staff assembly on possible forthcoming furlough/salary cut

last week i felt like my life had completely fallen apart. it wasn't enough that i had lost my girl. now with the state budget fiasco, it seems like our salaries are going to be cut. working for a university, we were cushioned from the initial cuts the state employees went through. no more. so i felt like i didn't have a partner anymore, my cost of living has gone up, and now my salary is going down. i was really low. one day i even left the house to go to work crying. well today we had a staff meeting about what's going on. i doubted that any answers would be provided as everything has been vague so far. all we can tell is that it's gonna happen. well, the meeting didn't give any answers, no surprise there. i ranted enough in the photo on flickr so i won't rant any more here.

my union says that:

• salary cuts are NOT necessary
• the state of california has a financial emergency NOT uc
• state appropriations to uc are only 19% of the uc total revenue
• there is a $570 million budget shortfall
• uc has $5.3 billion in unrestricted reserve funds
• uc can redirect money from the medical centers & hospitals to the campuses
• $390 million in bonuses was paid to UC top executives last fall