15,000 S.F. workers given layoff notice

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Emotions ranged from disbelief to despair to downright anger Friday as 15,000 San Francisco city workers received pink slips. But Mayor Gavin Newsom reiterated that his controversial plan to rehire them under shortened workweeks would wind up saving thousands of jobs.

Newsom ordered the layoff notices be sent to most of the city's 26,000 workers and said the overwhelming majority of them will be hired back within two weeks to work 37.5 hours a week instead of their current 40 - meaning they'll see a 6.25 percent cut to their paychecks.

The plan will save $50 million in the city's general operating fund, which has a $522 million deficit for the 2010-11 fiscal year. It will save another $50 million in departments that don't receive general fund money like the port and airport.

Cut backs are coming in the "coercive" sector of the economy.