Columbia listing lifted after union members apply

Members of the United Staff of Columbia College, frustrated after almost three years of contract negotiations with their employer, decided to make a point by applying for a part-time housekeeping position at the university-owned residence of college President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim.

USCC members saw the listing and began to apply to the position last week. The listing was taken down the same day, according to USCC President Craig Sigele.

“While President Kim is looking for help cleaning his home, those of us who support Columbia students every day are out actively looking for a second or even third income so we can keep our families afloat and pay our bills,” Sigele said in a statement issued by the Illinois Education Association. “We don’t have the luxury of hiring housekeepers. We are struggling to survive.”

The university said that the listing was removed “after a potential pool of candidates were identified,” according to Lambrini Lukidis, a spokesperson for Columbia College.

“The building commonly called the president’s house is a college property that serves as a venue for official college functions to advance the mission of the institution, houses office space for some college staff, and is home to the president,” Lukidis said.

According to the now-deleted listing, the part-time housekeeper “creates and maintains a clean and orderly environment for the president & CEO of the college and guests of the president’s residence.” Responsibilities for the position include “sweeping, mopping, dusting, and polishing,” according to the listing, which did not give a salary. Qualifications include “a high school diploma, GED, or equivalent” and the ability “to work additional days based on events at the residence,” according to the listing. Zillow estimates that the house is worth almost $3 million.

Contracts expired for Columbia College staff on Aug. 31, 2018. The union says 331 staff positions have been cut between 2015 and 2019 and that salaries have lagged behind the rate of inflation by roughly 7%. Staff members such as therapists, counselors, and academic advisers have left the school voluntarily for positions with better pay, Sigele said.

“Without a livable wage, Columbia will continue to struggle to retain talented staff members. Our students deserve better than that. They deserve a dedicated, knowledgeable staff, but the lackluster wages are making that increasingly harder to come by,” Sigele said.

The university declined to comment on the ongoing negotiations.

The university offered a 1.5% raise in December 2019, which is the last time it made an offer to the union with respect to salaries, Sigele said. The onset of COVID-19 brought economic anxiety for the school, and economic negotiations were kicked down the road so the school could get a sense of the costs they would incur and how enrollment would be affected by the pandemic, he said.

“Enrollment for this coming fall is again excellent,” Sigele said. “But they just keep deferring discussing any economic issues.”

More recent discussions have centered around how employee grievances, discipline and supervision, and performance reviews are handled.

“Now we are at the point where anything about money, they are refusing to discuss,” Sigele said.

The next bargaining session is set for July 22.