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Local 560 response to President Kim's message about Dartmouth layoffs

We are outraged that they intend to lay off 76 non-faculty staff, starting tomorrow. This will devastate these men and women - including managerial, administrative, and lower paid workers - who have invested their lives and careers at Dartmouth for many years. ... We find that their actions border on callous disregard for the lives of employees who have faithfully served this community for many years.  Their decisions will resonate throughout the Upper Valley in the weeks and months to come ....

Read the full Response here.

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Letter From President Kim to the Dartmouth Community
Over the past four months we have been engaged in an intensive effort to address the College's pressing financial challenges. ... This weekend, I presented to the Board of Trustees a proposal ... We have been able to keep layoffs to 38 non-teaching positions, with a comparable number expected in April.

Read the full Letter from President Kim here.

» Read the full Response HERE

Candlelight Vigil - February 4, 2010

Vigil 3Hundreds Protest CutsPublished 2/5/2010 in The Valley News

Hanover -- More than 400 people stood in a circle on the Dartmouth Green last evening to protest layoffs expected soon at Dartmouth College, a show of solidarity as key meetings begin today to resolve the school's budget problems.

To a shivering crowd that included blue-collar workers in the college employees union, Dartmouth students and professors, area residents and students from several Boston-area universities, speakers called for an alternative to layoffs and a seat at the table with college administrators and Dartmouth trustees, who are meeting this weekend on campus.

“The fight has just begun. I want to save all the jobs we can,” Earl Sweet, president of Dartmouth's Local 560 chapter of the Service Employees International Union, told the crowd.

“We need to get some straight answers from the college, but we haven't got them yet,” he said.

Read the full story in the Valley News

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Dartmouth PridePublished 2/6/2010  in the Valley News

Hanover -- Many people at Dartmouth College talk about the “Dartmouth family,” but to Peter Marsh, a painter at the school for almost two dozen years, Dartmouth really has been a family affair -- six generations, spanning more than 100 years, of his kin have worked at the Ivy League school.

Read the full story in the Valley News



President Sweet's Letter to President Kim

Earl Sweet

February 5, 2010

Dear President Kim:
 
Today you will meet with the Trustees to decide on a plan that will address the financial challenges faced by Dartmouth College.  We know that you are sincerely concerned about the future of Dartmouth and only wish to do what is right for the community.  So, we want to take this opportunity to once again express our willingness to sit down in good faith with you and your team and negotiate a way forward. 

» Read the letter HERE

Local Clergy Present Letter to President Kim

Rollins Chapel

February 2, 2010

To President Kim and the Trustees of Dartmouth College,

We write as leaders of several faith communities whose members live and work in the communities linked to the life of the College. Many of us are also members of a faith-based community organizing project, United Valley Interfaith Project.

We want you to know that we are praying for you as you deliberate on Dartmouth’s budget crisis and make decisions about a course of action. We are also praying for the staff who will be most affected by your difficult decisions. We are extremely concerned about the impact your decisions will have on them, their families, and the economy of the entire region.

» Read the full letter HERE

Faculty Letter to Jim Yong Kim, Board of Trustees and the Upper Valley Community

January 25, 2010

Dartmouth College and professional schools will soon announce cuts to make up a $100 million budget shortfall over the next two years. ... In President Kim's statements to the college community and to the Valley News, we are told that impending cuts will "likely" result in layoffs. We urge the President and the Trustees not to act precipitously. Slow down the process. Think creatively. We do not believe that wholesale layoffs at this time are necessary, desirable or moral. On the contrary, we believe further layoffs at Dartmouth will undermine the Dartmouth experience that President Kim has vowed to preserve. Deep cuts at Dartmouth will also have an adverse effect on the economy of the Upper Valley, as laid-off workers cut their spending at area businesses.

» Read the full letter HERE

Partners in Health Thank You


Dear SEIU 560
On behalf of Partners in Health we would like to thank the members of SEIU 560 for your support.

Suzanne Battit
Director of Development
Partners In Health----

» Read more

Dartmouth Students Stand with Staff

Several students and I Eric Schildge have started a student organization on campus called Dartmouth Students for Staff.  We can be reached at dartmouthstudentsforstaff@gmail.com.

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In recent public statements regarding the impending budget reductions at the College, President Kim has repeatedly stressed that the student body forms the core of the Dartmouth Community, and that the faculty are the single most important factor in maintaining our excellence in research and education.  These reasons are cited as justification for the apparent effort to leave these two communities largely untouched in the budget restructuring process

» Read more HERE

In the News

Board Chairman Sees ‘Difficult Decisions'
By Susan J. Boutwell
Valley News Staff Writer
Published February 5, 2010

 The captains of industry and millionaire money managers who will make decisions this weekend about Dartmouth College's financial status -- including whether to lay off workers -- keep a low profile in what has shaped up to be a high-profile debate over how the college should work out its budgetary difficulties.

Read the full story here.



Pain, Then Gain
Dr. Kim Views Dartmouth's Future
Published January 19, 2010

Dartmouth College President Dr. Jim Yong Kim dropped by for an editorial board meeting last week, or maybe it was a pep talk. Anyway, the one-sentence version of his message to the Upper Valley was: Trust me. To which we can only reply, We're certainly inclined to, and besides, what choice do we interested bystanders have?

Read the full article here.



Kim Makes Case for Change
College President Updates Staff
By John P. Gregg
Valley News Staff Writer
Published January 16, 2010

Hanover -- Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim yesterday promised a “humane” approach to pending layoffs but said the college must restructure to close a projected $100 million budget gap and set the stage for new growth.

Read the full article here.




Recommended Attorney

Our Union Attorney is Shawn Sullivan. Feel free to look at his page!

Vigil

SEIU Scholarships Program

If you have been a member of SEIU for 3 years as of 9/1/2010, click here for more information about SEIU scholarships.  Also you are encouraged to talk with Earl about this.

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