{"id":363202,"date":"2010-02-25T13:43:08","date_gmt":"2010-02-25T18:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef01310f39f08f970c"},"modified":"2010-02-26T13:28:18","modified_gmt":"2010-02-26T18:28:18","slug":"would-you-take-a-pay-cut-to-save-your-co-workers-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/363202","title":{"rendered":"Would you take a pay cut to save your co-workers’ jobs?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\"Pool600\"<\/p>\n

\"TalkBackLopez_187x105\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you had the option, would you give up 10% of your salary in return for saving the jobs of your co-workers? Or would you rather take a couple of unpaid furlough days a month? Or would it be better just to lay off 10% of the workforce? <\/p>\n

In trying to close a budget gap, Los Angeles city officials are saying the proposed 4,000 layoffs could be avoided if all city employees took that cut, in which someone making $50,000 would see a drop to $45,000 — no insignificant amount. Some people have also advocated furloughs as a way of avoiding either option, although the City Council worries about potential legal issues with that route.<\/p>\n

Union officials are naturally suspicious, and unconvinced that any of this is necessary. But they’re living in a dream world, if my conversation with Recreation and Parks director Jon Mukri is any indication.<\/p>\n

Mukri told me that he has 1,700 full-time employees, down from the 2,100 the department had in 2004, with about 300 more job losses in the works. Part-time positions have been cut in half over that six-year stretch, Mukri said. Service cuts, he added, have only just begun.<\/p>\n

“We probably will see fewer pools open” this summer, he said, and recreation centers now open seven days a week might be open only “five days a week or even four.”<\/p>\n

Mukri said he has few options, now that he’s being required by the city to pay millions in utility costs and other indirect expenses out of his own budget.<\/p>\n

Based on numbers he’s seen, Mukri said, if every single city employee agreed to a 10% pay cut, the budget could be balanced without service or job cuts. It would be great PR for the unions too, Mukri suggested.<\/p>\n

Let us know what you think about what\u2019s the best option. In particular, we’d like to hear from union members.<\/p>\n

— Steve Lopez\n<\/p>\n

Photo: Swimmers crowd the pool at Harvard Recreation Center in South L.A. in July. Such opportunities might be rarer this summer because of cuts in the city’s parks and recreation department.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

More breaking news in L.A. Now:<\/strong>
<\/a><\/p>\n

SeaWorld San Diego cancels Shamu show for second day in row<\/a>
<\/a><\/p>\n

Two hikers rescued from Sylmar canyon<\/a>
<\/a><\/p>\n

Police search for shooter who killed man in South L.A.<\/a>
<\/a><\/p>\n

SeaWorld San Diego worked to improve safety after several whale trainer injuries<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n


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If you had the option, would you give up 10% of your salary in return for saving the jobs of your co-workers? Or would you rather take a couple of unpaid furlough days a month? Or would it be better just to lay off 10% of the workforce? In trying to close a budget gap, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4841,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-363202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4841"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}