Spokane7
40°
Dozens of Spokane County employees are taking a 15% pay cut to avoid anyone being laid off. Unlike most of other agencies the Building and Planning Department in Spokane County relies solely on revenue. That revenue is made from new construction. Demand is down on construction projects. So now the department is making cuts. Instead of lay offs the employee’s union decide to shoulder the burden as a whole. Everyone will take a 15% cut. A union staff representative says there are a majority of people not at risk for the layoffs who still voted to save jobs/KREM2, More here.
Question: What would you be willing to do — in terms of pay cut, furlough, 4-day week, loss of benefits — to enable your co-workers to keep jobs and help your employer through this tough economic time?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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idawa on April 24 at 2:53 p.m.
many of the union client of our law firm have agreed to voluntarily take pay cuts or forgo agreed upon increases or defer benefits… of course, it has been my observation, that this has only occurred in environments where the employer has traditionally been a good negotiator and valued employees … where the employer has consistently been narrow minded and fought tooth and nail to deny employee market rates, the unions have been less than accommodating, despite of the current crisis. Personally, I would be willing to take a pay cut or forgo benefits in order to keep coworkers employed - however, I would expect an employer to remember that sacrifice when things improved.
JeanieSpokane on April 24 at 2:58 p.m.
I would absolutely be willing to take a 15% cut in pay - that beats the alternative of 100% laid off.