 "Photo:")
 "Photo:")
Editor's Note: This article has been corrected. See below.
Staff marched up and down the Kendall Hall lawn Thursday from noon to 1 p.m., carrying signs and collecting signatures in protest of a proposal to remove Friday work hours in the summer.
The rally was small and only featured about 10 people, but represented a staff divide about the hour change, which is designed to cut staff-usage costs, and would mean staff would work four, 10-hour days as opposed to four nine-hour days and one four-hour day, said human resources administrative support assistant and president of California State University Employees Union Jessica Post. In essence, Fridays would be taken off and buildings would be closed down.
Under the plan, departments and facilities such as the Student Health Center, Meriam Library and the Wildcat Recreation Center wouldn't operate on Fridays during the summer, Post said.
And while about 51 percent of staff supports the plan, about 30 percent is uncomfortable with it, Post said.
"Some of these departments cannot be shut down, or have already made commitments to operating on Fridays," said User Services staff member Darrell Bartlett.
A few buildings that cannot have electricity shut off are the Student Health Center and the science buildings, which house medication and chemicals that have to be kept cool at all times, said college of natural sciences assistant Alicia Trider.
There is also concern the length of each working day is not safe for employees, said Tom Alden, vice president of the California State University Employees Union. Safety issues include back injuries from being sedentary too long and groundskeepers working 10 hours in the summer heat.
Many potential students and parents also visit the campus on weekends to check it out, Trider said. Groundskeepers usually work Friday mornings to ensure the campus is clean for guests, but the new schedule would mean they wouldn't be on campus from Friday to Monday.
And programs such as summer orientation and summer camps are also already planned for Monday through Friday, with little to no time to change the dates or times of these events, Bartlett said.
Other issues staff members have with the change are finding daycare for 10-hour days, carpooling or commitments to family events, such as coaching little league, he said.
But the decision was made to improve the campus, said President Paul Zingg.
The change would save energy costs by having buildings open for one fewer day, Zingg said. And it would reduce the campus' carbon footprint by having staff commuting to work one fewer day and not using energy-tapping facilities.
It would also provide the campus employees one more full day off from work, making the weekend a three-day weekend, he said.
But staff and the California State University Employees Union still think the problems outweigh the benefits, at least this year, and want the administration to make the change voluntarily this summer, Alden said.
Also, the union has yet to see any significant data showing that changing the work hours would actually save costs on energy, Alden said. And many departments have already said they will not be closing on Fridays with or without the change.
They met with administration officials Friday to discuss the change and the issues that they have with it, but a decision has not been made yet.
"The problem is that there is just not enough time to reorganize all the departments around this schedule," Alden said. "If we had more time, it would have been possible, but it's just not feasible this year."
Delaine Moore can be reached at dmoore@theorion.com
The article incorrectly stated that it was a faculty protest and incorrectly identified custodians. The Orion's reporters strive for accuracy. We recognize that mistakes will occur, but we treat every error very seriously. If you feel a correction needs to be made, e-mail the managing editor at managingeditor@theorion.com
Be the first to comment on this article!