Eastern Michigan University will save $5.4 million from layoffs, attrition

Editor's note: This article has been updated with comments from Susan Moeller, president of the university's All Union Council.

Eastern Michigan University will save $3 million from the layoff of 38 employees and $2.4 million by not filling about 30 vacant positions.

The university laid off 38 employees last week, including 28 unionized workers and 10 from administrative positions as a result of the budget approved by the Board of Regents June 21, said Walter Kraft, vice president of communications.

The Halle Library on the Eastern Michigan University campus

File photo

The laid-off workers include 12 clerical/secretarial workers, 12 professional technical workers and 4 physical plant workers, Kraft said.

The numbers differ slightly from a list of laid-off union positions released Monday by the the All Union Council. That list included 14 professional technical workers. Susan Moeller, president of the All Union Council and the EMU chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said the union's list includes two people who are on medical leave. No faculty members are being laid off, and the university plans to slightly increase the number of faculty next year.

The layoffs come following approval of a $281.4 million budget in which the university absorbed an $11.4 million cut in its appropriation from the state and dealt with a projected $12 million increase in expenses. In the days before the regents meeting where the budget was approved EMU President Susan Martin asked unions to give up raises already negotiated for the next fiscal year, but the unions rejected the request.

In approving the budget, EMU regents also approved a 3.65 percent tuition increase, the lowest among universities that have approved budgets for next year. Most universities have approved tuition increases between 6 and 7 percent. Regents at the University of Michigan approved a 6.7 percent increase. Last year, EMU kept tuition and room and board rates flat.

Meanwhile, the All Union Council alleges that EMU has not followed established practices in laying off workers and says it plans to file grievance and unfair labor practice claims against the university. In a press release, the council alleged EMU did not give employees proper advance notice of layoffs and informed some employees who were on vacation or medical leave by voice mail.

Kraft said the university respects unions and their members and wants to follow procedures and work with unions in a constructive way. “If we find anything that could have been done differently then we would address that,” Kraft said.

Contact Cindy Heflin at cindyheflin@annarbor.com or 734-623-2572. For more Ypsilanti stories, visit our Ypsilanti page.

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