Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 560 plan to file a grievance against the College for unfair labor practices, according to Local 560 President Earl Sweet. The grievance was approved by union members during their monthly meeting Thursday afternoon, a move prompted by the College's plan to award its office supplies contract to W.B. Mason, a regional office products company.
According to a letter sent by Dartmouth Procurement Services to Sweet, the College's office supplies are currently stored in Central Stores, a warehouse in Lebanon. SEIU workers are employed to move the supplies from Central Stores to the College.
The new contract, according to the letter, will save the College $400,000 by leveraging purchasing power through its new preferred partner. A single contract would also make ordering supplies easier than the current system. W.B. Mason will also deliver supplies directly to faculty, which the letter says will lead to greater overall efficiency.
Because W.B. Mason would handle delivery under the new contract, replacing the SEIU warehouse workers, union members feel the change constitutes labor subcontracting, according to Sweet.
Dartmouth's customer procurement teams, which awarded the contract to W.B. Mason, are attempting to save $3 million to $6 million by improving institutional efficiency as part of College-wide budget reductions, according to the letter.
In an interview after the union meeting, Sweet said that the contractual change is the latest example of the College's practice of subcontracting union labor to outside sources. Sweet said that given the College's recognition of the union, this subcontracting constitutes an unfair labor practice.
"By subcontracting out our work, we're losing work, which is an unfair labor practice," Sweet said.
Although New Hampshire does not legally require a certain amount of the College's workforce to be unionized, Sweet said, the SEIU is recognized by Dartmouth as the sole bargaining agent for workers in the union. Sweet also said that increasing labor subcontracting sets a dangerous precedent for the future of Dartmouth's employees.
"The College and the union negotiated for our benefits, our rates of pay and all that," Sweet said. "Now, this new regime has come in to turn around and subcontract out this labor to someone who does it for less, to dodge our higher wages and benefits."
From his perspective, Sweet said he believes that the College is exploiting a poor job market to employ cheaper, non-unionized labor. He also said he fears that if the College continues to transition to non-unionized labor, employment standards across the Upper Valley will be lowered.
Although the College announced last month an unexpected increase in the endowment, Sweet said that the College's treatment of its employees had not improved.
Sweet said he fears that ultimately, the College will be able to bypass union labor in the name of saving money, leaving members of the union without jobs.
"We've lost 114 members from the College job cuts, and we have a contract now that says they can't cut any more union jobs for two years," Sweet said. "But what's going to happen when that contract expires? It's very concerning to us that they keep subcontracting out our jobs, because we all eventually might not have jobs."
The College laid off 36 employees in April, in addition to 60 staff members who were laid off in February 2009, The Dartmouth reported previously. None of the employees were union members.
Sweet said he was pessimistic about prospects for restoring employee benefits, which were reduced as part of budget cuts, despite the endowment's growth.
"They're not losing money, and what they've chosen to do is take the money and put it somewhere else," Sweet said.
College officials were unavailable for comment as of press time.
