Members of the local chapter of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees rejected an agreement with Ohio University that union workers said would have given more power to the administration and could have resulted in more layoffs.
The agreement, shot down in a vote of 189-104, would have allowed the administration to reorganize six areas such as the paint shop and construction crew under Zone Maintenance and determine the number of employees needed in each area.
Union members without a job following the reorganization would have been placed in a holding pool until they were assigned a job or given a layoff notice.
The university is coming to us once again to bail them out of a problem that we did not cause
said Richard Perry, a union member who has worked at OU for 26 years.
The university could have laid off the last 32 people to be hired, but instead they want to cherry pick who is laid off, Perry said.
We are very disappointed that the majority of those AFSCME members voting did not support the proposed alternatives (to the layoffs) said Chief Human Resource Officer Luis Lewin.
The university will move forward with the layoffs but will continue to discuss possible alternatives with the local union, Lewin said.
If the agreement had been passed, the university would have rescinded the original 32 layoff notices as long as the union withdrew any grievances about reductions on workforce effectively preventing the union from seeking arbitration against the university, according to the agreement.
I am totally ashamed of OU said John Dillon, who has worked at OU for more than 20 years.
Complaints about the agreement from union employees included the absence of a guarantee to end layoffs, the absence of numbers regarding how many people would be laid off and the awarding of more power to the administration.
Cherry Dixon, who has worked at OU for 12 years, said she has never come to work and not been worried about layoffs.
Union employees said that any layoffs further hinder their ability to maintain the university's buildings and grounds.
We are working with skeleton crews
Dixon said.
Some workers also said that they did not see the agreement or know that a vote was taking place until they arrived at about 4 p.m. at Morton Hall.
Dave Logan, president of the local AFSCME chapter, could not be reached for comment.
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Caitlin Bowling
