Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1954 [PAGE 785]

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782

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[July 25

The reductions in personnel were distributed among locations and by number of employees as follows. All lay-offs were made in strict accordance with seniority as established by the state statutes. Amount Employees Urbana-Champaign ^298 306 64 Chicago Professional $ 87 672 23 Chicago Undergraduate $ 64 746 19 £450 724 T06 In addition the Department found it necessary to lay off about twenty-one persons due to reduction in work done by job order, including nonrecurring projects. The Department has also discontinued fifteen administrative and supervisory positions. It is also necessary to make provision for any further increases in rates of prevailing rate groups that may go into effect subsequent to July I, 1953, if the policy of paying the prevailing wage is continued. As of the date of this report such increases will amount to $45,504 annually. (This is in addition to the deficiency of $256,566 accrued as of July I, 1953.) There are in process additional increases which may run $60,000 or more in Urbana-Champaign and $30,000 in Chicago. Since the funds to meet such increases must come out of the fixed total of income this means that unless internal savings can be made, additional lay-offs may have to follow during the year. Following the Board meeting, the President considered this situation with other University officers and advised the Committee of the following actions: 1. An addition has been made to the budget allotment to the Physical Plant Department for 1953-1954 of $82,677 a year. This sum is to offset increases that the Physical Plant Department had absorbed within its budget total, and the added sum is available for reemployment. 2. There has been added to the Physical Plant allotment the amount required to meet new wage adjustments approved to date totaling $45,504. While this is not available for additional reemployment it will prevent a further lay-off of personnel. An effort will be made to provide from the General Reserve further additions as funds materialize, but no commitment can be made at this time. These two additions total $128,381. The sum of $8,160 has also been added to the budget of the Institute of Aviation where certain lay-offs also were found necessary, making a grand total of $136,541 added to the recurring budget. With the added sum made available to it the Institute of Aviation has reemployed two additional persons. With the added sum in the Physical Plant Department 13.8 persons will be reemployed in Urbana-Champaign, and 4.5 persons in Chicago. T h e total additional funds thus applied to rehiring employees laid off in the prevailing wage rate groups represents two-thirds of the funds received from the veterans' tuition. The additional funds available from the veterans' tuition payments will be needed for urgent additions to allotments of academic departments. In addition the President recommended to the Executive Committee, and that Committee has approved, nonrecurring appropriations of $36,200 for repair work on the Urbana-Champaign campus, and program of repair work on the Stadium Terrace family housing units, estimated at $36,000, has been initiated; also a number of nonrecurring projects are to be presented to the Board for consideration on July 25, 1953, which will involve substantial employment of labor. One of these will activate painting and decorating programs normally included in the Physical Plant budget in Chicago, but which had been deleted. Most of these projects will provide additional employment in the Physical Plant Department. The Committee believes that the policy of paying the prevailing wage rates should be maintained. Moreover, immediate attention should be given to any cases in which employees have had long periods of service. Every effort should be made to provide additional reemployment to the extent that further funds become available through savings or increased income, after meeting any further increases in prevailing rates. The Committee believes that with the adjustments above reported the employment problem in the Physical Plant Department has been fairly and equitably dealt with. It is to be regretted, of course, that the services of any employees have