Carter Henman
State budget troubles have been cause for concern among many on campus, including staff, and Vice President of Administration Bill Mai addressed some of those concerns in his report to staff senate yesterday.
“The university has been largely spared from fiscal year 2016 reductions,” Mai said. “A lot of people are calling it a hiring freeze and a sweep of funds, and I would characterize it differently.”
Admitting the distinction was largely a matter of semantics, Mai said the “hiring restriction” would not affect efforts to fill critical staff positions.
“Some of the classifications we have excluded, right off the bat, from being frozen are physical plant folks of all types: plumbers, electricians and bus drivers,” Mai said.
He said a WyoFile article from November was incorrect in reporting the hiring freeze would make it difficult for UWYO Roundup to replace drivers.
Senator Thomas expressed concern about the lack of clarity in how the administration determines what positions take priority.
“I don’t understand why one faculty position that hasn’t been filled in three years and is doing just fine is being filled for a salary of $74,000 when an office assistant position, who gets $30,000 isn’t considered critical,” Thomas said.
“Administration at the university has decided not to make a big issue of who falls into the exigencies,” Mai said. “But there are clearly those positions that we have to have.”
Classification and Compensation Manager in the human resources department Mark Bercheni also addressed staff senate.
“One of the positions that we’re looking at hiring right now is an associate director of employee well-being and training,” Bercheni said. “We’re in the interview stage right now.”
Rachel Stevens, co-chair of the senate staff relations committee, inquired as to whether the new position would be able to assist employees seeking mediation in supervisor-employee negotiations.
Bercheni answered in the negative.
Stevens returned to the issue when she delivered the staff relations committee report.
“There’s still no mediation available through HR,” Stevens said. “Several of the people that we have talked to who went to HR and asked if someone would be available to be at a meeting were told no.”
Staff senate has attempted to help provide support for staff members in disputes with their superiors by encouraging peer witnesses to be present for negotiations.
The staff relations committee has made peer witness forms available to staff members via SharePoint, Stevens said.
Senate President Arron Sullivent said he is excited about the progress his organization has made in improving staff relations during his presidency.
