Teachers Urged to Reject Cuts : Education: Union leaders recommend strike to oppose pay reductions.

Los Angeles teachers should go on strike rather than accept a pay cut of as much as 12% below what they earned two years ago, leaders of the teachers union decided Monday.

The 300-member House of Representatives of United Teachers-Los Angeles, meeting in a special session, voted unanimously to recommend that its members reject the proposed pay cuts.

The decision on whether to strike will be in the hands of the union’s 29,000 members, who will vote next Tuesday and Wednesday on whether to accept the district’s offer or strike, said UTLA spokeswoman Catherine Carey.

District officials have contended that their offer is the best they can give in the wake of a fiscal crisis that forced them to eliminate programs, cut positions and propose drastic pay reductions to eliminate a $400-million shortfall.

But the teachers union has vigorously fought the proposed cuts, arguing that officials should trim administration and extracurricular programs before asking workers to accept severe pay reductions.

The district is proposing pay cuts that would take the least from the lowest-paid workers and the most from top-paid management. The reductions would come primarily from employees taking unpaid days off rather than through base salary cuts.

Under the proposal, workers earning less than $20,000 a year would receive no pay cut but would have to take some furloughed days when classes are not in session. Those earning between $20,000 and $28,000 would receive a 6.5% pay reduction, while the majority of the district’s employees--including teachers and most administrators--would take a 9% reduction.

The 40 administrators earning more than $90,000 would receive an 11.5% cut. The cuts would be in addition to a 3% pay cut imposed on the district’s 58,000 full-time workers last year.