Union Dispute Unfair to Workers

There is no better way to show your appreciation for workers than by exploiting a contract clause to slowly ease them out of service in favor of non-union workers. Unfortunately, UB is slowly waging a war of attrition against its organized labor force, causing negative effects throughout the school.

In 1993, Gov. Pataki came into office and alerted UB to an item in the school's contract saying non-union workers could be hired as long as no union workers lost jobs. The union at UB, the Civil Service Employees Association, was forced to comply with the plans. They went from servicing the entire university to only the residence halls and the fifth floor of Capen Hall, home of the administrative offices.

There are various problems with non-union labor, and the school must renew its commitment to organized workers. First of all, the new workers do not go through the same screening process unionized workers do. There were incidents last year, including some thefts and the hiring of a felon who had walked away from a halfway house while completing a narcotics conviction sentence, something that would have been caught by any minimal screening process.

Director of Public Safety John Grela, says there are no increases of crime due to the unchecked staff, but it is a problem that should be dealt with to avoid future issues. There is nothing wrong with hiring ex-convicts under some circumstances, but providing them with keys to rooms, unsupervised throughout the night is not the safest environment.

The current staff is saving the university millions of dollars, according to Kevin Seitz, vice president of University Services. The decision to replace retiring union staffers with non-union employees was urged by the state, but UB officials, who weighed the downsides and decided the bottom line was the ultimate goal, made the ultimate decision.

As the CSEA staff gets older and retires or finds new jobs elsewhere, the school owes it to its workers to offer their jobs to union members. The diminishing number of organized workers can hurt the quality of life, both of the areas that must be kept up and from the standpoint of the workers' standard of living. Starving out union jobs is no way to successfully work with help.

The workers who have signed on with the company Class Act to replace the union workers should strongly consider unionizing, preferably with the CSEA. The school's policy is insulting to the rights of workers, insisting that they will work with lower standards only to save money.

This should not be a difficult decision for the school, as it should not even be a decision at all. They must stick with union workers, and those with the power to do so should remedy that clause in the state contract. There should be one standard for the workers in the university, and it should be the highest possible one.

The war of attrition against unionized workers cannot go on. The two sides must reconcile their differences in a way that reconfirms the university's commitment to unions and makes sure that all workers are checked up on to increase security. There is no reason why what is good enough for the fifth floor of Capen is too good for everyone else. The double standard is shocking and must end.