TO THE EDITOR:
In an article on Monday, Phillip Dixon, who chairs the Personnel and Tenure Committee of the Board of Governors, suggested that University employees protected by the State Personnel Act (SPA) would have nothing to worry about under Senate Bill 575, which proposes a unified personnel system.
He stated, “They would be treated the same way faculty are treated.”
I strongly implore Mr. Dixon, UNC-system President Thomas Ross and other members of the Board of Governors to consider that therein lies the problem with this proposal.
Under the current system, low-wage positions are subject to the SPA, while higher-paid “prestigious” positions — like professors and (administrators) — are exempt from the act.
Technically, Ross and professors have fewer legal protections, but they make up for it with the privilege inherent in their social position. It affords them a voice and platform that housekeepers and groundskeepers don’t have.
Though not ideal, the current division reflects the social reality that Ross and professors have more clout and bargaining power to negotiate favorable terms for their contracts than the 20,000 employees who help maintain our campuses.
The administration can talk all day about how critical housekeepers are to North Carolina’s universities, but in using that well-intentioned sentiment to cover up the elephant in the room — a vague proposal that removes legal protections for those who need them most — does them a disservice.
A system that puts Ross and housekeepers in the same category might be more “efficient” — though no analysis has been done — but it is certainly a naive move that ignores the realities of life as a campus worker.
