Oberlin College to lay off more than 100 in custodial, dining services

OBERLIN — Oberlin College's president said Tuesday the college is taking steps to save up to $2 million annually by outsourcing more than 100 jobs currently held by unionized workers. For a union representative who learned of the college's proposal at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, just two hours before his membership would hear the plan, the news came like a punch in the gut, delivered in "bad faith." In a letter posted Tuesday on the college's website, President Carmen Twillie Ambar said the college is hoping to save $2 million in salary and benefits by "formally considering contracting with outside vendors for dining and custodial services currently provided by college employees." An estimated 52 full-time dining employees and 56 full-time custodial employees would be affected, she wrote. The timeline for the steps the college is taking is this summer, Ambar wrote. The affected employees are represented by the United Auto Workers. Ambar said the step the college is taking "is permitted under our UAW contract, and we will begin collective bargaining with the UAW in coming weeks to determine how best to move forward." The current contract between UAW and Oberlin College expires Sept. 30. Erik Villar, chairman of the UAW employees, said the union has had a contract with the college since 1993 that has been renewed every three years since. Two or three years ago, he said, the college put out its Academic and Administrative Program Review report that said the college was in a deficit, losing money and had the potential for layoffs but "weren't specific as to what group was targeted or laid off." Villar said he got a call at 11 a.m. Tuesday to meet at 11:30 with upper management, who told him "that they will no longer be needing custodial or CDS, Campus Dining Services, staff because of the deficit." That's more than 110 employees, Villar said, including some with more than 30 years service to the college and at least one with 43 years service. Others are only three to four years from retirement and are members of families who have worked there for generations. "It came with no warning, no type of 'Let's see if we can have a hiring freeze, a pay freeze,' " said Villar, whose mother also worked for the college. "They said they were going to tell our members at 1:30 that they were going to implement the changes, and this is where we're going to head going forward. It was pretty much a slap in the face." Villar said he was told the affected employees would be let go as of July 1. Ambar wrote that 63 percent of the college's budget "is dedicated to compensation." There is an approximate 3-to-1 ratio of students to employees at the college. Other cost-cutting efforts by the college have included changes to health care and retirement benefits, reducing the size of administrative staff, and relying less on visiting faculty, she wrote. "Over the last two years we have taken a number of essential steps together to ensure that we continue to fulfill our distinctive mission as a leading liberal arts college and conservatory of music: namely, educating our students for lives of meaning," Ambar wrote. "Our efforts have made possible strategic investments and have required shared sacrifices, as we have faced unprecedented financial and demographics challenges, including an unsustainable structural deficit." She continued: "We expect our potential vendors' deep experience would help us achieve improved levels of service for our students, faculty, and staff. Oberlin, like many college campuses that have made this decision, would thereafter be able to focus our resources on the mission-centered activities the institution can best provide, investing in the academic and creative endeavors that prepare our students for lives of purpose." Ambar said the decision is "not a decision we take lightly" and that the college hopes that any affected employees would be able to either retire, if eligible, or interview for jobs with vendors who bid to replace them as contractors for custodial and dining staff. Other employees who are affected may also be eligible for other jobs with the college. "We recognize the disruption and anxiety this process will cause members of our Oberlin family. We are providing early notice to the union because we respect their commitment to Oberlin, and so that affected employees would have an extended period of time to plan. Throughout the spring, we will continue to have discussions with the union, work closely with potential vendors, and work with affected employees themselves to provide the best options and opportunities," she wrote. "We also understand that this will affect the rest of our campus community. Yet we must make difficult choices to ensure the long-term health of the institution, and we must make them soon," Ambar said. "Each year that goes by without fully securing financial sustainability reduces the options available to Oberlin." Villar said since Ambar has been president, the college has appeared to change into "more of a business, about money." Historically, Oberlin College "stood for involving the community and taking care of the employees and those who took care of the students." "They're looking at dollar figures rather than the people who put their hard work and time into it," he said. "The students are away from their families, and we've been that security blanket for them, in essence. And now they want to outsource these jobs to people who will get paid $12 or $13 an hour. The quality will suffer." Contracting out to an unknown firm to provide the services current employees provide also comes with unknowns, Villar said. He said he could recall no incidents of custodians or food service staff accused of harassment, theft or inappropriate behavior with students. "Those are the things I'd want to know if I were sending my kid to a university," Villar said. Villar said he understands cutting costs and saving money, but never gave the union the opportunity to bargain in good faith before announcing the cuts: No offers for early retirement, voluntary layoffs or pay cuts. "The way they're going about it, is just totally wrong," he said. "I know times get difficult, times get hard, but to go about it the way they did is just not right ... A lot of people, their whole life is Oberlin." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.