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| Union members at a campus rally protesting the college's plan to outsource jobs. |
In early September, members of Local 712 reached agreement and ratified a new two-year contract with Kenyon College, in the midst of a continuing struggle with the college administration over its plans to outsource their work. The new contract increases wages by 2 percent a year and adds a new optional employee-paid vision benefit to the healthcare coverage.
On September 27, the union also got good news on the outsourcing front. An advisory panel set up by the college administration in June to study the issue voted unanimously to recommend against outsourcing the work performed by members of the two unions on campus, UE Local 712 and an IAM local.
Local 712 members are the skilled-trades maintenance workers at Kenyon, a small private liberal arts college in small-town Central Ohio. When union bargaining committee members sat down with the college on June 5 to begin contract negotiations, they were blindsided by management's announcement that it intended to outsource their jobs and other campus services to Sodexo, a French-based multinational corporation that is one of the largest food service and facilities management companies in the world.
"When we went in the college handed us a piece of paper with one sentence on it, that said effective August 1, skilled trades would be outsourced to Sodexo, and you can negotiate your contract with them," recalls Local 712 President Bob Smith. "We were caught off guard by that. We had a bargaining session scheduled for the next day, but we cancelled that and took some time to look at our options. We researched Sodexo and found out how corrupt they are and all their human rights violations and lawsuits. So we started talking to students and faculty and alumni."
Two students started an online petition during the summer against the outsourcing plan. A faculty petition was signed by 86 faculty members. Local 712's outreach to potential allies included the other campus union - Local 2794 of the International Association of Machinists (IAM), which represents custodians and groundskeepers whose jobs were also targeted for outsourcing. After a series of demonstrations by workers, students, faculty and alumni, and a petition from faculty members, the college administration tactically retreated in mid-June, announced that it had "suspended" negotiations with Sodexo, and that it was forming a "community advisory panel" to study the subject.
But it was clear to Local 712 members that college administrators still wanted to outsource their jobs. This dark cloud hung over negotiations. "Money became secondary to just saving our jobs," says Smith. To make it harder for the college to misrepresent what was happening at the bargaining table, Local 712 brought in faculty observers. "In the past we've never been shy about putting out statements on what we feel is going on. With the outsourcing thing, we didn't want to get into a he-said-she-said battle, so we came up with the idea of bringing in respected members of the faculty as observers. I think it really did have an impact and cut down on the college's attitude and talking down to the union."
In early September, the local was able to achieve agreement on a two-year contract, which will bring the expiration date into line with that of the IAM local, enabling the two unions to present a united front in the next negotiations. In addition to wage increases, UE members gained to ability to carry over up to five vacation days into the next year, and got the employer to provide new work shirts. The caps on employee heathcare contributions will increase slightly.
The local felt that the advisory panel - whose official name was Maintenance Management Advisory Panel - was not a fair process because it was appointed by the college administration, and the administration tried to control the panel's access to information. Union president Bob Smith accepted an opportunity to serve on the panel, however. He used the position to, as he describes it, "introduce alternatives to subcontracting, show that there are other ways to save money and be more efficient, which is their supposed reason for doing this."
UE members received a surprising outpouring of support from Kenyon students, faculty and alumni. "We're getting more support and help from those people than we ever have on anything in the past," says Bob Smith. He adds, "We've gotten hundreds of letters of support from alumni, saying this (the outsourcing plan) goes against everything Kenyon's ever said or taught. We've had alumni send us letters saying in lieu of their annual donation to the college, they would send us their donations."
The recommendation from the advisory panel is not the final word, since the administration could ignore the panel's advice and proceed with outsourcing anyway. But it's clearly a positive development. A press release issued by the college on September 28 says "More meetings will be scheduled as the panel continues to discuss ways to enhance Maintenance Division management." Local 712 has a number of suggestions for improving the maintenance operation, which it hopes the panel and the college administration will now seriously consider.