University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

UB employees should sacrifice

To the Editor:

Why are there “mandated” salary increases for UB employees?

In the private sector, there is rarely such a thing. If your business is failing or under budgetary constraints, salaries can be cut. There are many businesses, especially in Western New York, that are facing or have had layoffs, as well as pay cuts, just to keep others employed.

I understand that there is probably a contract with these "state" employees that says they are to receive a mandatory salary increase year in and year out. Well, I think that is just too bad. Why should it be mandatory, especially in the financial crisis we are facing now? I have not received a pay increase—not even to account for inflation/cost of living—in more than three years because the local economy is slow. I know there are millions across the state that have not, either.

I find it insulting and infuriating that a pay raise could be mandatory. Employees should make some sacrifices because it would be better to have pay stay at the level it is now for another year or even—God

forbid!—reduce salaries than to end up getting the ultimate pay cut: unemployment.

We all have to sacrifice when times are tough. We in the private sector have to cut back when we don't have the money. Why don’t the state and this university feel the need to tighten their belts? Suck it up and cut salaries without cutting services.

Daniel Ziehm
Undergraduate Student