UF President Kent Fuchs said on Thursday UF was trying to find the best place for Other Personnel Services, or OPS, workers in the employee classification system.
UF defines OPS workers as at-will, temporary labor, which can include secretaries, adjuncts and custodians. Fuchs said the Office of Human Resources is currently “looking across campus, college by college” to find how each college utilizes these workers and if some workers could receive benefits.
However, Fuchs said UF won’t pay OPS workers for the time they don’t work, such as when employees didn’t work during Hurricane Irma and the Richard Spencer event.
“We believe if there’s some incident where the university closes, or for some reason they can’t work, that their manager should find the best opportunities for them to make up that time,” Fuchs said. “But not pay them if they actually don’t work.”
Faculty Senate will vote on a resolution endorsed by the Alachua County Labor Coalition to support giving some OPS workers benefits in an April meeting. OPS workers are currently not given benefits and are paid by the hour.
Timothy Tia, the coordinator for the Alachua County Labor Coalition, said he’s confident the resolution will pass, but more work is needed.
“I haven’t seen a concrete statement on paper about what UF wants to do,” the 21-year-old said. “I’m really happy to see that they’re making progress. I look forward to seeing what they come up with next.”
Contact Christina Morales at cmorales@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @Christina_M18.
