Despite Deficit, HMS Will Make Fewer Cuts Than First Intended

Harvard Medical School administrators announced their decision to decrease the number of custodial jobs slated to be cut later this year during a meeting on Tuesday with members of the Service Employees International Union 32BJ District 615.

In June, the Medical School notified American Cleaning Company, Inc., a subcontractor that employs custodial workers represented by SEIU, that their six-and-a-half-year-old contract would be annulled. The decision would have resulted in roughly 30,000 hours of custodial work being cut.

However, Richard M. Shea, the Medical School’s associate dean for campus planning and facilities, said in a phone interview on Thursday afternoon that the school made the decision to cut roughly 11,000 hours instead of the 30,000 they had originally proposed. Shea said the decision occurred after incorporating the perspectives of Medical School affiliates into a reassessment of the initial plan.

"We just felt that there were some things we didn’t feel it was reasonable to cut," Shea said.

Shea also cited the Medical School’s financial troubles as the main reason for the custodial cuts. The school experienced a nearly $29 million deficit in the 2012 fiscal year, according to the Boston Globe.

He said that the custodial cuts are only one of several measures the school is pursuing to balance the budget. He also mentioned the recent launch of HMS Next, an initiative focused on finding ways to rethink and restructure the current operating model, as another strategy being used to ensure the school’s future financial sustainability.

"A lot of things we’re doing are small things," Shea said. "It’s like turning around an aircraft carrier [in that] there are a lot of things that need to make that happen."

In spite of the Medical School’s announcement, Union associates present at the meeting on Tuesday—characterized by both sides as an impact bargaining session that is standard operating procedure for any changes in workers’ contracts—expressed their continued dissatisfaction with any level of cuts.

"There’s not going to be anyone who’s happy knowing that there are people who are going to lose their jobs," Fredesvinda Coto, an American Cleaning Company employee at the Medical School, said through a translator during a phone interview on Thursday afternoon.

Wayne M. Langley, director of higher education for 32BJ District 615, said that the roughly $400,000 projected in savings—a number presented by the Medical School at the meeting on Tuesday—does not justify even the reduced cuts.

"It’s really chump change in the grand scheme of things," Langley said.

SEIU also held a protest against the cuts Wednesday afternoon consisting of about 40 students and employees at the Medical School, according to Langley.

—Staff writer Christine Y. Cahill can be reached at christine.cahill@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @cycahill16.