Oberlin College announced this week that it would outsource some of its support services to cut 2 million dollars from its budget.
Hundreds of Oberlin students protested the plan.
- 108 jobs laid off
- 56 dining and 52 custodial staff
- June 30 deadline
“Workers are our family….Workers are our family,” chanted the crowd.
Close to a thousand students lined the corridors at king hall to protest Oberlin college’s proposed plan to layoff more than 100 of the school’s union workers -- represented by the united auto workers.
“We’ve had families who have worked here for generations. We care and love you guys like our own children, our kids. We definitely appreciate all the hard work that you guys have done. I know it’s stressful around this time, especially around commencement and things like that, so it means so much that you guys have shown your support, says Erik Villar, UAW chair at Oberlin College.
According to the letter sent to the campus community by Oberlin College President Carmen Twillie Ambar, the cuts would affect 52 dining and 56 custodial employees.
Some students say they should have been made aware of the problem in advance.
“The workers affected and their families are the people who cook our food, who clean our homes who are there for us when we are sick who drive us to appointments if need be, and it’s ridiculous that these cuts are coming at the expense of the people who kept Oberlin from literally falling down around our ears and provide the intimate relationships that we have here says Matt Kinsella-Walsh, Oberlin student
Oberlin College UAW chair Erik Villar says the proposed layoffs threaten union workers on campus by contracting out those services that will then be done by non-union workers.
“It’s just a travesty they are trying to save money, and they are not looking at families they are looking at money, and they have never talked to us or approached us as far as how we can give our input or opinions on we can help the college to get to that goal, and they haven’t done that,” says Erik Villar, UAW Chair at Oberlin College.
Oberlin College is looking to save up to $2 million a year, and the planned union layoffs would help the long-term financial health of the college.
In her letter, President Ambar says, “We have faced unprecedented financial and demographic challenges, including an unsustainable structural deficit.”
According to the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio, a majority of the members that offer dining services contract them out.
With Oberlin’s tuition set at nearly 56-thousand dollars and an estimated total cost of 72-thousand dollars, Oberlin is the most expensive college to attend in the state of Ohio.
College officials say they are providing early notice to the union out of respect, and so that the employees have time to plan. Talks are expected to continue throughout the spring. According to Villar, layoffs would take place on June 30.
“It’s going to affect so many people their health insurance and everything they’ve invested into this organization and this community, and for them to just come here and say we are no longer gonna be needing you because we have budget cuts it’s astounding,” says Erik Villar UWA chair, Oberlin College.