With the contract between the University and its maintenance workers set to expire at midnight tonight, talks over wages and benefits appear to be headed down to the wire.
Officials with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 465 have scheduled a 5 p.m. meeting today to act on any proposals from the University, but representatives of both parties have said that they do not know if they will reach an agreement in time.
The negotiations, which have lasted over a month, focus on issues of pay, sick leave and retirement benefits.
If the two sides do not come to a consensus, IUOE spokesperson Henry Loftis said Wednesday night that the union would request a federal mediator and a contract extension while talks continue.
The 120-member union could also vote to strike or keep working without a contract, and Loftis said either is possible although not desirable. "I've yet to see a work stoppage since I started working here in 1988, but it might take that to get equity," Loftis said earlier in the week.
John Burness, Duke's senior vice president for public affairs and government relations, would not rule out the possibility of an employee lockout. "All kinds of things get on the table in those kinds of circumstances," he said.
Burness, who is not taking part in the negotiations, declined to give details on the talks because of a University policy prohibiting negotiations through the press. The union did not pursue a declaration from the National Labor Relations Board that the University is using unfair labor practices, something that would have prevented a lockout.
The IUOE has focused on what they call an unfair pay gap between University maintenance workers and their counterparts at Duke Hospital. The highest-paid workers in Local 465 receive $18.76 per hour, while the highest-paid Hospital maintenance workers make $21.17.
Loftis said Wednesday night that the latest University proposal--which called for a 2.5 percent raise next year, with 2 percent raises each of the next two years--is not satisfactory.
Burness said the pay discrepancy results from a different wage structure at the Hospital. The University pays maintenance workers based on seniority, whereas the Hospital pays them through an incentive system.
"It ends up being a measurement system: If you are an effective and productive worker, you get paid more," Burness said.
Union workers dismissed that distinction, saying they do the same amount of work as Hospital employees.
Before negotiations began, union representatives said they wanted paid community service leave for workers. That proposal is in jeopardy, Loftis said, because the administration has raised issues of sick leave abuse.
University negotiators have accused Local 465 workers of having a higher absentee rate than other workers, Loftis said.
He added that, although most absences have been for legitimate sicknesses, workers should be more conscientious in the future to avoid the implementation of an official attendance policy.
Loftis said he had hoped to move negotiations to earlier in the spring--to rally support from students, professors and other Duke community members who leave in May--but that the University declined. Burness said that he had been unaware of the effort.
Student protests for higher wages and better treatment for employees have become more common at universities nationwide. One of the most high-profile protests occurred last month at Harvard University, where students held a sit-in for three weeks.
Both union and administration representatives agreed that such protests can put pressure on institutions to improve pay and conditions. "For a while there has been a lot of attention paid to workers overseas, and I think you're starting to see a little of that move into [this] country," Burness said.
About 50 union workers attended a meeting Monday afternoon, rallying behind their negotiating committee while it updated workers on the talks. With some wearing T-shirts that read "Close the Gap: Equity and Fairness for All," many members said they felt underappreciated by the University, claiming that their behind-the-scenes work is often taken for granted and their welfare is overlooked.
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