Category: News

Politics Ain’t Beanbag. Beanbag Ain’t Even Beanbag: It’s Cornhole.

An Editor’s Note by Ben Pollock

When someone says they support the U.S. form of government, representative democracy, the Constitution, three branches, checks and balances, and even the Arkansas state motto “regnat populus” (Latin for “the people rule”), these give me a set of assumptions. Unless a petition for an initiated act or amendment is abhorent, I and what I expected to be nearly everyone else would sign the clipboard to give everyone a chance to render a black-and-white yay or nay on Election Day.

In past years, some proposals, say on casinos or intoxicants, went a little far for me. But I signed those petitions, let’s give everyone a chance to rule. We don’t seem to do things that way anymore. Now the petition phase is more the larval stage, where it’s easier to squash the worm than swat the sly fly later at the polls or in court. Slam petition gatherers with vandalism or threats, how sick. So much for dope.

That was as far as I got in writing a column for the July newsletter. After lunch Sunday, July 21, the 2024 campaign year flipped another 180. Again.

Make that a 120, with the Trump assassination attempt perhaps the first 120. Let’s leave room for a third 120, to round the circle with 360 total.

What strikes me as useful for today’s UA employee newsletter is not considering the whys and wherefores of President Biden stepping away from a re-election campaign. Nor to guess who Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate might be. Nor the chances of a disruptive Democratic National Convention.

Instead, look to November and close to home. Each of our votes here counts more than ever. Voting for neither party’s presidential candidate nor a third-party hopeful is to surrender the tiny BUT REAL power that any of us have.

Even if the presidential election looks like it won’t go our way, we can exert more voter power “down ballot.” Note: No race in 2024 is down— they all count more than before.

We have state legislators and county justices of the peace to choose. Plus mayoral and other municipal candidates. Vote tallies at this level do come down to near ties in the low hundreds or even to the 10s. You cannot say your vote won’t count in these. Do you have a problem with road conditions, tenants’ rights, law enforcement or other issues? Area incumbents or fledglings in the 2010s and ’20s in their comments and actions reflect the national agenda setters — they model themselves along either Trump or the Clinton/Biden/Harris ideologies. (What about bland candidates who say they just want to make things better? They’re annoying, make you work to find out what “better” means to them.)

Pick a side. Candidates sure do. Your vote can make a difference in local elections.

Then where to begin? Local 965 answers many voting or election questions with a list of resources. Top of the list is voter registration. You’ve got till Monday, Oct. 7. Does that sound like a lot of time, here in mid-summer? Consider that the current Arkansas government does not care for online registration. You’re going to need more than a few days to order, receive, complete and postal-mail back that paper form, then to confirm you are officially registered.

While you’re in the poll booth, go ahead, choose your president. Power adds up.

---

About the photo: I’d never before seen this picture of the Johnson family. It can be a counterpoint to what we think we know about 1968 and 2024.

---

Announcement of endorsement: “National Education Association Recommends Vice President Kamala Harris for President: Nation’s Students and Educators Need Tireless Advocate in the Oval Office”

---

Ben Pollock is vice president of UA-Fayetteville Education Association / Local 965.

---

This column was published first in the July 2024 edition of the Local 965 newsletter.

UA-Fayetteville Education Association/Local 965 and the Northwest Arkansas Central Labor Council will host the second annual Northwest Arkansas Labor Spring Teach-In in the Ziegler Room of Fayetteville Public Library from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, April 20, 2024. The program is free, and the public is welcome.

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!

“Fire Prompts Library’s Closure” with alternate link

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:

• Walter Hinojosa, president of NWA Central Labor Council
• Added! Rene Lara, Director of State and Local Legislative Issues for the AFL-CIO
• Jessica Akers Hughes, president of the state’s largest labor federation, Arkansas AFL-CIO
• Michael Pierce, Local 965 board member
• Ben Pollock, Local 965 vice president
• April Reisma, president of the state’s largest union, Arkansas Education Association

“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.

The Northwest Arkansas Labor Spring is part of a series of similar events being held on or near college and university campuses throughout the nation. Dubbed Labor Spring, these events are organized with the help of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University and the Labor and Working-Class History Association.

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.

For more information, contact Pierce at mpierce@uark.edu. Updates will be posted on its Facebook event page.

Fayetteville #LaborSpring Schedule

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-Gazette here 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.

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-Gazette reported 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.”

Various officials leading Fayetteville campus administration, faculty and staff were sent this email.

From: Rifi Raindriati on behalf of Ann Bordelon
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2024 10:00 AM
Subject: University Not Pursuing Full External Management of Custodial and Grounds Services

Good morning,

The university will not pursue full external management of custodial and grounds services and will maintain its current workforce. 

As we said in January, a primary objective of this evaluation was to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of current processes and service levels. We learned a lot about our internal structure and processes through this evaluation and have identified opportunities to improve how we deliver these services across campus.

In line with our “One University” philosophy, facilities management, student affairs and athletics will continue to work together to design and implement a more centralized internal management structure of custodial and grounds operations while maintaining our current internal staffing. Further, we will investigate consolidating our current supplemental custodial and grounds services contracts. While our conversations with SSC were productive and had the potential for some level of cost savings, the university felt at this time, we are better served to look internally at our own structure and operational processes to cultivate efficiencies for ourselves. 

The university will look to enhance and improve training and development of employees and their supervisors, better define expected service levels, and identify metrics for measuring those levels. As our campus continues to grow in both population and square footage, the complexity of managing these services has grown. We need to ensure we position our employees to deliver consistent quality service across campus as expected by our students, faculty, staff and visitors.

The U of A frequently performs assessments of various services throughout campus to ensure it continues to provide the best service possible to the growing university population and adequately stewards its financial and physical resources. The university will continue to adapt as necessary to enhance the overall campus experience as the market evolves and the campus community grows.

Thank you,

Ann Bordelon
Executive Vice Chancellor for Finance & Administration