University of Missouri employees voice concerns about benefits, wages at union town hall

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University of Missouri custodian Cathy Persinger had to move out of Columbia, because she can no longer afford to live in the city, she said during a town hall Saturday afternoon at the Unitarian Universalist Church.

“When I asked (the university) for a raise because I was stressed out, they told me about food banks and stuff on campus, which I’ve been going to those already,” said Persinger, who makes a little over $15 an hour. “And it’s not enough.”

Several university workers and community members echoed similar concerns. More than 150 attended the town hall, which focused on discussions surrounding MU’s new proposed parking model, changes to employee benefits, wages and more.

The event was organized by MU Workers United and Laborers International Union of North America (LiUNA) Local 955.

LiUNA representative Andrew Hutchinson said the university’s reluctance to bargain over worker issues led to Saturday’s town hall.

“The university basically says, ‘We want to talk this out over a table,’ and then we get to the table and the rules change as we’re talking, or they just go ahead and change things anyway,” Hutchinson said.

MU spokesperson Christian Basi said the university has always been open to having discussions with the union.

“Anytime they’ve asked, we have always sat down and had open conversations with them about our challenges related to those various issues, and we’re happy to explain and talk about decisions, as well as get their input,” Basi said.

Parking

Parking has been a recent hot-button issue on campus. Effective January 2025 for faculty and staff, the university plans to shift to a demand-based parking model with tiered pricing, a change from its current salary-based model.

Hutchinson said that the cost to park at work is detrimental for many union members, who make $15 or $16 an hour. Town hall attendees echoed this, mentioning concerns about safety and the availability of shuttle services from parking locations.

“The university spent months not giving us a response and then rolled out this parking hike increase overnight without even letting us respond to it at the bargaining table,” Hutchinson said.

Basi said the new model will allow employees to pay as little as $5 a month for parking, a decrease of at least $16.50 a month from the current model.

“Not only did we listen to the union, but we were able to provide an option that significantly reduces — it doesn’t eliminate — but it significantly reduces the cost of parking for people if they choose to take advantage of the option,” he said. “Instead of making people pay based on their salary, we have put together a structure that says the most in-demand parking will be the most expensive, and as you go out from the core campus, it becomes less expensive.”

The university understands the need to run shuttles more often and at different times of day and is working to ensure that happens, Basi said.

Wages and benefits

Town hall attendees also shared frustrations about changes to worker wages and benefits.

Darrell Dillon, an electrician at MU, said benefits for employees have been chipped away over the 14 years he has worked at the university.

“I was promised retirement if I stayed with them long enough, I was promised a pension, I was promised insurance, I was promised vacation, sick leave and personal days,” Dillon said. “I was promised a standard raise across the board when I first started, then we get the merit raise system, which is no more than a popularity contest.”

Basi said the university’s merit-based raise system has been shown to best reward staff who are doing quality work and also encourages good employees.

Any individual who is hired while the university’s pension plan was active will receive their pension, Basi said.

“Anytime we do changes to benefits, we have had significant communications to faculty and staff, depending on who it is impacting,” Basi said. “It is something that we work very hard to do, is to make sure that we have a competitive wage, good benefits and access to affordable parking, to ensure folks that the university itself is trying to make the work environment as welcoming as possible.”

Commitment

An overall theme of attendees’ and organizers’ perspectives were the university’s commitment to and respect for its employees.

“There’s a lot of folks that received raises during COVID-19, because they were essential workers at the hospital, they received (critical) staffing pay,” Hutchinson said. “The university hospital says they can take it away at any time, and it has folks terrified because all of a sudden, in a couple of weeks, they could lose a massive part of their paycheck, and (workers) have no control over it.”

Eric Maze, public relations manager for MU Health Care, said 10 critical staffing pay plans are still in use at the hospital through September 14, 2024.

“Critical staffing plans are reviewed every 12 weeks to determine if staffing challenges continue, are forecasted to continue or new challenges have developed,” Maze said in an email. “Critical staffing plans will continue to be part of our compensation strategy.”

This story originally appeared in the Columbia Missourian. It can be republished in print or online.

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