Resolved: UA Workers Oppose Privatization

A quorum of the UA-Fayetteville Education Association / Local 965 at its February 2024 meeting approved drafting of a resolution to oppose the university turning over the custodial and groundskeeping staffs to a private company.

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Whereas, the UA-Fayetteville Education Association/Local 965 has a six-decade history of fighting for employee rights and improved working conditions on the Fayetteville campus;

Whereas, members of the custodial and grounds staffs provide essential services, ensuring that dorms, classrooms, labs, libraries, offices and public spaces are clean and sanitary;

Whereas, the University’s recent moves to privatize custodial and groundskeeping services threaten the livelihoods of over 400 University employees, including many with decades of service;

Whereas, the heroic actions of the custodial staff allowed the University to resume holding in-person classes safely by the Fall of 2020 when many research universities continued with remote instruction;

Whereas, privatization efforts at institutions of higher education have historically failed to delivered the promised results, with the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management showing recently that in the long term “there is no cost saving [for the university] because of the profit factor that is inherent in private enterprise”;

Whereas, expert care must be taken with campus lawns, five of which are in the jurisdiction of the University of Arkansas Campus Historic District that includes the treasured Old Main Arboretum.

Whereas, SSC Services for Education, the facilities management company that the University is considering, is part of the multinational conglomerate Compass Group with a history of malfeasance, its subsidiaries putting unpaid workers from a drug diversion program in dining facilities at Louisiana State University and shortchanging impoverished schoolchildren in the United Kingdom during the COVID epidemic;

Whereas, there is no guarantee that fired long-time workers will not be replaced by lower-paid ones (Chartwells, also owned by Compass, starts workers in University of Arkansas dining halls at $13.00 an hour vs. $14.42 for University of Arkansas custodians);

Whereas, the private company will have the flexibility, ability and incentive to fire long-time custodial employees without cause;

Whereas, during the 2019 renovation of Kimpel Hall the employees of a private contractor stole or damaged between $20,000 and $30,000 worth of University equipment;

Whereas, the Fayetteville School District terminated its contract with SSC Services for Education after a year due to complaints and concerns of faculty and staff;

Whereas, the Chancellor has promised to make the University of Arkansas the “Employer of Choice” for Northwest Arkansas;

Whereas, University administration insists, “Being an employer of choice means ensuring each individual feels valued, facilitating flexibility that serves both personal and university needs, and connecting faculty and staff members to the U of A’s land-grant mission”;

We resolve:

★ The University of Arkansas should not let a private company with a dodgy record determine who gets access to dorms, class, labs, libraries, and offices as well as landmark lawns;

★ Chancellor Robinson should reject the effort to privatize custodial and groundskeeping services and redeem his promise to make the University of Arkansas the “Employer of Choice” for everyone who performs essential labor on campus.

NOTE: The UA Staff Senate approved its resolution opposing the outsourcing of these employees (PDF) March 13, 2024, and it was signed and delivered to the chancellor’s office March 14, 2024.