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Printer-Friendly ModeUnions preserve middle class way of life
January 15, 2008 —
I have no complaint with the Vanguard's coverage of events leading up to the recent contract agreed to by the University and its Support Staff. It is unclear whether your opinion piece of December 3, 2007, regarded unions in general or the Support Staff Association in particular. Speaking generally, I must point out that unions everywhere are doing their very best to hold onto the middle class vanishing from this country. The quality of life that so many of you and your families have enjoyed for decades is owed in great part to unions. Unions have done more than negotiate salaries. They have set high standards for humane, clean and safe working conditions. Unions have brought equity and due process to employment. Unionists have risked their lives and their livelihoods for the opportunity to have a say in their work lives. If nothing else, you can thank unions for weekends.
As to the particular, your editorial intimates that the University is "in the red" and that the SSA chose to ignore said fact. This is not true: ability to pay university salaries and benefits was never an issue raised in bargaining, nor has it ever been. SVSU is, for the most part, fiscally responsible and will not go broke by increasing salaries.
Do we care? The SVSU Support Staff Association accepted the last contract with no pay increases both to help the University and to buy equal access to health insurance as other employee groups on campus. Fortunately, insurance companies do not care whether you are a custodian or a president. When one is sick or hurt, it doesn't matter to a hospital or a doctor where you fall in the hierarchy.
The current contract was settled before the two sides were scheduled to go to fact-finding. Among the facts that would have been brought to light is how much work is done by SSA members. Comparison with similar universities would have shown that the support staff here at SVSU is understaffed. Far from going broke, the University is saving money by employing a small work force that prides itself on doing lots of hard work and doing it well.
The University has grown and is thriving. Faculty and administrative staff numbers have increased, so have the number of students. New buildings--including student housing--have sprung up. Campus grounds have been expanded, improved and beautified. All of this growth has had an enormous impact on the Support Staff, whose numbers have decreased over the last several years.
The beautiful buildings in which students attend class are maintained, kept clean and safe by a small group of dedicated people. There are no elves coming on campus to work magically, unseen and for free. Hard working men and women are up all night seeing that your education will take place in clean, well-lit rooms. Others see to it that grass is cut, fields are manicured, snow is plowed, and that sidewalks and parking lots are clear and litter free.
Each beautiful building containing many rooms is most often tended to daily by a single individual. That's right--one person. If there is a special event, someone comes in to set up chairs and tables then clears everything away until the next one. It is because of these people that you can be proud of SVSU when you invite your parents or guests to campus or recommend SVSU to others.
Each beautiful building houses secretaries and clerks who are there to make sure that you have everything you need both in and out of class and even past graduation. Every piece of mail you receive has that SSA touch. If you have a student job on campus, you know what the daily demands of the University are because you are usually working alongside an SSA staff person.
We will continue to do our work with pride strong in the belief that our contribution to higher education is priceless. Why? Many of us have attended and graduated from SVSU. We send our children and grandchildren here. We pay taxes. We buy lottery tickets. We contribute to our teams or the foundation. We embrace the promise of higher education. Many of us define ourselves by our jobs at SVSU because we've been here since its beginning.
Now. It seems to me that Saginaw Valley State University, our employer, is getting quite a lot for our money.
Ann Garcia
President
SVSU Support Staff Association