UMass, workers square off over $
System faces big budget gap
Union members are demanding furloughed University of Massachusetts workers be called back as the college system faces a $433 million budget shortfall — and possibly another round of cuts.
“To be honest, those affected feel like they’ve been stabbed in the back.
They are not wanted, nor important, to the mission of this university,” UMass Amherst Staff Association President Leslie Marsland told President Marty Meehan and trustees during Thursday’s meeting.
Marsland and other union leaders criticized how the UMass system has handled furloughs and layoffs since the pandemic shut down inperson learning last spring, putting more than 1,000 staff on longterm furloughs statewide.
That might not be the end of cuts for the state’s thirdlargest employer: according to a budget presentation reviewed by the Herald, the five-campus system is considering more furloughs, voluntary separations, salary reductions, temporary layoffs and permanent layoffs that would affect another 5,800-plus.
UMass Amherst Professional Staff Union co-Chair Risa Silverman said cutting hours for so many workers has massively burdened the staff that remains.
“There is a limit to how much extra work people can do, and we have far passed that limit at Amherst,” said Silverman.
UMass Treasurer and Senior Vice President Lisa Calise presented a sobering numbers update, adjusting the budget shortfall that was previously reported as $335 million but which is now up to $433 million, taking into account projections for the spring semester.
Enrollment remains flat from last year, which Calise marks as a victory for the UMass system, but housing and dining revenue is “falling off a cliff” due to COVID-19 occupancy limits. That accounts for $80 million in lost revenue, in addition to $19 million the system has spent on COVID-19 safety measures.
Meehan pushed back against union leaders’ calls that the university system dig into reserves and its emergency funds.
“Such actions would leave us defenseless going forward, endanger the longterm financial viability of the university and could result in deeper, permanent cuts and layoffs down the road, as well as higher tuition for our students,” he said.
The former congressman expressed confidence that Congress will pass a “$980 billion” federal aid package before Christmas, and that public higher education will get “their fair share.”
But union leaders say underemployed workers can’t wait for that help, especially without hope for stimulus checks from the federal government, and they asked the system to carry debt into the next year rather than lay off more staff.
“This year of all years, when we know we will roar back with full campuses in the fall,” said Massachusetts Teachers Association Vice President Max Page, it would be better to delay paying for the shortfall.