Once again, officers of the UA-Fayetteville Education Association / Local 965 and the Arkansas Education Association ran a popular table at the annual Staff Appreciation Picnic on May 15, 2024.
The University of Arkansas Staff Senate hosted the spring tradition for hundreds of education support professionals at the 1021 Food Hall on the Fayetteville campus.
Sharing information about the 62-year-old campus labor organization were 965 President Hershel Hartford and board members Michael Pierce and Bret Schulte as well as AEA UniServ Director Renee Johnson and ESP and Aspiring Educator Organizer Kelly Givens.
Members of UA-Fayetteville Education Association / Local 965, along with their families and UA faculty and staff interested in the union, enjoyed burgers, sides and fixins on May 1, 2024, International Workers Day.
Caitlin Oxford
In brief remarks two Democratic Arkansas House candidates address the diners, Caitlin Oxford running for the District 25 seat and Billy Cook running for the District 19 seat.
This was the union’s third consecutive May Day cookout in recent years, all held at the large pavilion of Fayetteville’s Veterans Memorial Park.
Billy Cook speaks at Local 965’s 2024 Workers Day Cookout. Cook is the Democratic candidate for District 19 in the Arkansas House.Local 965 President Hershel Hartford (blue shirt) and to his right Vice President Ben Pollock welcome guests to the union’s 2024 Workers Day Cookout.
Featured were beef and vegan hamburgers with potato salad and baked beans. Platters of fruit, cheese and vegetable crudites and strawberry shortcake were generously donated by a local restaurant.
Recent successes, on a local and regional scale, show a resurging strength in Labor in the South, according to the half-dozen speakers at the 2nd annual Northwest Arkansas Labor Spring Teach-In. Some two dozen people attended the conference Saturday afternoon April 20, 2024, at the Fayetteville Public Library’s Ziegler Room.
Walter Hinojosa, president of the Northwest Arkansas Labor Council, hosted the 2nd annual NWA Labor Spring Teach-In.UA Associate Professor of History Michael Pierce, a Local 965 board member, detailed the rise and fall of progressive labor policy in the state.
Walter Hinojosa, president of the Northwest Arkansas Labor Council, served as emcee.
Leading off the program was UA Associate Professor of History Michael Pierce, a Local 965 board member, detailing the rise and fall of progressive labor policy in the state from World War II to the end of the Bill Clinton governorship. Mike integrated into his remarks that morning’s death of former Gov. and Sen. David Pryor, a friend and mentor of Clinton.
April Reisma, president of the Arkansas Education Association, highlights the year’s challenges and successes of K-12 and higher-education professionals.Ben Pollock, vice president of Local 965, discusses effective media strategy.
April Reisma, president of the Arkansas Education Association, highlighted the year’s challenges and successes of K-12 and higher-education professionals. She emphasized the need of having an unified, organized voice for educators and support staff.
Speaking openly but without being named, an employee of UA food services, a division of Chartwells Higher Ed, discussed problems workers there are facing along with organizing efforts.
Ben Pollock, 965 vice president and director of communications, discussed how media strategy allowed the Local to organize opposition to a proposal to privatize the several hundred custodial and grounds employees on UA’s Fayetteville campus. The administration ultimately withdrew its plan.
Several speakers noted how workers at the Chattanooga, Tennessee, Volkswagen plant voted to join the UAW in an election ending Friday the 19th, a regional (Southern) victory for labor.
Jessica Akers Hughes
Jessica Akers Hughes, president of the state’s largest labor federation, Arkansas AFL-CIO, spoke on Zoom from Little Rock to summarize the activities of various unions statewide, noting how workers in Arkansas should be encouraged by the VW victory.
Rene Lara
Rene Lara, director of State and Local Legislative Issues for the AFL-CIO, closed the conference with a global look at labor issues in this presidential election year. He spoke to the group on Zoom from Washington, D.C.
In 2023, #LaborSpring comprised more than 80 events in 32 states, including NWA. It “is a diverse, nationwide movement unifying workers, educators, environmentalists, activists, elected leaders, community members and more in a multiracial effort to demand justice on the job, racial equity and maintain the public good,” according to the initiative.
A teach-in is an informal forum developed in the mid-1960s to educate on a complex contemporary topic.
The Fayetteville Public Library says its gradual reopening after a recent fire will be complete enough for us to use its Ziegler Room and adjacent facilities. We are on!
The 2024 NWA Labor Spring will highlight the ways that labor unions and collective action can lessen the most pressing problems facing working people in the Ozarks and across the nation: low wages and the persistence of poverty, especially among children; economic inequality; privatization and outsourcing; and the growing marginalization of working people in public life.
The schedule’s topic titles include “Labor Struggles throughout the Nation,” “Fighting for Arkansas Workers” and “Worker Rights at the University of Arkansas.” Speakers include:
“The goal is to bring together working people who want to make their jobs better — to put them in touch with like-minded people, to provide them with tools and access to resources, to hear about successes, and to provide a sense of belonging,” said Michael Pierce, a conference organizer and an associate professor of history at UA.
In 2023, #LaborSpring comprised more than 80 events in 32 states, including NWA. It “is a diverse, nationwide movement unifying workers, educators, environmentalists, activists, elected leaders, community members and more in a multiracial effort to demand justice on the job, racial equity and maintain the public good,” according to the initiative.
A teach-in is an informal forum developed in the mid-1960s to educate on a complex contemporary topic.
2:50-3:40 — Topic: Worker Rights at the University of Arkansas
An employee of UA food services, a division of Chartwells Higher Ed, in conversation with Michael Pierce of Local 965
Ben Pollock of Local 965
3:40-4 — Topic: The National Battle
Rene Lara, Director of State and Local Legislative Issues for the AFL-CIO
Walter Hinojosa
Rene Lara
April Reisma
Jessica Akers Hughes
Michael Pierce
Ben Pollock
Scheduled speaker Kevin Huddleston of Region 8, United Auto Workers cannot be at the NWA Labor Spring due to a family matter. Speaker Joe Cornelius, general chairperson of GCA 569 of SMART, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, has canceled due to a family matter.
University of Arkansas AEA Chapter Organized Opposition
By Ben Pollock, Local 965 Vice President
FAYETTEVILLE — An outsourcing proposal foisted on several hundred University of Arkansas employees was felled in two months.
In late January, custodial and grounds workers were emailed a notice (PDF posted by KNWA-TV/KFTA-TV) that the university and the company SSC Services for Education (a division of The Compass Group) were analyzing whether privatizing their divisions in whole or in part was advisable.
The plan was not otherwise made public at the time.
Within days, leaders of UA-Fayetteville Education Association / Local 965 began hearing from custodians and their supervisors, some or all of whom would be outsourced if Chancellor Charles Robinson approved the proposal.
These service professionals were told to expect that their salaries would stay the same and benefits should be similar under SSC. These terms, however, apparently were still being discussed. They did stand to lose one key benefit: the substantial UA tuition discounts offered to employees, their spouses and dependent children unless they already were enrolled to study.
Research indicates similar outsourcing at public universities and public school districts results in new hires typically being paid less and, to hold costs down, that established employees are more vulnerable to losing their jobs, according to 965 board member Mike Pierce, an associate professor of history, whose analysis was published Feb. 21 in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazettehere or here.
Though conducting the feasibility study, SSC would have been its beneficiary. The privatization proposal would not be let for competitive bids from other businesses because SSC is “an approved contractor by the state of Arkansas,” Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Scott Turley told the UA Staff Senate on Feb. 14.
Over 2 dozen custodians or custodial supervisors packed the monthly meeting of Local 965 on Feb. 22. After they explained their concerns, union members present voted unanimously to draft and publish a resolution supporting them and also voted unanimously to organize a rally and march.
Local 965 includes UA faculty, staff (education service professionals) and student employees of the Fayetteville campus. This union’s constitution defines its purpose as representing its membership and advocating for all UA employees.
Collaborating on the resolution and organizing the rally were Local 965 President Hershel Hartford, Vice President Ben Pollock and Pierce.
In the weeks leading to the March 16 rally and march through campus, the university’s Staff Senate published its resolution (PDF) of support, and the area’s print, radio and TV news media reported on the debate over the proposal.
The Local 965 Rally and March Against Outsourcing ends at the UA Administration Building. (Mike Pierce photo)
Some 50 employees, their family members and supporters as well as Local 965 members and others gathered for the rally March 16 at St. Martin’s Episcopal Center, across Maple Street from campus. The group waved signs and chanted slogans as they then strode through campus to gather at the Administration Building for closing speeches.
Two TV stations and the Democrat-Gazettereported on the march.
Twelve days later, on March 28, Executive Vice Chancellor for Finance & Administration Ann Bordelon emailed campus leaders that the plan was being dropped, which was followed March 29 with a public statement.
Local 965 is staying vigilant while the university continues “to cultivate efficiencies,” as Bordelon states, “We will continue to adapt as necessary to enhance the overall university experience as the market evolves and the campus community grows.”
Placard designed and carried March 15 by Amelia McGowan
UA-Fayetteville Education Association 