ORANGE : Employees’ Group Accepts Pay Cut Plan

The plan to slash city employees’ salaries 10% by furloughing them without pay every Friday passed another hurdle Thursday when the largest of the affected employee groups voted to accept the cut rather than face layoffs.

The Professional, Technical and Clerical Assn. voted to approve the plan by an overwhelming majority, said Irene Carney, the president of its local chapter.

“I think people felt that it would give them nine months to prepare for pain ahead,” Carney said.

“We certainly didn’t give them the idea that there wouldn’t be layoffs in the future.”

The mandatory furlough, when combined with current city work schedules that are designed to reduce employee commuting, will leave City Hall and city public libraries dark on Fridays as of Oct. 9.

Employees’ groups that accept the furlough and the pay reduction will have their members’ jobs guaranteed through the end of the fiscal year, but city officials have refused to make any employment promises for further into the future.

“We are positioning ourselves for (fiscal year) ‘93-94 and that could be a very difficult year unless the economy turns around,” said City Manager Ron Thompson.

The entire furlough plan would have been thrown into jeopardy if the Professional, Technical and Clerical Assn. vote had revealed a preference for the layoffs of some of its membership over a pay reduction, since that bargaining unit represents the majority of City Hall and library employees, according to Thompson.

The furlough proposal emerged as an alternative to laying off as many as 118 full-time workers and 32 part-time staffers as a result of state cuts of more than $1 million to the city’s general fund.

The 10% pay reduction will save the city $1.3 million.

Thompson said that the City Council will vote on the plan at its meeting Tuesday.

Three employee unions--the Water Department Employees Assn., the Orange Supervisory and Management Assn. and the Mid-Management Assn.--approved the proposal earlier in the week.

The Maintenance and Operations Assn. is tentatively scheduled to vote Tuesday morning.

City officials say that even if the group decides to take layoffs, it won’t effect the closure of City Hall, since the majority of the workers in the bargaining unit work out on the streets and in other city buildings.