a 10% pay cut next year to avoid crippling layoffs and program eliminations on the horizon for the fall, San Diego State President Thomas Day urged Tuesday.

However, leaders of the two largest Cal State unions, representing the faculty and clerical staff members systemwide, reacted coolly to the idea and said trims should be made first in administrative expenses.

The disagreement surfaced as the Cal State Board of Trustees, meeting Tuesday in Long Beach, heard the gloomiest forecasts to date about the recession’s effect on state revenues for the campuses and their 362,000 students. It came a day after San Diego State, the largest school in the system, announced controversial plans to eliminate nine academic departments, sharply cut nine others and lay off 193 tenured and non-tenured teachers out of a total of 1,400.

“At least it could buy us some time,” Day said of the proposed 10% pay cut. Otherwise, he told the trustees, his campus faces reductions that are “just going to be disastrous for us.”

Day said he was bringing the idea forward at the urging of many teachers, students and staffers on his campus. But Day’s statement was criticized by Patrick Nichelson, president of the California Faculty Assn., which negotiates salaries and benefits for the 18,000-member faculty. Nichelson’s union and others would have to go along with such a pay cut before it could reach trustees for a vote.

Given the budget crisis, Nichelson said his union is willing “to talk about a number of issues, including compensation issues.” However, Cal State must first make “substantive proposals for cuts in administrative positions” at its Long Beach headquarters and on campuses, he said.

Similarly, Teven Laxer, a senior labor relations representative of the California State Employees Assn., said he hoped “other things could be done significantly short of pay cuts.” His union represents about 13,000 Cal State employees, mainly clerks and custodians.

On the other hand, Wiggsy Sivertsen, president of the Academic Professionals of California, which represents about 1,600 student service officers and counselors at Cal State, said she would support Day’s idea. “I would do anything necessary to save people’s jobs,” she said. “A 10% cut is a lot better than 100%.”

Less controversial was an announcement Tuesday that Cal State officials are studying several financial packages to encourage early retirement by senior, and most well-paid, professors. Anticipated savings from such a plan presumably would help save jobs of junior faculty members.

Cal State system Chancellor Barry Munitz has given all 20 campuses until June 5 to come up with plans for expected 8% budget cuts. Because of the state’s growing deficit, Munitz on Tuesday predicted state general revenues for the university will be between 12% and 18% less than the $1.66 billion suggested by Gov. Pete Wilson in January.

“So what’s basically happening is that California is ripping up the ticket to the American dream,” Munitz declared, saying that enrollment and access to classes could be badly restricted.

The chancellor said he would consider any proposals to avoid massive layoffs but would not push a pay cut without support from the faculty. He said he was concerned that legislators might wrongly interpret such a giveback as a concession that professors are overpaid.

According to union leaders, annual salaries for tenure track professors ranges from about $28,000 for new teachers to $60,000 for more senior ones. Cal State employees are going into their second year without a cost-of-living raise.

Cal State officials had no solid figures on how much money a 10% pay cut would save. But they stressed that they would still need the 40%, or $372 a year, increase in student fees the university is seeking, bringing the total annual cost for most students to $1,308, excluding books and living costs.

At Cal State Fullerton, the budget is still being drafted, university spokesman Jerry Keating said. But rumors have been flying across the 25,000-student campus about probable layoffs and department cuts.

At a faculty meeting Thursday, Don Schweitzer, vice president of academic affairs, said a worst-case scenario could mean the loss of up to 80 faculty positions.

Most other Cal State campuses, including Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Francisco, are also still preparing their reduction plans.