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After University of Maryland President Darryll Pines announced that all employees who make over $150,000 would be facing temporary salary reductions last month, the union that represents the employees says its members have reached an agreement with administrators over the reductions.

Rather than a straight salary reduction, employees who are represented by the union will now receive a combination of a salary reduction and furlough days, said the union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 3 Local 1072. The number of days an employee would be furloughed would depend on their salary, said Todd Holden, interim president of the union’s local chapter.

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On days when they are furloughed, employees will not work and they will not get paid. University employees have worked hard throughout the pandemic, Holden said, and asking them to take a salary reduction with no difference in hours would not be fair. 

“We’re very pleased that we were able to arrive at an agreement with the university over this matter,” Holden said. “It certainly goes to show that when we do come to this table on things, we can have productive conversations that yield results that are satisfactory to everybody.”

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Most workers represented by the union would not be impacted by the reductions, he said — a fact he attributed to the organization’s educational and outreach efforts to its members, faculty, students and local legislators. 

A university spokesperson said they could not confirm the union’s report of the agreement at this time, saying doing so would be “premature.” 

Pines said last month that the reductions would be based on a salary tier, with up to a 10 percent reduction for the top salary range. The reductions come as the university continues to weather economic losses from the coronavirus pandemic.
This story has been updated.