SEIU Local 200U

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What's Behind the B&G Petition
by Gus Feldman , from the Bard Free Press

As students habitually envelop their consciousness in the microcosm of Bard lifestyle, little thought is devoted to the people who persistently sweat in order to sustain Bard as a functioning community. Without the manual labor of the skilled carpenters, electricians, plumbers, landscapers, and horticulturists, who comprise the Buildings & Grounds (B&G) staff, we as students simply could not spend the bulk of our time submerged in books, preparing for occupations free of manual labor. In the heat of finals, when one has several papers due and hundreds of pages to read, it is very easy to forget the value of an operative toilet, let alone the person who keeps it that way.

SEIU Vice President Mike Lonigro discusses the building and grounds workers contract struggle with student activists.

Being that B&G workers are so vital to the Bard community, it is tragic to hear complaints that some workers are struggling to make ends meet. Over the past month several employees from B&G, and their union representatives, have been meeting with students to express their dissatisfaction with the Bard administration. Unlike the employees for ServiceMaster/Aramark and Chartwells, who are employed by these corporations who Bard simply holds a contract with, B&G workers are employed directly by the college. Right now their biggest complaint concerns the unhealthy state of the wages and benefits they are receiving from the college.

According to statistics provided by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 200United, the union which represents both B&G and ServiceMaster/Aramark employees at Bard, a B&G employee who wants to receive family healthcare through the college must pay close to 20% of their weekly take-home pay. This means a B&G worker who buys this health plan must work five days a week and only get paid for four. This fact looks increasingly grim when juxtaposed to the health plan Buildings & Grounds workers receive at Vassar and Marist. At both these schools, family health care is completely covered by the college, and hence costs the worker nothing.

Bard also falls behind Vassar and Marist in supplying B&G workers with adequate pay. Salary for B&G workers at all three schools is divided between two different groups of workers. There are the "skilled trades" workers, such as electricians and plumbers, who receive a higher wage and there are the "grounds" workers who receive less. The table below shows the disparity of wages between Bard and Marist and Vassar:

	Bard	Marist	Vassar
Skilled Trades	$16.39	$20.03	$21.83
Grounds	$13.98	$17.20	$15.43

numbers shown are the averaged hourly wage

This disparity between Bard's B&G wages and the other schools' wages expands if a Bard B&G employee chooses to insure his family under Bard's plan. After paying 20% of his weekly take home pay, the grounds worker who makes an average of $13.98 per hour only makes $11.11 per hour. Trying to support oneself, let alone a family, in the Hudson Valley on $11.11 per hour is next to impossible. This statement is strengthened by a study conducted by the Fiscal Policy Institute to calculate a livable wage for the Hudson Valley. Their 2001 report, entitled "The State of Working New York," concluded that one adult, who works 176 hours a week and supports one child must make at least $17.33. This figure is taking into account the expense of healthcare.

According to workers for B&G, Bard's costly healthcare plan has left several B&G workers unable to provide healthcare for their families. Many simply cannot afford to sacrifice 20% of their income while struggling to pay for food, heat, gas, clothes and other expenditures necessary to support a family.

So, why is it that Bard (an institution that I like to believe is devoted to creating a better world for all) is supplying B&G workers with low pay and unattainable family healthcare when compared to the wages and benefits Buildings and Grounds workers receive at Vassar and Marist? When Jim Brudvig, the Vice President of Administration who conducts the negotiations with SEIU concerning B&G's labor conditions, was confronted with this unfortunate phenomenon, he replied by saying that he was not surprised that B&G workers at Bard get paid $3 to $4 dollars less than laborers at Vassar and Marist. Brudvig said that everyone at Bard receives lower wages than at Vassar and Marist. This is likely because for a long time Bard was viewed as an under-endowed college. Although this still stands true in comparison to the affluent kingdom of Vassar, over the past two years Bard has received endowments of up to $100 million which has put us in a financial situation that is likely better off than Marist. Even though endowments are almost always attached with stipulations requiring a specific use for the money, the interest made of the endowments are usually used to fund wages and benefits for workers at the college. So, if Bard is bringing in more money than Marist that can be used for wages and salaries, how come a grounds worker at Bard (who is supplied with Bard's family health plan) makes an average of $11.11 per hour, while a grounds workers at Marist (who is supplied with the college's costless family health insurance) is bringing in $17.20 per hour? When asked this question, Jim Brudvig connected the misfortune to an executive decision made by the Board of Trustees. Brudvig explained that Bard is committed to providing faculty wages that are comparable to even Vassar. He rationalized this by outlining the fact that students do not come here to admire creme de la creme plumbing systems. Students attend Bard to receive a great education, and Brudvig insisted that this relies on possessing an upper crust faculty which can best be obtained through high wages. The focus on high faculty wages is so prominent that the healthcare program that Bard offers faculty is even more expensive than the B&G plan.

Even though I am pleased to know that the faculty at Bard are well-paid, I have a hard time paying attention to the Marxist theories being thrown at me in Olin while thinking about the Bard employees who are unable to take their kids to the doctor. It is a blatant display of hypocrisy when the labor practices of the college contradict the ideology being generated within the classroom. Such hypocrisy invalidates our education by rendering the college plentiful of intellectual matter that exists only to be rhetorical. Fulfilled education will not be available at Bard until the physical practices of the college correlates with the ideology it perpetrates. If this doesn't occur the institution is setting an example of insincerity. In addition, how is global change ever going to occur if ideology remains rhetorical and is never implemented into action?

The bottom line is that Bard cannot exist as a leftist, pro-active institution when the college's direct employees are unable to provide healthcare for their families. We as students, who pay tutitions upwards of tens-of-thousands of dollars, hold a responsibility to demand that the college allocates its funds in ways we deem important. And I am confidant that to many members of the Bard community it is vital that B&G workers are able to take their children to the doctor.

Currently there is a petition circulating demanding that the college meets the needs of the B&G workers. All members of the Bard community are encouraged to signed the petition. There is also a working group comprised of students, union representatives and B&G employees who meets weekly on Mondays at 7pm in the Campus Center Lounge. All are wellcome. Contact gf823@bard.edu for more info.