Since March, when Smith sent students home to continue the 2019-20 academic year remotely, the college has left housekeepers in the dark as to whether they still have jobs.
“Communication is not a strong point between departments and between administrators and staff (but that’s not really new since COVID),” one housekeeper said.
Questions about employment aren’t being answered by superiors, especially concerning whether or not any or all of the housekeepers will have jobs this upcoming school year. According to one housekeeper, Smith has sent the same mass emails to the staff that it sends to the students.
“We need to look again at how to align staffing with available work[…]we will do our best to make decisions that minimize pain to members of the Smith community, but we do face some difficult choices ahead,” Stacey Schmeidel, the Senior Director for News and Strategic Communications for Smith College, wrote via email to The Sophian. “We will keep the community informed as the college’s fall financial picture becomes clearer.” The Sophian first asked Jim Gray, Associate Vice President for Facilities and Operations, to respond, but all questions were redirected to Ms. Schmeidel.
Staff zoom meetings with administrators have felt “obviously scripted” to one housekeeper, with administrators not addressing the questions that staff want answered.
“I do know from personal experience that I have typed questions into the Zoom Q and A and the questions were screened and ignored (i.e. administrators don’t want to answer the hard questions in front of everyone on Zoom,” one housekeeper who wishes to remain anonymous wrote via email.
“The college also has put the health insurance employee assistance on hold, and got rid of the employees dependents program to work on campus in the summers,” another housekeeper who wants to remain anonymous said.
A housekeeper who wanted to remain anonymous said that Smith told employees that they are trying to help the staff by putting together a fund for employees in need, but two housekeepers said that this fund never seemed to have materialized. A housekeeper who applied in March still has not heard back and, as one housekeeper states, “There are housekeepers without smartphones or computers and it has become almost a necessity to do payroll, zoom meetings, and communicate using technology that some don’t have the means to purchase or skills to use. Fortunately, coworkers step in and help each other as much as possible.”
When The Sophian asked Schmeidel about her response to housekeepers’ comments about the fund, she said, “The college has funds to support employees. Those support funds are not designated for – or differentiated by – employment category or area of work.”
Although some housekeepers said they were afraid of what Smith’s new fall plans meant for their jobs, two housekeepers said they were relieved. Many housekeepers note that Smith was not ready for anyone to come back to campus in the middle of a pandemic, let alone a couple thousand students.
“Some colleges in the area like Amherst spent the summer preparing for students’ return with lots of construction and safety projects on campus. Smith chose to furlough as many people as possible during months when work could have been done making things safer on campus, instead of preparing,” one housekeeper who wishes to remain anonymous said.
A few housekeepers said that they wanted to be furloughed rather than laid off, as they would still be able to receive health insurance and presumably would be brought back to Smith after the pandemic is over. One housekeeper noted that, to many housekeepers and staff, “the aspect of being potentially laid off, many of [whom have] been at the college for 20+ years and many [of whom] are over the age of 50, can’t even imagine trying to restart [their] lives at this point.”
The last thing that staff heard from the college was spread across Facebook by students, alumni, and staff members. One staff member states in the post, “I have worked for Smith College for 30 years. Friday they notified our Union SEIU 211 that the nine month employees might not be returning next week as was planned, but we were told within the next two weeks we can expect to hear something (but not paid).”
“In a situation like this the unions for the lower paid workers are limited in how they can help because the college is able to use the unusual circumstances to override the union contracts,” one housekeeper said.
“While the college doesn’t comment on specific employment decisions, I can share that, in the case of union employees, such as our housekeeping staff, we negotiate such matters with union representatives in accordance with the provisions of mutually agreed upon contracts,” Schmeidel states.
With these uncertainties continuing as the Fall semester approaches, one housekeeper notes that all they want is for Smith to treat “us as the people… who have supported and taken care of the students and others at Smith… for many many years and [simply ask to be] treated respectfully.”
