Cover story
Classified employees support alternative to state civil service
By a margin of 54 to 46 percent, KU classified staff members have voted to pursue an alternative to civil service.
The decision will begin a process that could offer new opportunities for
funding to support pay increases for classified staff.
A total of 1159 votes were returned to the Office of University Governance
by the Oct. 14, deadline – a rate that represents 78 percent participation.
Of the ballots that were returned, four were disqualified, 623 people
voted yes and 532 voted no.
The vote was counted four times by members of the Classified Senate.
Representatives of a group wishing to remain part of the state civil service system observed the count.
The Work Group for an Alternative to Civil Service issued its first proposals
for an alternative to civil service in February 2003. A series of town
hall meetings, departmental meetings and meetings with Classified Senate
took place over the spring semester.
In May, 1,090 classified staff members cast ballots to decide whether
to pursue the change. Of those, 545 people voted for the alternative and
545 voted not to pursue the proposal.
In July, human resources circulated 1,465 surveys to classified staff
via campus mail to gauge reaction to features of the proposal. More than
700 surveys were returned including information about how classified staff
felt about the individual changes that were included in the proposal.
This summer, the work group surveyed classified staff to determine what
aspects of the proposal were most or least liked. The work group developed
a final version of the proposal taking into account the findings of the
survey. The revised proposal was distributed to classified staff on Sept.
17.
Town hall meetings again were conducted to answer questions about the
final proposal. About 300 classified staff members attended those meetings.
On Oct. 2, a second ballot was distributed to 1,479 classified staff members.
By a margin of 91 votes, respondents indicated their interest in pursuing
an alternative to civil service.
University administration will now work through the Kansas Board of Regents
to gain support for advancing the proposal to the Legislature.