Students and workers at UT Chattanooga are set to attend a forum on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the University Center’s Ocoee Room regarding the Governor’s campaign to outsource facilities workers across the state. Community members are also invited to attend.
Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and share concerns with two members of UTC’s administration, Executive Vice Chancellor of Finance and Operations Dr. Richard Brown and Assistant Vice Chancellor of Operations Tom Ellis.
Ellie Newell, a senior at UTC and the co-chair of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, hopes that administrators will see that students care about the campus community. “I think that campus workers play a huge role on our campus, and they do a lot that we take for granted most of the time. If their jobs are outsourced, then from past experience we know the workers aren’t treated as well, and the quality of service goes down because the company is focused on making a profit.”
"This comes on the tail of a series of events that demonstrate the Governor’s outsourcing team is pursuing a hard sell on campuses across the state. Last Friday, the outsourcing team met behind closed doors with Chancellor Angle, and Ms. Newell and several other students confronted Terry Cowles, the director of the Office of Customer Focused Government, with questions and concerns about the potential for outsourcing. On Monday, another organization, Student Activists for Equality, rolled out several banners on UTC’s campus in opposition to outsourcing," officials said. "Opposition and criticism continues to grow across the state. As of this release, a majority of members of the House of Representatives and a near majority of Senators have signed a letter calling for a halt to the contract, including Representatives JoAnne Favors, Gerald McCormick, Marc Gravitt, and Mike Carter. Workers continue to organize and unite in opposition to this plan. A majority of Tennesseans remain opposed to the very idea. It remains unclear to the general public just how much opposition is needed to oppose a strong-headed term limited governor with nothing to lose."