‘It’s a problem.’ UK workers protest staff centralization, demand transparency

Union workers at the University of Kentucky said the future of their pay, benefits and workload are in limbo, as the university plans to reassign employees to new partner companies.

The United Campus Workers of Kentucky and Service Employees International Union called for transparency from UK’s administration regarding the changes, and protested the outsourcing initiative during a march on campus Monday afternoon. Faculty also said they have been left out of discussions that led to the administration’s announcement of the changes, and are still unclear about its potential impacts.

As part of the UK’s Integrate Blue plan, employees in marketing, communications and information technology would work under the Beyond Blue Corporation, UK’s nonprofit holding company for UK King’s Daughters, UK St. Claire and Champions Blue.

Integrate Blue aims to “improve organizational efficiency, consistency and quality of service delivery” by integrating some services across the university, UK said.

“There is more unknown than there is known. It’s a problem,” said Katie Goldey, a union member who works at UK. “So a lot of workers have been told that they’re going to be centralized, but have no idea what that’s going to look like.”

The pay and benefits of current employees will not change if moved to Beyond Blue under the Integrate Blue plan, according to UK’s website, but it does not say how future hires will be impacted. If a current employee changes positions, it is also unclear how that will affect their benefits.

“While some individuals may become part of a different organizational structure or report to a different supervisor, the integration will not impact the status of their employment pay or benefits,” UK’s website said.

Goldey said she is worried employees will need to petition for new union protections when moved to a new company. It is unclear if they will have access to representation by a new union under the Integrate Blue plan.

“They are concerned they’re going to lose all the benefits that (dining workers) just fought for through their SEIU contract,” Goldey said. “That’s part of what the march is about.”

Former Kentucky House Rep. Charles Booker, who is running as a Democrat for Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s seat, joined the protest on Monday and led a group of union workers in chant.

“I am proud of us because we are showing what union strong looks like. We’re showing what it means to fight for family,” Booker said. “Y’all know me, I’ve been carrying this message from the hood to the holler. My grandad taught me when we fight for family, we win.”

The Enterprise Services Partnership is a separate centralization effort in which the university plans to place maintenance, custodial and cafeteria workers under a private company, which has not yet been chosen and would be under a 30-year contract.

Aramark, which employs UK dining workers, will not be impacted by Integrate Blue because it falls under the Enterprise Services Partnership, which “involves whether we work with a partner to manage a number of operations on campus including dining, facilities, custodial work, etc.,” said Jay Blanton, a spokesperson for UK.

These workers may be similarly subject to new terms if the university chooses to break its 15-year contract with the company. Under the current contract, existing dining employees remained UK employees with benefits, while new dining employees were hired through Aramark.

The contract with Aramark is supposed to end in 2029, but includes provisions that allow UK to end its partnership early, according to Blanton. The university is reviewing quotes for another company to potentially replace Aramark.

“Under the terms of the contract, services are expected to continue uninterrupted through any early termination date,” Blanton said.

The university said Integrate Blue will only impact staff, but Faculty Senate Chair Chris Crawford said academic employees are concerned too. At the last faculty senate meeting of the Spring semester Monday, he encouraged faculty members to pay attention to the next UK Board of Trustees meetings on June 29 and 30, which are expected to cover Integrate Blue, updates to administrative regulations and other issues.

“It affects services that faculty rely on like IT services,” Crawford said. “Perhaps also it’s an issue of shared governance.”

The faculty senate learned of Integrate Blue only after it was announced to the university, according to Crawford.

“There wasn’t much discussion before things had already been placed in motion,” he told the Herald-Leader.

This story was originally published May 5, 2026 at 12:38 PM.