California workers who maintain the state’s buildings, roads and equipment would take a 9.23 percent pay cut in exchange for two flexible days off per month in a proposed contract agreement with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration.

The International Union of Operating Engineers, which represents more than 11,000 maintenance workers, has reached an agreement with terms similar to those reached by other state unions in the last two weeks.

The main difference is the maintenance workers’ agreement would last just one year, while those reached by SEIU Local 1000, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Professional Engineers in California Government were for two years.

“Members didn’t want to be locked into a two-year contract with concessions in it,” said Steve Crouch, the IUOE’s director of public employees. “They felt better doing a one-year agreement. Maybe the economy can recuperate some of the losses.”

The unions have been agreeing to reductions ordered by Newsom to help address a projected $54 billion budget deficit caused by the coronavirus.

Cutting state workers’ pay and suspending the raises many were scheduled to receive would save about $3.6 billion per year, according to projections.

The maintenance workers’ agreement, like the others, uses a personal leave program to make the reductions. Sometimes referred to as furloughs, the program reduce workers’ pay by the equivalent of two days worth of work per month. They receive two days of leave in exchange that they may use at their discretion.

The agreement would require a vote from members to be ratified, and it requires approval from the Legislature.

The agreement includes no pay raises for the year ahead. The agreement says pay could be reconsidered, at the sole discretion of the Department of Finance director, if the state receives federal aid money.

The deal softens the blow of the pay cut by suspending the monthly contributions state workers make toward their retirement health care. The suspension lets the IUOE-represented workers keep 4.6 percent of their pay.

The agreement also would expand flexible workweeks.

Crouch said many workers who couldn’t telework switched to four 10-hour days per week to reduce their potential for exposure to the coronavirus. The agreement would require managers to approve alternate schedules unless there’s a good reason not to.

The agreement also provides workers up to three days of leave for career-related training per year.

This story was originally published June 29, 2020 at 2:50 PM with the headline "California state maintenance workers take one-year pay-cut deal in hope of better times ahead."