Greer: Communication is priority for staff

Mary Greer, a web editor for Health Care Information Systems in University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, is the 2006-07 Staff Council president. She has been employed at the University since 1986, working early on with Health Center Information and Communication (now called Health Science Relations), then with Public Information in the University hospital before moving to her present position. This is her third year on Staff Council.

Greer recently sat down with fyi to share some of her thoughts and concerns for the year ahead.

You are taking over as president during a rather unsettled time, with a UI president leaving and an interim president coming onboard, among other things. What are the effects on staff during this time of transition?

	Mary Greer

Changes in leadership may make people feel uneasy, but for staff and for Staff Council, it’s our opportunity to come together and take advantage of the progress we’ve made in how we communicate with central administration. We will continue to capitalize on the progress we’ve made and look for ways to expand our communication with staff. Our regular meetings with the president’s office will continue with interim President Gary Fethke, and with the next president after he or she is named.

As well, it’s always interesting to see what new administrators bring to the plate and how they will work with UI staff and the Staff Council.

Staff Council is represented on the presidential search committee, which is a great opportunity to work with many constituents who impact the University. It’s important that staff representatives interview the presidential candidates to look at their management style. And we’re very interested in helping the named president understand staff needs.

When fyi interviewed Michelle Wichman a year ago, as she was taking office as Staff Council president, she declined to say much about the campaign to unionize P&S staff, due to legal issues. She also told us that Staff Council doesn’t have an official role or position on staff unionizing. But now that we’re almost a full year past the union drive, could you talk about whether Staff Council has addressed the concerns of UI staff who pushed for the union. Job stability and raises were two big concerns in the unionization campaign, as were benefits and overtime.

Even though some people may have described last summer’s results as a very solid victory against a union, that isn’t at all how Staff Council representatives looked at it. We took the unionization campaign as a signal that we needed to reach out to more staff and get their feedback on University issues. We participated in organizing committees to look at furlough and leave, for example, and even drew crucial membership for those committees from pro-union supporters. Thanks to our work with Human Resources and the Regents, UI staff members now can carry over unused emergency leave from one year to the next, for up to 80 hours.

Pro-union folks proposed that having a union might allow staff members more participation in administrative decisions, particularly distribution of funds. The “seat at the table” line of debate was oft-repeated.

Central administration continues to seek our input and meet with us on a regular basis. The seat at the table begins with Staff Council’s monthly two-hour meeting. Our executive council meets monthly with the president of the University, and quarterly with the provost. Human Resources sends a liaison to every meeting. Staff Council members attend Board of Regents meetings, and we visit with Iowa legislators.

Staff Council meetings are open to the public, but many UI employees can’t attend meetings that are held during the workday. I understand there’s been some discussion of whether or not the council should start keeping records on how Staff Council representatives vote, as a way of helping UI employees stay informed. What is your stand on this?

It’s a very good issue, and we’re seeing excellent discussion. It’s also a very young issue, and we have some work ahead of us to see that we investigate it thoroughly. We’re always interested in looking at how we can improve internally, and how our processes impact our constituents.

This year’s 2 percent increase in state appropriations falls short of the University’s needs for operating support, according to President Skorton. How do you think this shortfall might affect staff, and how can Staff Council help?  

The hard outcome of lower appropriations is the possibility of lower salary increases. Decreased funding is a hard reality for the University these days. At the same time, the University needs to remember that it should value all staff members. We can appreciate the difficulty of dealing with the shortfall, but we are also against any reduction in staffing to meet that. We will continue to work closely with the University as it manages its funding and hope to make the best of a bad situation.

What other issues do you find most pressing this year, and how will you address them?

As I’ve said, communication is a top priority this year. We’re committed to keeping open the lines of communication in two directions—with administration and with UI staff. We’re entering a huge year of transition. We’ll be working with an interim president as well as paying close attention to the search for a permanent replacement in that office.

We have some outreach planned. We’d like to use advanced technologies, like web surveys, to learn more about what UI staff members are thinking. I’d like to meet with the editorial boards of local newspapers, to make sure that reporters and headline writers remember that the University is made up not only of faculty and students but also staff people. UI staff are often forgotten in some of the newspaper accounting of events, and we’re committed to correcting that deficiency.

by Gary Kuhlmann