Problems with a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign union are pushing university employees to consider opting out, according to a maintenance worker.
In an interview with Chambana Sun, the university employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the public sector union unfairly shields some workers from discipline while allowing others to face what might be viewed as excessive retribution.
“We have a union that won’t back anybody,” the worker said. “You can show up every day and do your job, but we have examples of people who might do one thing wrong and they get called on the carpet.”
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign employee said some blatant infractions are not addressed, leading to poor morale.
“We’re sitting here trying to do our job and come into work every day,” the source said. “And we have people who will come into work and you won’t see them any more for the rest of the day. They just kind of disappear. One guy was caught sleeping three times by somebody in upper management. The last time he was caught, they said there wasn’t a formal complaint made about it so, therefore, they’re just going to give him a little slap on the wrist.”
According to the union memeber, the union, combined with pressure to create a diverse workforce, is the root of some of the problems.
“We have co-workers that have two pages of offenses, including getting caught sleeping more than once,” he said. “Swearing at supervisors, coming in late or sneaking out early. We just recently had one still on probation and came in late, yelled at supervisors, failed sanitations on their building several times. When I was on probation, I would have been fired.”
In the worker’s estimation, a push for workplace equality has created even more issues.
“And they’re preaching diversity, diversity, diversity,” the employee said. “Well, if you’re hiring based on diversity and those people are not qualified, they’re not going to stay there, be there and do their jobs. And if they’re in the union, it takes a lot to fire them.”
The employee said the result is a shortage of skilled workers.
“We’re running short of help, not just in our department,” he said. “The trades – plumbers, electricians, carpenters – they are very short of help. It’s because they want to meet the diversity quota instead of hiring qualified applicants.”
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