Workers unite to protest schedule change

David Brannigan was thinking of his children Thursday on the steps of South Building.

Standing alongside dozens of coworkers, students and community members, Brannigan protested a scheduling change he said will change more than just his workweek.

“If you mess with my schedule, you mess with my children’s lives,” he said, in opposition to the building services department’s elimination of a compressed schedule option that allows for a 10-hour workday, four days per week.

Maintenance workers angered by the change joined student and community supporters to sit out from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and rally from noon to 1 p.m. Announced in January, the move will take effect July 1.

The protest was the latest step in a saga of worker and management negotiations, but Laurel Ashton, a member of Student Action with Workers, said the scheduling issue has become a symbol for the larger cause of workers’ rights.

Ashton, a leader in the protest’s planning, emceed the rally alongside facilities service worker Chuck Grant.

At the rally, Grant addressed the crowd of more than 100 workers, students, faculty and community members.

“This got started because management didn’t want to listen,” he said.

Edd Lovette, director of building services, announced in January that the compressed scheduling option will be eliminated to improve efficiency in light of budget cuts. Workers voiced opposition and met with administrators to discuss the plan in the following months.

When nothing changed, workers approached student groups for help in planning the protest.

“When you’re an employee, you don’t have much of a voice by yourself,” said Gary Thompson, a maintenance worker who works under the compressed schedule option.

“I’m happy that the students are here.”

Grant said workers remain unconvinced the return to standardized schedules will save money, and that their multiple requests to the administration for data explaining the change have gone unanswered.

“Edd Lovette’s policies have no merit,” he said. “Show me the figures.”

Chuck Brink, the skilled trades representative on the Employee Forum, said groups will press the University for an answer.

“I want the administration to put an end to this attempt by Lovette,” he said.

Brink said workers will meet with administrators next week.

“If that doesn’t work, we’re going to the chancellor,” he said.

Brandon Thomas, communications director for facilities services, said the schedule change will occur despite the attention workers drew at the protest.

“The rally allowed the workers’ voices to be heard, which we understand and appreciate, but the decision pretty much has been made,” he said.

Thomas said the department will eliminate 10 already-vacant positions in response to a 5 percent campus-wide budget reduction. The move will save the $500,000 it would cost to fill the vacancies.

He said that with fewer workers, the compressed schedule has become inefficient. Returning to a standardized schedule will ensure that workers with specialized skills are available when needed, he added.

But Grant, who cares for his father and earns extra income on his day off, said the compressed schedule benefits workers by heightening their morale, allowing them to hold a second job and lowering their transportation costs.

“I’ll make it, but for some people, the $50 extra to get here is taking food off their table,” he said.

Brannigan said workers are bearing the brunt of budget cuts.

“We’ve sacrificed enough,” he said. “It’s time for the administration to make their sacrifices.”

Following the rally, Ashton said SAW aims to have compressed schedules reinstated and wants to help workers better organize.

“We need to form a workers’ association, if not a union then something as close to a union as possible,” she said.

And Grant said the workers’ struggle is not over yet.

“They picked a fight with workers and we’re not lazy.”

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