The University of California has reached an agreement with the Coalition of University Employees on temporary layoffs for fiscal year 2009-10 to address this year's budgetary shortfall.

The agreement with CUE, the union representing 14,000 UC clerical employees, is similar to the furlough and salary reduction program affecting nonrepresented employees. Under the deal, CUE members will accept salary reductions of 4 to 6 percent, depending on their pay band, along with a corresponding number of temporary layoff days.

The agreement is intended to minimize disruption to campus operations and to allow employees to take time off with pay during the upcoming holiday closure period.

"I am pleased that the university and CUE were able to agree on this critical issue," Dwaine B. Duckett, UC's vice president for human resources and benefits, said today (Dec. 10). "I just wish that the agreement had been achieved sooner."

The agreement anticipates that employees affected by the temporary layoffs will have their layoff days coincide with their campus' scheduled closure days. This measure mitigates the impact of the closure program, which otherwise would require employees to rely on vacation, compensatory time off or leave without pay. This element of the agreement is comparable to the systemwide furlough program because furloughed employees are able to use their furlough days during the closure period.

"The university appreciates CUE's willingness to craft an agreement that recognizes the university's need to conserve funds during a time of fiscal crisis," said Peter Chester, senior university negotiator assigned to clerical unit negotiations. "This deal also mitigates the financial hardship of the cuts on the university's clerical employees."

Like the systemwide furlough program, the agreement allows CUE members to mitigate the impact of salary reductions by having pay reduced an equal amount each month over a 12-month period, beginning Feb. 1, 2010. Employees who choose to spread their pay reductions over the course of a year will retain their vacation and sick leave accruals.

Several other groups of represented employees are also participating in salary reduction programs similar to the furlough. The systemwide furlough program, approved by the UC Board of Regents in July, was designed to save $184 million and is part of the university's effort to offset the loss of more than $800 million in state funding through spending cuts, salary reductions, debt restructuring and student fee increases.