Tensions Between Workers and Management Visible in East Lansing

The controversy surrounding Michigan State University’s request for faculty and staff to volunteer their personal time to work in MSU’s dining halls is only the tip of the iceberg locally in terms of tensions between employees and management – tensions that are now having ripple effects around town.

As local emergency rooms and hospital wards are dealing with high patient loads, nurses at Sparrow are feeling overwhelmed and under-supported, while local restaurants are struggling to stay staffed and make ends meet following prolonged pandemic-related economic stress on those businesses.

On Oct. 18, MSU Senior Vice President for Residential and Hospitality Services and Auxiliary Enterprises Vennie Gore addressed a letter to deans, directors, and chairs, saying that “Faculty and staff from around campus are invited to sign up to assist in the dining halls!”

“Many businesses in the local area and around the country are hiring, and we are all competing for the same available talent,” wrote Gore, who also referred to MSU Culinary Services having “specific needs during evenings and weekends.”

The next day, a call for volunteers was sent out through Inside MSU, a newsletter for faculty and staff at the University.

Prior to MSU’s call for volunteers, ELi had received a note from a parent of an MSU freshman who lives on North Campus. In September, when she wrote, food options in the Union had been closed, and Landon Hall was reducing its services. The parent expressed concern for her daughter who would be walking in the dark, possibly alone, to get to her meals.

That parent also called for MSU to issue refunds for dining plans. Freshman must live on campus, and students living on campus must purchase a meal plan. But, because of cafeteria cutbacks, her daughter was struggling to find options for food at a time that fit with her class schedule.

Faculty and staff have generally not been supportive of the University’s decision to ask for volunteers, with some seeing it as an insult since MSU has reduced retirement plan contributions and suspended raises for many employees on campus.

And those who opt to volunteer will have to undergo a criminal background check and sign an “Acknowledgement of Volunteer Work.”

“I understand that this is unpaid volunteer work and I am willing to engage in such work in addition to my current employed position at Michigan State University,” says part the required volunteer acknowledgement. “I am agreeing to do this volunteer work for civic, charitable or humanitarian reasons.”

A week before the call for faculty to step up to the cafeteria line as servers, the Union of Non-Tenure Track Faculty and the Graduate Employees Union have held protests outside the Hannah Administration Building on campus to object to what they see as unsafe and unfair policies and procedures for addressing Covid on campus.

As MSU’s call for faculty and staff volunteers for Culinary Services has gained national attention, workers elsewhere in the area are also voicing frustrations with management.

One ELi reader shared that the Professional Employee Council of Sparrow Hospital, which is under the Michigan Nurses Association, has decided to hold an “informational” picket on Nov. 3, outside Sparrow Hospital Lansing from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

“Our members at Sparrow Hospital are taking a stand for our patients and ourselves,” opened the nurses’ union’s letter. “Our working conditions are unacceptable as are the actions of our Sparrow executives.”

The letter made clear that the action is not a work stoppage, and that those nurses with scheduled shifts should still report to work. But additional action may be considered in the future if Sparrow administrators fail to “move in the right direction,” according to the letter to members.

The letter to member also outlined the main areas of concern. Members were told that, “Sparrow executives have hired a unionbusting law firm; they have refused to follow our current contract’s safe staffing language; and they are raising healthcare costs by about 12% while offering raises that are less than the cost of living.”

Three sources tell ELi that Sparrow’s emergency room is presently so overloaded, patients are being housed in several areas not normally used for these purposes.

Then there’s the scene at the library. As ELi reported in September, one year after the non-supervisory workers of the East Lansing Public Library had their unionization effort formally recognized, those employees are still without a contract despite multiple rounds of bargaining with the City of East Lansing and the ELPL administration.

Those workers held a rally outside ELPL on Sept. 22, to draw attention to the issue. Working conditions during the pandemic has acted as a catalyst for the ELPL non-supervisory workers to unionize.

And elsewhere in East Lansing, one popular local eatery had its kitchen staff quit in a domino effect after the lead chef found a better-paying job, and other establishments have reported being short-staffed. Some places that normally serve lunch are not doing so because they simply can’t staff the shifts in addition to the evening.

While nationally there are reports of workers quitting their jobs in response to mandates requiring workers receive Covid-19 vaccines, here in East Lansing, that doesn’t seem to be the main driver for these shortages and tensions.

In fact, locally, mandates are hardly universal. Some residents have expressed concern to ELi that neither the City of East Lansing nor the East Lansing Public Schools district have enacted vaccine mandates, even though both the City and ELPS employ more than 100 people, meaning that both would need to comply with President Joseph R. Biden’s requirement that workplaces with more than 100 workers would need to ensure that employees either get a Covid-19 vaccine or submit to regular Covid testing.

Although Biden made the announcement in September, the final details of how the mandate would function are still being worked out.

Mikell Frey, the City of East Lansing’s Communications Coordinator, told ELi that the City is awaiting guidance from the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) on the vaccine mandate issue.

ELPS Superintendent Dori Leyko spoke about the issue at the Sept. 27 meeting of the Board of Education. According to Leyko, the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators sent an email the day after Biden’s announcement, saying it would pass along guidance after taking a closer look at the policy.

ELi confirmed with Leyko on Oct. 20 that ELPS is still awaiting state guidance on vaccine mandates.

MSU issued a vaccine mandate in July 2021 for all students, faculty, and staff.

As of Oct. 22, MSU reports that about 90% are fully vaccinated, with an additional 3% partially vaccinated.

Ingham County Health Department reported 631 new cases of Covid-19 and eight Covid-related deaths during the week of Oct. 12-19 – the most recent week for which data is available. (You can see more Covid-19 data from the Ingham County Health Department here.)

As of Oct. 18, Sparrow Lansing and McLaren Greater Lansing had a combined total of 100 hospitalized patients with confirmed cases of Covid-19, including one pediatric case. Sixteen of those hospitalized are in intensive care units, and eleven are on ventilators.

After hitting a low point in the early summer, Covid cases began to rise in Ingham in July, and rising hospitalizations followed that. The current wave is less severe in terms of cases and hospitalizations when compared to previous waves, but Ingham County does not seem to be decisively following the national trend of declining Covid cases and deaths.