The College Fix

Ohio public universities are applauding efforts by lawmakers to curb public-sector union rights.

Passed in the Ohio Senate Wednesday, Ohio Senate Bill 5, which limits collective bargaining rights for public employees, has the support of the Inter-University Council of Ohio.

Council President Bruce Johnson spoke on behalf of Ohio’s 14 public universities last week. Johnson said he believes the bill will save universities money in collective bargaining agreements.

Ohio faces an $8 billion budget shortfall and many universities anticipate that big cuts loom ahead. Johnson said passing a union-busting bill such as SB 5 would help prepare universities for less funding.

“I do believe (SB 5) will help,” Johnson said. “But it’s not the only answer.”

Johnson also credited collective bargaining agreements to increased tuition.

“Change of schedule, change of pay, there are lots of examples of collective bargaining contract permissions that limit management’s ability to keep tuition down,” Johnson said.

Johnson said while some members of the IUC were more bent on supporting the bill than others, a majority would like to see changes in collective bargaining.

“There’s been a consensus for quite a while that state universities need more autonomy on things like public sector collective bargaining,” Johnson said.

University of Toledo voiced their support directly to Kevin Bacon, the commerce and labor chairman.

In a letter addressed to Bacon, UT President Lloyd Jacobs, said he was not an “anti-union person” but in favor of reigning in their power.

In the letter, Jacobs described the relationship between unions and the university as “excellent.”
Jacobs, however, said the inability for the university to assign employees to work at certain locations proves costly.

“(This) results in unnecessary duplication of personnel,” Jacobs said. “It is estimated that we could reduce our labor costs by approximately $2.6 million were this not the case.”

Jacobs said while most union workers are efficient, those who are not are difficult to discipline.

“Due to the cumbersome progressive discipline process required under our contracts and the cost in management time to deal with (the) ineffective work, we believe that we are spending approximately $8 million in labor costs beyond what could be optimal in a situation that could exist after the passage of Senate Bill 5,” Jacobs said.

While Jacobs cited approximately 42 percent of payroll workers are members of unions, other Ohio public universities do not have such a substantial number of workers belonging to unions.

Miami University only boasts two unions on campus and a small percentage of its employees are union members.

“The vast majority of our employees are not represented,” said Vice President for Finance and Business Services David Creamer. “Almost all of our policies, even for our organized groups, defer to university policy on things like benefits. So, there really aren’t those kinds of issues here that you may see at some of the universities.”

Miami University does not have a faculty union and unions represent only food service employees and police officers.

Still, Johnson said the amendments in SB 5 would be beneficial for university managements that will face slimmer budgets in the coming months.

“The question, ultimately, is how are we going to handle the fact that there’s less money?” Johnson asked. “Are we going to do it with management authority or are we going to get bogged down?”

Amanda Seitz is the special reports editor for the Miami Student. She is a member of the Student Free Press Association.

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter