Proposed reductions to healthcare benefits for retiring College faculty and staff members have drawn criticism from members of the Dartmouth division of the Service Employees' International Union, inciting a dispute that could lead to contentious contract renegotiations in the coming months.
The plan, which has come under censure since it was announced this fall, is currently being altered after a period of staff and faculty review and will likely be finalized in February, Adam Keller, executive vice president for finance and administration at the College said.
Earl Sweet, president of the College's division of the SEIU, the Local 560, said that Dartmouth would likely have trouble securing new contracts with the union if the finalized proposal is not deemed adequate by union members.
The SEIU currently holds three contracts with the College -- one covering Safety and Security, one for staff at the Hanover Inn and one which covers other Dartmouth employees, including staff from Facilities, Operations & Management, the Dartmouth Dining Association, the Office of Residential Life, the Dartmouth Skiway and the Athletic Department, among others.
The SEIU's current contracts with the College, set in 2004, expire on July 1, 2008.
"[The College] may not be able to get a contract if they don't do something here," Sweet said. "I've been here for going on 30 years and this is the worst thing I've seen."
New contracts must be voted on by the entirety of the College's union membership, Sweet said. This year marks the first time that the union will bring a lawyer to the negotiations to meet with the College's General Counsel.
The Dartmouth was unable to reach a staff member from the General Counsel's office to comment on the future negotiations.
Under the proposed plan, the College would pay for between 40 to 85 percent of those health care costs not covered by Medicare for current employees -- down from the 100 percent contribution currently offered to these individuals. Employees hired after Jan. 1, 2009 would not receive any contribution towards these costs from the College.
Keller estimated that he received between 400 and 600 responses from faculty and staff during the review period, which lasted a little less than two months. The College is now in the process of working with actuaries to determine which of the submitted alterations are financially feasible.
The plan will be discussed again with faculty and staff before completion "to make sure we're all supportive of where we're at," Keller said. The College, however, is not obligated to follow recommendations from either group, he added.
Sweet called the proposed plan evidence of improper financial priorities among Dartmouth administrators and said that he was concerned the changes would create a "revolving door" of staff turnover at the College.
"It's going to become a 'them' and 'us' maybe, and that's not good," Sweet said. "I always called it the Dartmouth family. Now it's a little dysfunctional."
Discontent is widespread among the staff members that he represents, Sweet said.
"A lot of people feel like the College doesn't look at them as an asset, they look at them as a liability now," he said. "People that have been here many, many years are feeling quite hurt by this."
Jason Sanville, who works as the custodian in Topliff residential hall, said he was not hopeful that substantial changes would be made to the proposed plan.
"Either way we're probably going to get the shaft," Sanville, a member of the Local 560, said. "Whatever the answer is, I'm going to have to deal with it. What am I supposed to do, stay at home?"
Sanville, who is 32 years old and has worked at Dartmouth for three years, would receive a 35 percent contribution from the College upon retirement under the proposed plan, which adds age and years of service to determine the contribution for current employees.
Though the College is committed to finding a solution that will lower the liability of future costs that it must report on financial statements -- which could total as much as $58 million dollars by 2017 under the College's current plan -- responses from faculty and staff will be important in determining the final plan, Keller said. College administrators did not wish to execute the changes unilaterally given the scale of the alterations, Keller said.
"It's a better outcome and a more fair process if you give people an opportunity to have some input," he said. "It might have been easier to do it a different way, but the output wouldn't have been as good."
The proposed plan was produced by a working group convened by the College Benefits Council, following a 2003 mandate from the College's Board of Trustees to reduce Dartmouth's reported financial liability. The College's changes come in the wake of similar reductions at other institutions, which are motivated by rising health care costs and a 1991 change in liability reporting standards by the Financial Accounting Savings Board.
