Washtenaw Community College president puts brakes on plan to privatize part-time faculty
Washtenaw Community College’s president has put the brakes on a plan to privatize part-time faculty.
Larry Whitworth said Tuesday he won't be bringing a recommendation to the board in November to transfer nearly 400 part-time faculty and staff to a private company called EDUStaff.
On Tuesday night, Whitworth said if he brought the proposal back to the board, it would happen in Janaury. On Wednesday after, the college's spokeswoman, Janet Hawkins, said Whitworth has no intention of bringing the proposal to the board.
WCC President Larry Whitworth
The original plan called for part-time faculty who teach in the college’s lifelong learning program and some low-level staff employees to be made employees of the private company, EDUStaff. Faculty members are hired on a per-semester basis, with no promises of a job the next semester.
Not having those employees on the payroll would mean the college wouldn't have to pay 19.6 percent of an employee’s salary into the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System. The employees themselves wouldn't have to pay the 6 percent of their salary they currently pay into the system.
Anticipated savings to WCC are about $1 million a year.
If the plan had gone forward, the switchover would have taken place in January.
The pilot project called for the switch to the private company to be voluntary for employees, but Whitworth said he received some “pushback” from employees who would have been impacted.
He said he’s planning to meet in the next couple weeks with the affected staff to talk about the program.
“This isn’t the kind of thing you want to just force through,” he said. “We want to make sure we go through a process and talk to people about this.”
David Jesse covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at davidjesse@annarbor.com or at 734-623-2534.
Comments
Fred
Mon, Nov 1, 2010 : 1:13 p.m.
Once handed control of a segment of the WCC workforce, EDUStaff will work to reduce employee compensation in order to slash costs and increase profits for its investors. The quality of the education provided at WCC and the working conditions of its employees will be of little significance to EDUStaff so long as its profits rise. Read more at: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/wash-o28.shtml
snapshot
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 : 9:05 a.m.
Ghost, Sorry, I meant WCC not U of M. Worker speaks from experience. Sounds like this move would not be in the best interest of the union. Good Night and Good Luck to you too.
worker
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 : 7:50 a.m.
Is MPSERS sustainable without the contributions from employees (and their employers) who will never be vested? If not, then every union with people vested in MPSERS should be happy this was stopped. It also sounds like political timing: Governerd Synder's remarks about taxes costing jobs proven true - WCC could have hired 1 more PT for every 5 with the taxes they spent on MPSERS, and this would have been 9% more in the pockets of locals inclined to spend money locally. I was once taking classes and working multiple PT jobs, one of them at WCC where 6% went to MPSERS. I would have been very, very happy to make an extra 9% and i wouldn't have cared about the details. I was just staff though (the group this was starting with) and PT staff is lowest on the totem poll. I'm sure most of my friends who were also PT staff taxed by MPSERS would have liked 9% more too (mostly moved out of state by now). Other than the possible financial incentives for the large EDU unions, i don't understand the objections to this program. It was voluntary. The first group to be helped would have been a group often ignored and very desperate (PT Staff, NOT faculty). It was a 9% raise!!! I could have eaten more than just ramen. And to think that altogether 25% of an employee's wages is going to something never to be used by that employee, that really, really bothers me and means the public path is broken. Fix it or go private. Larry says he tried to get GOV to fix it by making it optional, they wouldn't, so he tried going private for those who wanted to. How is this bad? By the way to address a couple comments here and in the other article. There are plenty of other portions of WCC that are handled by for-profit companies. I don't think much of the WCC Administration group isn't in MPSERS, it's mostly faculty.
snapshot
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 11:44 p.m.
Ghost J says nothing to disprove my suspicions. In fact I will predict a future attempt to unionize part time employees. Did not EMU make that attempt. Would UofM be insulated from that type of union endeavor because it's located in Ann Arbor?
snapshot
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 11:33 p.m.
Ghost, so you and your sources say no union official was in communications with part time personell in regards to this issue to encourage the "pushback"? Are you kidding?
J
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 11:31 p.m.
On behalf of the Part Time Faculty at Washtenaw Community College: 1. The part time faculty at Washtenaw Community College are NOT unionized. This "push back" was not instigated by a union. 2. Objections to being moved to an "outside" temp agency as our employer were much more to do with concerns regarding what it would do to our professional status...both in the college and at other universities/colleges. When President Whitworth heard our concerns, he withdrew the Edu Staff idea as an option. 3. The majority of Part Time Faculty agree with President Whitworth that we should have a "choice" in which retirement program we wish to contribute to for our own retirements. We support his efforts to get the legislature to change the laws that force us into MPSERS. We just did not believe that moving us to an outside agency was the best way to do this. President Whitworth heard our concerns and withdrew Edu Staff as something to be considered. However, the Part Time Faculty at Washtenaw Community College do support his continued efforts to remove part time staff and faculty from MPSERS as the only available retirement plan we can participate in. We believe we should have the same choices that Full Time Faculty have. Yet, the legislature's current laws are blocking that possibility.
William Campbell
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 4:12 p.m.
I am glad that Larry Whitworth and his board are reconsidering this. The part-time faculty deserves to be heard and respected. They teach the majority of courses at WCC and are an integral part of the academic system. They need to be included uniformly in all processes where academic quality is concerned. These are some of the issues that I will work towards as a trustee. Bringing the part-time faculty into the process is important. I will also bring issues of academic quality into the board room and support policies that add value to education. William Campbell WCC Trustee Candidate for Academic Quality campbell4trustee.info
Janet Hawkins
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 2:04 p.m.
Part-time faculty and employees are critical to the delivery of instruction at WCC, and their opinions are valued. Because they are not interested in moving forward with this proposal, it will not be brought to the WCC Board of Trustees for consideration. Janet Hawkins Washtenaw Community College
Mark
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 12:01 p.m.
This was an attempt to save the college a great deal of money, and allow part-time faculty and support staff the chance to keep six per cent of their income. What it turned out to be was a guarantee that part-time faculty that have been at WCC for at least ten years and veteran support staff of the same amount of time to be screwed out of their vested pensions. Now, most, MOST part-time faculty never get vested. Support staff often do stay at the college for long periods of time, if not for ten years. Let's say someone works at WCC for seven years. Six per cent of seven years is a lot of money, regardless of vested status. People balked at the idea of being second class employees. Temps. It really is that simple.
timjbd
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 11:04 a.m.
Quote: "EDUStaff was created with the collaboration of several knowledgeable and experienced individuals who are committed to providing outstanding customer service and support in order to help correct today's current and persistent educational contracting concerns, such as: blah, blah..." This reminds me of the business plan from a company called "Custer / Battles" who "handled" security on the airport road into Baghdad. Look them up. Just two guys who inserted themselves into the Iraq contracting fiasco and made a killing while providing absolutely nothing. Rumsfeld (and Bremer) had a dream of privatizing the military so any US military function you wanted to take off his hands only required a signature. Why let the government do something that the private sector can (fail to) do at three times the price? Did not matter at all if you actually performed the task you were contracted to perform.
Soothslayer
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 8:53 a.m.
This >And the union's win again at the expense of the taxpayer's. Grats rollback to a process that doesnt work. Now you can buckle down prepare for the age of Republicans in MI so we can all get to work
Kim Kachadoorian
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 8:40 a.m.
@Paul Taylor - thanks...when I searched this morning just the other two I mentioned popped up. Hopefully that is the company so it is at least in Michigan.
stunhsif
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 8:04 a.m.
And the union's win again at the expense of the taxpayer's.
Paul Taylor
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 7:26 a.m.
I assume the company is Edustaff, LLC in Byron Center, MI.
Kim Kachadoorian
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 6:22 a.m.
Looks like the company in Washington is out of business? Different address than on the internet - although if I google the phone number (253 737 5641) both the address in Auburn and the address in Covington (see previous post) appear. From the State of Washington's website: EDUSTAFF RESOURCES, INC. UBI Number602778253 CategoryREG Profit/NonprofitProfit Active/InactiveInactive State Of IncorporationWA WA Filing Date11/06/2007 Expiration Date11/30/2009 Inactive Date03/01/2010 Registered Agent Information Agent NameCOURTNEY L WOOD Address30334 121ST PL SE AUBURN WA 98092 Governing Persons TitleNameAddress Vice PresidentWOOD, TERESA AUBURN, WA PresidentWOOD, COURTNEY
Kim Kachadoorian
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 6:08 a.m.
Hmmmm...a simple yahoo search on EDUstaff - doesn't really get a whole lot of valid results (maybe that is why there isn't a link to them in the story). Edustaffresources.com links are all dead...or you get an "forbidden" result. Company appears to have an address of: Edustaff Resources PO Box 8431, Covington, WA 98042 p: 253 737 5641 - doesn't seem to be a real phone number either - I called it just out of curiosity and woke someone up...sorry to the person I woke up - thought I would get a business answering system - should have gotten a business answering system - why didn't I? A simple google search finds similar links. I do see references to a UK company with the same name - is WCC planning to use the UK firm or the firm you cannot find on the internet? If this is their twitter account - http://twitter.com/#!/edustaff - not updated in more than a year. Might be a different company as well since their title is actually Eduguide Staff, but worth noting just in case. How much due diligence has been done on this company? What were the alternatives? Is it really a good idea to outsource your part-time faculty? Short term savings may not add up to long term solutions. Many part-time faculty are GREAT instructors that have been brought in from industry to teach about what they know best. Is outsourcing this to a firm that doesn't know Washtenaw County or what the students want/need a good idea. I don't have all the answers here - but one thing I do know I cannot find this elusive company in the USA but they are in the UK and why would we outsource to the UK our community college needs? Something isn't adding up right here. WCC I think you need to take a second, third and fourth look at this...I smell something funky going on. I love WCC - some of my favorite classes were at WCC. Some of my favorite instructors were at WCC and many of them were part-timers that brought in real world insight into the classroom - something books don't always have (yes I know they have case studies - but they are often "old news"). Part-time instructors are hard working often at a full-time job and do this on the side to "give back" by teaching. Keep WCC vibrant - keep part-timers local and the hiring local!