University employees in the California system are anxiously waiting to see if their pay gets Terminated

State governor and part-time cyborg Arnold Schwarzenegger has mooted the idea of cutting all state employee pay to the minimum wage of $6.55 an hour until a state budget can be passed. Back pay would be issued once a budget cleared the legislature and allowed normal financing to resume (LA Times).

Latest reports say the move may be signed off by Schwarzenegger on Thursday. Since this suggestion came to light last week there have been dark mutterings in the UC system.

“I have authoritative information that UC will invoke their autonomy from the State should this happen, and instaclassify their employees as not subject to the order,” said Steinn Sigurðsson of Penn State’s Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, on his blog Dynamics of Cats. “Don’t know if CSU or CCs would be exempt, I’d guess not, since their funding is much more tightly coupled to State funding and they are on the wrong side of the tuition income cycle.”

California State University has been asked to cut its pay but its Chancellor Charles Reed says:

We are working to ensure that CSU employees will receive their regular paychecks and can expect their normal compensation until a new budget is signed. At the same time, we are looking at paying compensation with alternative revenue sources other than the state general fund in an effort to cooperate with the Governor and the legislature in this challenging budget environment.

The Daily Californian suggests UC employees could be hit and University of California President Mark Yudof wrote to reassure employees:

Based on the information we have at this point, however, and our experience in prior years with similar budget situations, we will make every effort to ensure that employee salaries will continue to be paid at current levels and that all labor contracts will be honored until an agreement is reached on a State budget. At the same time, we recognize the severity of the budget crisis confronting the State, and as in the past, UC will take appropriate measures to assist the Governor and the State in addressing its fiscal situation.

Not that anyone really knows what is going to happen at the moment, with the exception of the big man. Nicole Savickas, a UC spokesperson, says “We want to clarify that the order has not been signed. We don’t know what the order would say. We don’t know what the order would call for, and we can’t speculate.” (UCLA’s Daily Bruin.)

So things are up in the air until Thursday at least.

Sigurðsson’s advice in the event of a pay cut: “Work to rule, brothers!”