By Terri Aquino
Daily Bruin Contributor
The University of California has overstated its annual costs for
the past 10 years and reported an excess of a half billion dollars
of unrestricted funds last year alone, said economist Peter Donahue
at a Coalition of University Employees forum Tuesday.
CUE, which represents cashiers and librarians among other
clerical employees, released Donahue’s findings because they
believe the UC is withholding funds.
“The UC budget is one of the most useless documents
I’ve seen,” Donahue said.
Donahue based his assertions on the 2000-01 UC budget report
which documents unrestricted funds ““ money that the
university can use however it chooses ““ as totalling more
than $2 billion accruing from at least 1991 until the 2000 fiscal
year.
“No one has a concept of how many billions (of dollars)
this institution has,” said CUE executive board member Kathy
Kasten.
“They are pretending the money isn’t there,”
Kasten said, adding that with an excess of unrestricted funds,
salary increases for union members should not be an issue.
But UC spokesman Paul Schwartz said unrestricted funds
aren’t necessarily available for clerical salaries.
“Money from the state is the main driver in staff salary
programs, and even some federal money must be used for other
particular resources” other than salaries, Schwartz said.
The state had planned for a 4 percent salary increase for union
employees, but with California’s financial crisis, the UC
only received enough funds for a 2 percent salary increase,
Schwartz said.
Lagging salaries have led to increasingly lower staff retention
rates, and an average of 54 percent of clerical employees quit
their jobs annually, Donahue said.
The average salary for a CUE member is $20,000 to $30,000 per
year, Kasten said.
Though CUE was guaranteed an automatic 1 percent salary increase
this year, Schwartz said the employees asked for a 7.5 percent
increase for the 2001-02 fiscal year ““ an increase which he
said won’t happen.
Nevertheless, Schwartz agrees that under the current budget,
there is a deficiency in salaries among UC clerical employees.
“Clerical employees play a key role in the
university’s ongoing success,” Schwartz said.
An account called the Capital Accumulation Provision will be
available upon retirement, which will help employees and somewhat
compensate for their salaries, Schwartz said.
Donahue will go on a speaking tour to all the UCs. He plans to
create a video on CUE and the UC’s reported budget.