"By EMILY ALPERT
After another plan failed to dig up enough savings, San Diego Unified is now under even more pressure to squeeze employees to balance its budget.
The prolonged budget crisis has put some board members at odds with the same unions that helped to elect them -- and jumbled the usual dynamics of the politicized board.
Longtime labor ally Richard Barrera is seeking deeper concessions from the teachers union, along with John Lee Evans, who was elected on a pledge to protect teachers. John de Beck and Shelia Jackson, who have often disagreed on labor issues in recent years, are both pushing the idea of progressive salary cuts that fall harder on employees who earn more.
And Katherine Nakamura, who is often at odds with the teachers union, called deeply cutting teachers' salaries 'unconscionable.'
'It's almost surreal,' said Bruce McGirr, director of the union that represents principals and other administrators. 'It's like it flipped.'
Barrera, Evans and Jackson were fierce critics two years ago when Nakamura, de Beck and then-board member Mitz Lee warned hundreds of teachers of possible layoffs to handle a"