One would not expect that the woman who scans students' I.D.s at Food Court and the man who sprinkles sand on the icy sidewalks would have a voice on the Dartmouth campus.
But as members of local Union 560, the College workers have control over their wages, benefits and job security.
Union 560 is composed of 378 College employees -- Dining Service employees, grounds workers, painters, custodians, heat plant operators, golf course operators, ski tow operators, carpenters and other trade workers, according to local Union 560 President Earl Sweet.
All College employees for the positions outlined in the union contract must be union members, College Director of Human Resources Roger Brock said.
Sweet said the College hires employees for a 90-day period, after which they must join the union in order to remain employed.
The Union and the College
The local Union 560 was formed in 1966 by a group of College employees under the National Labor Relations Act, which provides the opportunity for individuals to collectively bargain.
According to Sweet, local Union 560 is part of the service employees international union -- the third-fastest growing union in the country, with a membership of about 1.5 million. It is also part of the AFL-CIO labor union.
Brock said the difference between the College's relationship with Union 560 and the relationship of other unions with their institutions is that "we are all on the same side -- to provide a quality environment for students. We don't see ourselves on opposites sides of the table -- that is our common denominator."
Brock said he thinks the College has "an excellent working relationship with the union and I think [the union members] will say the same thing."
"We have our moments -- it is basically a give-and-take thing," Sweet said of the union's relationship with the College. But "there are times we just don't agree on an issue and we have to use the grievance process or arbitration procedures."
Picketing outside Parkhurst
Brock said Union 560 has had its moments of discontent. Twice, in the past, union members have worked without a contract until an agreement was reached between the College and the union. He said once a federal mediator intervened to facilitate negotiations.
In 1994, the College and Union 560 negotiated for seven months to come to an agreement on a new contract.
Union members were angered at the conversion of eight non-union jobs from 12-month positions to nine-month positions, and these people wanted to ensure job security, Brock said. They were also bargaining for a $300 dental plan.
After a five-hour picket outside of Parkhurst Administration building, 18 meetings and several threatened protests, the two sides reached an agreement four months late.
Brock said if an agreement cannot be reached, union members could conceivably strike and the College could hire permanent replacements.
But he said the College is "neither going to lock out employees nor are they going to strike. We want these people to continue to work and they want to work."
Now it is negotiations time again -- Brock said he and Sweet have already begun negotiations for the upcoming July 1 contract deadline.
"At this point we are confident that negotiations will work well and meet an agreement as we have in the past," Brock said.
In every negotiation, both parties seek to make changes to things that have been problematic, Brock said. But he said this year there is "no singular large thing jumping out" as a point of contention.
But when there are grievances, College workers have someone to stand up for them -- Sweet.
The workers "are the union," Sweet said. "I just represent them because they voted me in office. They are the ones that run the union, I just run the day-to-day operations."
Sweet, whose office is in the basement of Dartmouth Hall, is also vice president of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO.
Sweet has been at the College for 17 years representing the union employees in one capacity or another.
