Johnny Hudson, a former custodian at Cameron Indoor Stadium, was fired Feb. 10 because of what his supervisors described as poor work performance. He was let go 10 days before the end of his 90-day probationary period.
A campus group, however, is fighting for him to retain his job.
Duke Organizing-a group committed to changing the cultures of working, living and learning at Duke-filed a petition Feb. 20 to form a joint-Durham-and-University ad hoc review panel to examine an appeal concerning the firing of Hudson.
"I want my job back," Hudson said. "I need my job back."
The group also filed a second petition calling to establish a public grievance process for Duke employees working during their probationary period.
When Duke hires permanent workers, they undergo a 90-day trial period, wherein they are not permanent employees and are not protected by a local union.
As of Sunday night, 377 people had signed the online petitions.
Duke Organizing representatives will meet with Tallman Trask, executive vice president, and John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and government relations, Monday afternoon to discuss the petitions.
David Rice, a second-year graduate student in the political science department and a member of Duke Organizing, is hopeful about the meeting.
"We share an interest with the administration in getting a procedure installed for [workers under the probationary period]," he said, noting that it is important for the University to establish an overarching procedure for dealing with temporary workers, rather than to deal with each case on an individual basis.
The group's most immediate focus is to get Hudson's job back, Rice said.
Rice speculated a possible connection between Hudson's dismissal and a recent supervisor change.
There was a grievance filed against Yvette Barrow, Hudson's new supervisor, Rice said. "Johnny was suppose to testify against her, but he was fired before then," he added.
Hudson was first hired by Duke Temporary Services in August 2005. He became a permanent employee Nov. 28, at which point he began his 90-day probation period, he said.
When Hudson was fired, he was informed that there were still 40 days remaining in his probation time when there were actually only 10, he said.
Hudson said his decreased performance level on the job was caused by Barrow's increase of work load.
"Every week she added more and more to my schedule," Hudson said. "So I can't complete the work, and she says that I'm incompetent."
Barrow could not be reached for comment.
Hudson cites the basketball team's attitude toward him as proof of his good performance.
"For Christmas, they gave me a bag of clothes and a pair of the '600 wins' sneakers," he said. "If these people aren't happy with what I'm doing, why would they treat me like this?"
In the past two weeks Hudson has been actively looking for new employment but with no success. He said it was particularly difficult because Duke is Durham's biggest source of income for labor jobs.
"It took me almost a year to get that job a Duke," he said. "Now I'm on the 'no re-hire' list. I can't even get a job at Duke."
Administrators declined to comment on the situation.
The second petition filed by Duke Organizing aims to protect all Duke workers in their probationary period. As of now, they are not covered by a union or any other organizations, Rice explained.
"We want to set up processes for people in this probation period to have some kind of way to deal with grievances," he said. "People under 90 days are especially at risk."
A similar situation occurred last December on East Campus. Olivia Vaughn, a Gilbert-Addoms Dormitory housekeeper, was fired a day before the end of her probation period. Students filed a petition, and Vaughn was able to keep her job.
Gordon Mantler, a fourth-year graduate student in the history department, agreed that workers under probation need to be protected.
"Workers on probation aren't given any kind of clause about why they are fired," he said.
Vertee Poteat, a housekeeper for Brown Dormitory, said there needs to be detailed documentation regarding the grounds of firing employees.
"You can't just up and walk to somebody and say, 'You're fired,'" she said. "[The supervisor] has the right to get rid of them [in the 90 days probation], but you need to say why you're doing it."
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