Comments on Budget Proposal: BFA

From an email to Tim Wynn, posted here with Elizabeth's permission:

I have major concerns about your plan to move all Academic Custodians to day shift. Besides the obvious problems with staff attempting to clean during the times of heaviest use I also question the wisdom of cutting the salaries of some of the lowest paid WWU employees due to the loss of their shift differential. The cost of the shift differential is not enough to make much of a difference in the budget but could mean the difference in whether an employee is able to make their house payment or need to get another job simply in order to make ends meet. And this does not address additional issues like child care costs, parking costs, etc. which increase their costs and minimize their earnings.

It concerns me that WWU as a whole seems to be looking to employees with the most to lose to make their budget cuts while middle management and above are safe and secure as usual. And to add salt to the wounds exempt staff have been well rewarded by significant pay increases while classified staff are essentially making less than ever before due to the lack of adequate raises, much less a COLA and the increases in our retirement and medical, plus the cost of living increases in our daily lives. The state requires that we only hire contractors that pay prevailing wage while the state does not even pay prevailing wage to its employees! If WWU is truly concerned about its employees it should be doing everything possible to avoid cutting salaries which is exactly what this would do to our Custodial staff.

I truly question if there would be any potential money savings by simply changing the shift of custodial staff. Potential energy savings would seem to be very minimal as our buildings are lighted and heated at a specific level after hours anyway and their electrical use will stay the same whether they do the work at day or at night. Certain work like carpet cleaning and floor buffing are better performed after normal hours of operation, and having employees around after hours can be an effective crime deterrent. I know the Custodial staff have been instrumental in the past in spotting crimes and identifying suspicious persons and activities.

With everyone concerned about making our dollars stretch further and further we should not be expecting our lowest paid employees to bear the brunt of our budget cuts. Other means of budget reduction need to be found.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Goplerud