Despite recent attempts to hammer out a contract, talks between the College and Local Union 560 remain at a standstill more than six weeks after the employees' contract expired on June 30.
"We're at a deadlock," Union President Earl Sweet said. Local Union 560 represents about 370 Dartmouth custodial staff, food service employees, grounds crew and heating plant workers.
At a meeting last week attended by 70 members, the union voted unanimously to reject the College's latest contract offer and to not submit it to the entire union.
Director of Human Resources Roger Brock said he feels the College made significant concessions in the recent offer, changing the contract length from three years to two years and adding "revised language in the contract in the management rights clause."
But Sweet said the College is "trying to make it as rough on us as they can" and is not trying to deal with the main disputes over the contract.
"I just don't see any movement," he said. He added that he "questions whether [the College is] bargaining in good faith."
Until a new contract is reached, the employees will continue to work under the old contract, said Roger Brock, the College's director of human resources.
"It's business as usual," he said. "There have been no problems."
Sweet said he said the workers would not strike and added that he called off a "sick-out" planned for Monday because he felt it was "not the right thing to do at this point."
"We work for the students. We don't want to do work stoppages or do anything that would hurt the students," he said.
"I think we're going to start doing some informational picketing once the students come back" in the fall, he said.
He said he did not think the two sides could agree before then.
Sweet said the College will not address the "biggest sticking point" in the negotiations &emdash; the dispute over the College turning 12-month jobs into nine-month ones.
Sweet said that the College is saying it will not convert any positions but will not agree to put it down in writing.
He said although the College maintains that it is only creating new nine-month jobs, it is also eliminating 12-month jobs, leaving the same number of employees but more nine-month positions.
According to Sweet there are currently 14 nine-month positions.
Another major controversy is an argument over the length of the contract and pay increases, Sweet said.
He said the union desires a two-year contract while the College was previously offering a three-year contract with pay increases of 2.75 percent, 3 percent and 3.25 percent respectively over the three years.
In the latest contract, which was rejected by the union, the College offered a two-year contract with pay increases of 2.75 percent each year plus a $300 cut in dental care.
"We went backwards on it," Sweet said.
Additionally, Sweet said the College refuses to deal with the international union or the Labor Department.
Sweet said under an agreement reached between Labor Secretary Robert Reich '68 and the union during Commencement and Reunion Weekend, the union promised not to demonstrate during the ceremonies in exchange for the Reich's commitment to be "fully involved in [the dispute] until it came to an end."
Sweet said right now the union is trying to bring in a federal mediator to help settle the contract, but added that would probably take two weeks.
Brock said the College's negotiating team will meet next week to discuss the current status of the talks but is adopting a "wait and see" attitude for now.
