The UM System Board of Curators and a union representing more than 100 campus maintenance and dining service workers extended their current agreement, which was set to expire Aug. 31, through the end of September.
Negotiations for the new contract remain unresolved as the two sides have yet to agree on two major points: changes to the university’s staff grievance policy and existing contract language that the union claims undermines its bargaining power.
“The union is not a third party,” Laborers’ International Union Local 955 representative Andrew Hutchinson said. “A union is a collection of workers who have come together to advocate for working conditions.”
The union represents 97 employees on the Columbia campus who work largely in maintenance and dining services, as well as 48 MU Health staff and 18 University of Missouri — Kansas City workers.
Due to a recent change in the university’s staff grievance procedures, union representatives will no longer be allowed to speak during grievance hearings.
“In the same way that when you’re in a courtroom, you probably want an attorney present,” Hutchinson said, “When you’re dealing with your employer that has such a massive list of collected rules and regulations and a pretty big contract, you want someone who’s experienced with that policy to be able to raise other cases that this has happened and is able to do that research.”
Christian Basi, UM System spokesperson, said the change was made in order to hear directly from the employees and that the university is committed to treating all staff—union members or not—similarly.
“This does not mean that the union cannot have a representative in the room with them, that that representative cannot offer advice, or that they cannot talk to the individual who is involved in the grievance,” Basi said. “They can also take a break and talk with that individual outside of the room. All of those things can still happen.”
But according to Hutchinson, “It is a completely unprecedented act, at least in our contracts, for the university to take that step.”
The union is also seeking a change in a long standing policy, outlined in Article 10 of the current contract, that allows the Board of Curators to unilaterally pass new regulations that supersede the labor agreements.
“We need that language out,” Hutchinson said, “but the university doesn’t want to bargain in good faith. They want to have the final say.”
According to Basi, the university administration is unlikely to budge on this point.
“The Board of Curators has always had the final authority,” Basi said. “And that remains.”
Both parties said they are committed to continued negotiations.
