ORANGE : School Employees to Vote on Pay Cut

Classified employees in the Orange Unified School District are to vote today on a new contract that would cut their salaries by slightly more than 2%.

It is unclear, however, how many of the 47 job cuts proposed by the district last month might be saved by the pay cuts, officials said Tuesday.

Jack Elsner, administrator of human resources for the Orange Unified School District, said district officials are studying the impact of the newly adopted state budget on the school district to determine how many of the proposed layoffs are necessary.

“The proposed contract will mitigate the layoffs. It will not wipe them out,” Elsner said.

The district’s 1,200 classified employees earn from $5.37 an hour to a maximum of $17.14, depending on job classification and seniority. Classified employees include maintenance workers, secretaries and library aides.

“There are some things in the new contract I’m not real happy with, but we can’t get the district to move on them,” said Barbara Noble, president of the Orange chapter of the California School Employees Assn. “We are taking it back to our people because we feel at this time it’s as good as we can do.

“We are trying to save jobs,” Noble added.

If the proposed contract is approved by union members, the pay cut will save the district $1.1 million over the course of the fiscal year, Noble said.

Orange Unified’s teachers voted in August to take a 2.59% cut in salary in order to preserve teaching jobs in the district.

In June, the board had attempted to unilaterally reduce the wages of the district’s teaching and classified staff by 4% in order to avoid layoffs.

But the Public Employee Relations Board ruled in July that the district could not take such action without the consent of the classified employees.

If the contract is ratified, the classified employees would see the pay cut reflected in their paychecks on Oct. 10, Noble said.

If the contract is not approved, negotiations between the two sides will continue with the aid of a mediator.