Nearly 10,000 San Francisco city workers will be laid off and most rehired for jobs with shorter hours under a controversial plan being examined by Mayor Gavin Newsom.
The mayor's budget office came up with the idea of cutting hours to reduce costs. Fulltime employees will work 37.5 hour weeks instead of the traditional 40.
Newsom's budget office estimates that paying workers for 2.5 fewer hours of work each week would save more than $50 million a year as the city grapples with how to close a devastating $522 million budget gap for the 2010-11 fiscal year.
"We have to look at unprecedented tools to close an unprecedented shortfall," said Tony Winnicker, the spokesman for the mayor. "These times call for unusual measures, so we have to look at all options." |