Unpaid Days Off at SIUC

Looks like Chancellor Cheng is going after hourly workers first in order to cut expenses, negotiating with 4 of the campus unions to take 4 unpaid days off through the school year. I read a comment by Cheng saying they had looked at cutting upper level administrative salaries to help balance the budget but that idea was dismissed. Figures.

The university has a better chance of faculty and unions to accept unpaid days off if upper administration takes cuts first, showing that "we're all in this together." If Chancellor Cheng had announced that top salaried members of the administration were taking a one year pay cut, she'd show they were serious about taming the budget and would have a better chance of getting lower level faculty and staff to go along willingly. As it is, since the first major budget balancing moves she's announced come at the expense of faculty and staff, she will likely get her was but with a lot more grumbling and dissatisfaction.