‘Umass has the money’
Unions push to bring back workers as Meehan warns of financial woes
‘The university has the means to meet its obligations to these hardworking public servants, to the students we serve, and to the communities where these working families live.’
The University of Massachusetts system is facing a “huge financial challenge” as the coronavirus pandemic rages on — staring down a projected $335 million budget shortfall even with a bump in state funding and better-than-expected enrollment.
“We are dealing with a public health crisis and a huge financial challenge,” UMass President Marty Meehan told a board of trustees committee on Wednesday, according to a release from the university. He also warned that disciplined financial management would need to continue.
But unions representing workers for the state’s third-largest employer are pushing the UMass brass to bring back laid off and furloughed workers.
“UMass has the money to bring back workers who have been unjustly put out of their jobs during this pandemic,” Massachusetts Teachers Association Vice President Max Page said in a statement. “The university has the means to meet its obligations to these hardworking public servants, to the students we serve, and to the communities where these working families live.”
More than 1,700 employees were impacted as the university cut vacant, student and temporary positions,
MAX PAGE Massachusetts Teachers Association vice president
as well as some fulland part-time faculty. And the system is eyeing furloughs, voluntary separations, salary reductions, temporary layoffs and furloughs and permanent layoffs that would affect another 5,800-plus, according to a budget presentation obtained by the Herald.
Continued staffing woes come as UMass is bracing for a $335 million projected budget shortfall primarily due to an $80 million hit in housing and dining revenue as the majority of the system’s 70,000-plus students remain off campus. COVID19 safety initiatives also cost an additional $19 million.
Meehan told WCVB’s “On the Record” late last month that a tuition freeze cost about $18 million, and that the university refunded students roughly $65 million for room, board and food services when they were sent packing in the spring as the pandemic swept into the Bay State.
“It’s difficult, we’re hoping to get more classes open in the spring semester, but we have to follow the science,” Meehan told WCVB.
In the meantime, he said, “we’re trying to find ways to reduce wherever we can.”
But better-than-expected enrollment brought in $21 million more in tuition and fees. And the state’s levelfunding still added $76 million.
Given the level-funding, and that UMass “did not experience drastic enrollment losses, which administrations had predicted,” the UMass Unions United coalition argues that furloughs and layoffs should be rolled back.
Union leaders from across the UMass campuses plan to address the board of trustees during a meeting this morning.