Boots & Sabers

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2142, 26 Oct 20

UW Implements Furloughs AND $15 Minimum Wage

So if you’re lucky enough to keep your job, you’ll make more. Of course, more people could keep their jobs if UW didn’t set an artificial wage floor, but that’s how the minimum wage works.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison will implement more furloughs for spring semester to help offset revenue losses from the COVID-19 pandemic. The first round of unpaid leave, announced in August, ends this month.

Furloughs will begin Jan. 1 and last through June 30 to allow time for employees’ pay to return to normal, Chancellor Rebecca Blank said in an email Monday. They will have the same graduated structure as the current furloughs, ranging from three monthly furlough days with a 2.5% pay reduction to six monthly furlough days with a 4.6% pay reduction.

The university estimates that revenue between March and the end of this fiscal year in June 2021 will be about $320 million less than anticipated, Blank said. Some of the shortfall was offset through cost savings efforts, such as $27 million in savings from furloughs and salary reductions.

[…]

UW-Madison will also continue moving forward with its commitment to a $15 minimum wage for all hourly employees. Though it temporarily halted the plan earlier this year, Blank said it will go into effect Jan. 17, mainly affecting custodial, animal care and food-service employees.

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2142, 26 October 2020

29 Comments

  1. Jason

    >UW-Madison will also continue moving forward with its commitment to a $15 minimum wage for all hourly employees

    Funny how Liberals want to suspend all types of liberties and even re-write constituions in the name of Covid, but hell if they can suspend handing out more tax payer money.

  2. Mar

    It doesn’t sound like anyone is losing their job, just get a long weekend every few weeks. I’m sure the furlough time can be covered by vacation or sick time.

  3. Le Roi du Nord

    If these furloughs are anything similar to state furloughs in the past ~35 years, you would not be able to use vacation, sick time, or any other PH to make up the time. Hence the term “unpaid leave” as mentioned in the article.

  4. Mar

    Well, my experience working at CWC says differently. We were allowed to take a vacation day.
    Too bad you lie so much, sociopath, that I don’t believe you.

  5. Kevin Scheunemann

    There Nord is, supporting bankrupting restaurants and bars on 25% rule.

    Now supporting an out of ordinary minimum wage for UW, to rob any workers left in bar and restaurants.

    Could you be any more disgusting as a liberal in policy toward bars and restaurants?

    You are awful. Just awful.

  6. penquin

    out of ordinary minimum wage

    What is the difference between an ordinary minimum wage and one that is out of the ordinary?

  7. Mar

    Probably about $4 an hour

  8. Mar

    Should add, depending where you live.
    Of course one can argue that there should be no minimum wage.

  9. Le Roi du Nord

    Well mar, CWC must have has different policies than DNR or DOT,  as we weren’t allowed to make up time with any other form of paid leave.  The purpose was UNPAID leave.  And we couldn’t take off more than 8 hours per pay period so as not to approach unemployment eligibility.  Granted I am talking about the mid-80’s (Dreyfus Days), and later during the Thompson and Doyle reigns.  Perhaps you were later.

    So don’t call me a liar or sociopath unless you were standing right there next to me at the same agency.  All the name calling does for your reputation is prove that you have none.

  10. Le Roi du Nord

    k:

    Could you point out where I support bankrupting anyone?  Facts please.

    Or where I said anything about minimum wage?  Again, facts.

    You are the making stuff up, not me.

  11. Jason

    >as we weren’t allowed to make up time with any other form of paid leave.  

    How times change.  This is from 2011…  (FTO is Furloughed Time Off) in this FAQ from the UW System.  My bolding, of course, for the dense folks that need the help.

     

    D.4. I have approved paid leave scheduled. May I substitute FTO for this approved leave? Yes. You may substitute FTO for any approved leave as long as the use of the FTO meets the requirements of the UW System furlough plan and is approved by your supervisor. The 8-hour per week limit still applies for those having pay reduced as furlough hours are taken.

  12. penquin

    May I substitute FTO for this approved leave?Yes.You may substitute FTO for any approved leave as long as the use of the FTO meets the requirements of the UW System furlough plan and is approved by your supervisor. The 8-hour per week limit still applies for those having pay reduced as furlough hours are taken

    Looks to me as if they are saying an employee can take unpaid leave instead of approved paid leave if they wish to so.

    Can you perhaps bold the part that says they can use paid leave to make-up for the $$$ lost due to taking the FTO? ’cause I don’t see that anywhere at all in what you quoted…

  13. Mar

    Moron, sociopath, I didn’t call you liar…this time.
    I just don’t believe because you lie so often.

  14. Le Roi du Nord

    mar:

    Do you think before you type?

  15. Mar

    And again, sociopath, you have nothing.

  16. Le Roi du Nord

    mar:

    So the answer is “no”, correct?

  17. Tuerqas

    At least the senior leadership are also taking the cuts and furloughs.

  18. penquin

    At least the senior leadership are also taking the cuts and furloughs

    Dunno how the UW is doing it, but City of Madison employees will also be taking some furlough days next year, with higher-up management taking more time-off than the rank&file.

  19. dad29

    Looks like another Tommy Thompson ‘split-the-baby’ move.  Unpaid leave, but big jack-up in wage–which, of course, will be followed by “adjustments” all the way up the ladder.

    Please don’t suggest that the UW Chancellor didn’t run this past “Stick-It-To-‘Em” Thompson.  Only idiots would believe that.

  20. penquin

    Ain’t nothing wrong with making a mistake, happens to the best of us. But once a mistake is pointed out, it is kinda rude if the mistake-maker doesn’t even acknowledge they were wrong….isn’t it?

  21. Tuerqas

    Looks like another Tommy Thompson ‘split-the-baby’ move.  Unpaid leave, but big jack-up in wage–which, of course, will be followed by “adjustments” all the way up the ladder.
    Please don’t suggest that the UW Chancellor didn’t run this past “Stick-It-To-‘Em” Thompson.  Only idiots would believe that.
    Are you suggesting that the minimum wage hike to the poorest of employees in the education tree is a ‘big jack up in wage’ that will topple the total pay scales or have you read something about pay hikes for the upper echelon that are taking pay cuts?  I am not really for or against the $15/hr min wage (other than that it is not being adjusted for the demographic cost of living in a given area.  $15/hour on a coast is paltry, in the midwest it is class changing so it is stupid to have one min wage nation-wide), but I am still fairly certain that the pay increase to $15/hr for the min wage workers is a comparative drop in the education money bucket and goes to those that need it most.

  22. Jason

    >but I am still fairly certain that the pay increase to $15/hr for the min wage workers is a comparative drop in the education money bucket and goes to those that need it most.

     

    I think what he’s saying is bumping those lower ranked spots up, will likely result in adjustments upwards through all the ranks.  It depends on how much gap there is between those making under $15 now, and those making near $15 or just barely over $15 now… and then each bracket up from there.

     

  23. Tuerqas

    Could be I guess, though the original linked article says who is primarily affected by the min wage increase:

    “The increase in the minimum wage will primarily affect workers in custodial, animal care and food-service positions.”  

    I don’t see whole slices of increases across these groups as being significant in the overall wage budget of the UW system.  Never heard of the overpaid food service and janitorial upper echelons…

  24. Jason

    As an example…  If Minimum Wage is 8 / hour and Joe Janitor is making $8 an hour, and his supervisor Sam is making $15.50 an hour… and suddenly Joe gets a pay increase to $15, don’t you think Sam is going to start raising a Stink?  :)  I’d wager he would.

  25. Tuerqas

    Yes, but I have seen both ends of that example in my lifetime.  When I was on the receiving end I gained, I believe, $1.50. While others gained more, my supervisor complained that she was just above the increase and did not gain anything.  Life wasn’t fair and her stink got her (if I believed her, and I was dubious) a .50 cent raise (the largest raise for the newbies was $2.75).  My wife in HR saw the other.  The company raised their min wage to $13.  Supervisors went to 13.5 if they were below, but if you had 5 years experience and were at $13 ‘tough cookies’.  And I have never heard that any company who raised their min wage $2.50, automatically gave everyone in the company a $2.50 raise.  It doesn’t work that way.

    You can have a legitimate beef and get nothing for it is what I have seen.  Most companies and I assume institutions will elevate advanced roles a small amount over the min., but if you have been working 5 years at the same job and Sally just started and you are both raised to the same wage, the answer to your complaint is usually “Why are you still in the starting position?”  Just what I have seen.

  26. Jason

    Totally agree, I’ve had similar experiences in my long life.

  27. MjM

    @ Tuerq:  And I have never heard that any company who raised their min wage $2.50, automatically gave everyone in the company a
    $2.50 raise

    May be true. But the problem is, this ain’t a company.  It’s g’vment.

    And the unions are already barking…

    Third, [the University Labor Council, a coalition of unions that represent UW workers] demands the University reinstate the $15 minimum wage for hourly workers, and extend it to include student workers.

    The suspended (because CCPVirus) to-$15 bump was never planned/intended for student workers.

    Current min for custodial is $13.62/hr…

    Our current workforce includes about 400 custodians, about one-third of which do not have English as their native language.

    …so move to $15/hr for just these 400 at UW-Madscow means a hair over $4,400 added to taxpayers burden per day.,  or $1.6 million /yr

    Just a thought.

  28. penquin

    a hair over $4,400 added to taxpayers burden per day., or $1.6 million /yr

    That would assume UW receives 100% of their funding from tax-dollars, but actually less than 15% of their budget is from the state.  (About half of that amount the UW has some discretion is how to spend it with the other 1/2 designated for specific purposes & services.) They do receive 29% of their budget from the federal gov’t, but most of that is for specific research projects.

    Also, the only was it would be “added” to the taxpayers burden is if Vos&Fitzgerald decide to increase the funding for this purpose. While that is possible, it is highly improbable.

  29. Tuerqas

    It is Government, and we will see what the unions get out of it, but isn’t it strange how if the head of a company or Chancellor gets a 1.6 million dollar bonus, nobody expects dick, but if the lowest tier gets anything, then everyone seems to feel they deserve more?

    Mjm:

    Current min for custodial is $13.62/hr…
    Our current workforce includes about 400 custodians, about one-third of which do not have English as their native language.
    …so move to $15/hr for just these 400 at UW-Madscow means a hair over $4,400 added to taxpayers burden per day.,  or $1.6 million /yr
    Just a thought.

    Hmmm, first of all my math says 15.00-13.62=1.38.  1.38*2080=2870.40.  2870.40*400=1.15 million, about a third less than what your 4400/day numbers come up with.  Maybe they made all kinds of OT, those chiselers.

    Put that aside for the moment and use your mystery number of 1.6 million and assume the taxpayers all of it.  There were about 3.04 million tax filers last year.  So we would be paying about $0.50 a year to give 400 struggling people or families a better living.  Meanwhile 2018-2019 saw 35 million in raises for UW-Madison staff (plus what admins received), the people who can already afford a good living.

    Just another thought.

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