Facilities contract agreement reached

By Jon McDonald

After some debate, the university and the facilities workers union have agreed on a new five year contract.

"I was really happy," said Eugene Bowers, the lead mechanic for maintenance and facilities. "Everyone that came to the table was open-minded and ready to resolve this."

The contract has been agreed on by both parties and approved by the Service Employees International Union Local 1877. It must be signed by the university, a process which should be completed soon, according to Jeffrey Charles, director of facilities.

"Both sides came to the bargaining table in good faith, and I think both sides came away from the table satisfied with the contract," said Joe Sugg, assistant vice president of university operations.

"Last time it took three weeks to get the ground rules. This time it took one meeting," said Bowers. "They really wanted to get things going, and they really wanted a five-year contract."

The last contract, signed in 2004, was for three years. The new contract will last five years to avoid the troubles faced three years ago, when union workers rallied and threatened to strike before the contract was completed.

"We did what we had to do to get the attention we needed," said Bowers. "We're just trying to survive. We're not asking for the world."

The current contract draft includes a pay increase of 4 percent for 2007, 3.5 percent in 2008 and 3.25 percent the following three years. Under the 2004 contract, workers received a pay increase of 3 percent the last three years.

"It's been a decade since we've seen a pay increase of 4 percent," said Bowers, who has worked at the school for 16 years.

The new contract, if ratified, will lack an article from the 2004 contract, which guaranteed positions created for new residences or facilities be added to the campus bargaining unit (the facilities workers protected under the union), according to Bowers.

In exchange for the loss of guaranteed control over new buildings, the proposed contract increases the size of the bargaining unit, increasing the minimum number of facilities workers.

Responsibility for Schott Stadium and Loyola Hall came under debate. The bargaining unit, rather than independently contracted workers, won the right to maintain the outside and, at least part-time, inside of Schott Stadium and yielded landscaping for Loyola.

"I would say it's a victory for both sides," said Bowers. "They were shaking our hands at the end and saying, 'This is a good way to work things out.' "

Contact Jon McDonald at (408) 554- 4546 or jmcdonald@scu.edu.