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JH decides faculty time is best spent taking out the garbage

I’m no economist, but I’m pretty sure this is a violation of the law of comparative advantage. Rumor down at the faculty club is that the union will start a crowd-funding campaign to restore weekly service. Meanwhile, my guesses as to WTF is going on are:

a) CPFM VP Mike Harwood just spent $1.5M to rebuild the 13th street utility tunnel for the new Historic Hayward Field and now his budget is shot; or

b) Oregon universities are bargaining with the SEIU union, and Johnson Hall is trying to scare the staff with layoff threats; or

c) Rob Mullens wanted to hire another assistant baseball coach.

Other suggestions are welcome.

The good news is that Vice Provost Ellen Herman’s new $100K Faculty Tracking Software will soon allow you to enter your trash duty compliance into your online c.v., for consideration during tenure, promotion, and merit raises. Extra credit for taking out the Provost’s trash.

Thanks to several anonymous readers for forwarding the email.

30 Comments

  1. honest Uncle Bernie 07/18/2019

    I can remember when they emptied the trash several times a week, or was it nightly?

    Once a week OK, barely; once a month, not so.

    Is the money going to fund the new advising center? The Knight Campus?

    I know they took a big hit in foreign enrollments — is anyone responsible? — But this is a bit much, things are getting pretty sketchy.

  2. madman 07/18/2019

    I have no problem with this policy if the trash cans in Johnson Hall are also only emptied once a month.

    • Richard Bohloff 07/18/2019

      You may already know that the garbage has, and will continue to be removed from each Johnson Hall bin nightly. Rules for thee, etc, etc.

    • Simplicius Simplicissimus 07/19/2019

      There are no trash cans to be emptied in JH. There’s nothing to be emptied … Everything is made of gold, silver, and marble, (including ideas) and is immediately recycled after use. Demi-gods do not produce trash…

      • Richard Bohloff 07/19/2019

        Even the current administration agrees Gottfredson’s exit was akin to taking out the trash.

      • Dogmatic Ratios 07/19/2019

        The trash from the administration comes in the form of decisions, policies, and procedures.

    • Deplorable Duck 07/18/2019

      I think emptying the trash is honorable work, and I’ll be pleased to do it. Write an article, and you’re never sure whether you’ve made the world better or worse. But empty the trash, and you know.

      As for norovirus, better to worry about our recycling friends fishing around in the EMU dining room trash for recycling, and then (without washing) running their hands all over the tables, chairs, doorknobs, etc. Yeah, I’ve seen it. Assume the worst kids–wash your hands often, and never touch your face.

  3. Environmental necessity 07/18/2019

    Here is an answer: Generate less garbage, pack out what you pack in. JFC, people can complain about anything. If JH gave everyone 5 $20 bills people would be complaining about not getting a Benjamin.

    • Dog 07/19/2019

      here is another option

      all faculty should take their daily trashcan in their office and drop
      it off on the steps of JH prior to them leaving campus …

  4. Hippo 07/18/2019

    Reminds me of this old saw: The head of the math department asked the Dean for a new position, arguing “We’re cheap, all we need is pen, paper, and a wastebasket”. To which the dean replied, “Really? The philosophy department was just here. They tell me they just need pen and paper.”

  5. Former Duck 07/18/2019

    At WSU, faculty must empty their own garbage at all time, and the only way to avoid buying your own trash bags is to make friends with your department’s custodial staff.

    • charlie 07/19/2019

      On June 9, Wazzu’s stated that their athletic department’s deficit will be greater than $100 million by 2024. Yup, the AD, all by their lonesome, created that measure of insolvency. You’re lucky you have running water, much less a trash basket. Pretty soon, you folks will need to make your own dump runs…

      • ScienceDuck 07/19/2019

        They must mean total accumulated debt rather than a yearly deficit…at least I hope so!

  6. Anonymous 07/18/2019

    Hardly “faculty taking out the trash”. How big is your office that you can’t schlep your can to the hallway if it’s getting full?

    UOM sensationalizing non issues as is tradition

    • Fishwrapper 07/18/2019

      It’s not just the trash – it’s the cleaning as well. Or are you going to schlep your Dyson in from home to keep the floors clean as well?

      • Rose 07/19/2019

        Since my office never gets cleaned (they do take out the trash but nothing else) I already sweep/mop my own office.
        Getting it cleaned once a month would be a huge upgrade.

    • JustAnotherBurntOutGradStudent 07/21/2019

      It’s not taking out the garbage that’s an issue. It’s that UO is cutting back on essentials like sanitation, while spending so very much on administrative salaries and unnecessary construction projects.

      I work in PLC, where we had an issue with cockroaches, a year or two ago. And that was was with our trash being emptied once a week. Do you think Michael Schill has to sweep up little cockroach corpses in the corner of his office?

      UOM not sensationalizing. It’s pointing out another incident of our school functioning like a corporation, instead of place of learning and education.

      • Darby 07/22/2019

        The cockroaches in PLC are legendary. Huge and many.

        There are cockroaches in my more modern building, as well. And the custodians do a very good job.

        Look under any vending machine and find your cockroach buddies.

        We also have problems with mice indoors and rats outdoors.

      • Dog 07/22/2019

        double thumbs up on that!!

  7. Curious George 07/22/2019

    Facilities Liaisons,

    Work Control has received a number of questions related to the email that was sent out describing the upcoming change in campus cleaning procedures. For this reason, we wanted to send out some additional information. Starting on August 1st, we will be adopting new procedures related to trash removal in individual offices. Instead of picking up trash once a week, we will move to an “as-needed” system where trash can be removed as frequently as necessary based on individual office needs.

    If your trash bin is full, please place it outside your office door or cubicle, and it will be taken care of by our custodial staff. This option will be available on a daily basis. Please note that the cleaning schedule of other building areas, such as classrooms, bathrooms, common areas, hallways, and suites, will remain the same. We will, however, be moving to a schedule where floors will be vacuumed in individual offices once a month.

    The intention is to focus the majority of our cleaning effort on those parts of buildings that are actively used by the most people. If there are unique circumstances that need consideration, Custodial Services will schedule a time to come out and help find a solution. If there is an ever an acute issue in your office that needs attention, please call CPFM Work Control Center at 541-346-2319 or visit our website https://cpfm.uoregon.edu/ to place a service request.

  8. now this? 07/22/2019

    ^So now we’re just going to have trash bins all over the hallways? This isn’t a 9-5 job. People don’t all “clock out” at 5pm, thereby leaving an empty building.

  9. Furious Green Ideas 07/22/2019

    It would be ironic if Johnson Hall did intend to rattle SEIU by demonstrating the expendability of custodial staff, since all they’ve demonstrated is that custodians are essential for the university to function. We need sanitation more than administration

    • uomatters Post author | 07/27/2019

      Like

  10. Darby 07/23/2019

    Perhaps this part two of a long range plan to contract out custodial services. (Part one was moving them to day shift, causing disgruntled faculty and custodians losing their preferred shift (with shift differential $)). Carve custodial services ever down, keep short of staff (thus also allowing for use of temp agency/no insurance/no vac/no sick/etc employees). When the amount of staffing gets so bad and people begin to complain about the stench and general filthiness, they’ll make the case that it would “be cheaper” to contract out custodial services than to properly expand real UO employees because ___(whatever BS they come up with)___.

    Just as so many services are slowing moving to third parties/contracting out.

    Need toilet paper? Just go to the portal and they’ll send someone from the contractor to bring it in… well, the next shift, maybe.

    Those contracted custodians can won’t have health insurance, will have even worse wages, will not have sick leave, will not have vacation, will not be protected by SEIU CBA for abuses, etc etc etc.

    If you are not a classified worker, and are not part of the top administrators, do not think you are protected from this in any way.

  11. honest Uncle Bernie 07/24/2019

    Just be glad we’re not like the University of Alaska.

    Not yet, anyway.

  12. Darby 07/24/2019

    Trash collection slashed 75%!

    From weekly to monthly.

    How much $, in terms of custodial wages, has been “saved”?

    I’ll bet we’d save a SHIT ton more doing any one of the following:

    o Take away car $ from top administrators
    o “Furlough” the top administrators one day a month
    (ie 12months * 8 days = 96 hours ==> 4.615%
    salary savings!)
    o Administrators living in University owned residences
    pay the going rental rates for such residences
    o Stop with the ever increasing “overloads” aka “bonuses”
    that many administrators get, including multiple “overloads”

    It would be interesting to see just how much $ this all would actually mean, but getting that information from JH is “really hard and time consuming”.

    • Darby can't type 07/24/2019

      Whoops:

      12months * 8 hours = 96 hours ==> 4.615% salary savings.

  13. It's classified 07/24/2019

    Just put some bleach in the fire extinguisher pipes, spray for an hour a week, boom, sanitized!

    While we’re at it, claim ownership of all the curriculum in blackboard/canvas, online ed only, fire all the faculty too, all we need is administration! — Who else will collect fat paychecks and do nothing?

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