Beshear wants ‘written answers’ from UK on ‘vague’ new private partnership

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear plans to send a letter to University of Kentucky officials calling for transparency about how its workers will be treated under a growing centralization plan and a new public-private partnership expected to take effect in a week, officials from his office say.

Beshear’s plan to send a letter advocating for UK employees was developed after he held a meeting with six members of the United Campus Workers union at the state capitol Monday, according to Scottie Ellis, communications director for the governor’s office.

The meeting followed UK’s announcement of its new enterprise services partnership with Compass Group, and an initiative called Integrate Blue. The move to work with Compass Group was preceded by UK terminating its food services contract with Aramark.

“Gov. Beshear had a good meeting with members of the United Campus Workers union, who raised legitimate concerns about their future employment, benefits and rights,” Ellis told the Herald-Leader. “Gov. Beshear will be sending a letter both to UK’s administration and the Board of Trustees with specific questions that deserve written answers – both for him and the potentially affected employees.”

Union members brought concerns to Beshear about UK’s lack of transparency and potential negative impacts of these new initiatives.

Compass Group, the largest food services corporation in the United States, will manage dining, maintenance, grounds and custodial workers, as well as some in-patient health workers.

Integrate Blue is a separate initiative in which employees in marketing, communications and information technology will work under Beyond Blue Corporation, UK’s nonprofit holding company for UK King’s Daughters, UK St. Claire and Champions Blue.

These changes will impact hundreds of employees and are expected to take effect in a week, but workers are still largely in limbo about what that means for them.

“The Governor is worried about the lack of transparency being provided to hardworking public employees that have given decades of their time and effort to advance the University of Kentucky,” Ellis said. “Sending these employees to a private company with vague assurances of continued benefits and rights does not show them the respect for the jobs they do.”

Joshua Borgemenke, a facilities management supervisor at UK, was one of the six union members who spoke with Beshear. He called it a positive and productive meeting that “was beyond what our expectations were.”

“He communicated to us that his beliefs in a public institution should have public interest in mind …,” Borgemenke told the Herald-Leader. “He’s been an advocate for the working class within Kentucky and our right to organize.”

Borgemenke said Beshear offered them advice on how to make change and have university officials hear them out.

“He was also kind of instructing us to … tread lightly when it comes to all of these things,” Borgemenke said. He added that Beshear recommended they communicate directly with those in power.

“Don’t just get out there and start yelling at the top of the mountain, because that might draw some negative tension that can then influence your messaging in a way that is not accurate,” Borgemenke said. “We want to actually reach these (Board of Trustees) members and be more influential with them and help them in the decisions they should be making.”

The union members presented Beshear with a list of requests related to Integrate Blue and Compass Group, according to Boregemenke. He did not say what they requested.

They explained to Beshear the differences between Integrate Blue and the enterprise services partnership because “he was a little bit in the dark, but other than that, he’s watching the events closely, as he’s indicated.”

Beshear previously said he wanted to better understand why UK broke its contract with Aramark, its previous dining partner, and replaced it with Compass Group.

“I want to learn more about the steps that UK is taking and why before commenting or criticizing if they had problems with the current vendor, if there were issues with the contract,” Beshear said on May 7 at a press conference.

Jay Blanton, a spokesperson for the university, has said benefits and pay won’t change for employees who decide to work for Compass Group instead of UK.

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

Lisa Claybon, a Compass Group spokesperson, declined the Herald-Leader’s requests for details on pay and benefits for employees who don’t already work for UK as the company was still negotiating with the university.

“At this time, we do not have additional details to share regarding specific time-off allotments, health plan costs and other benefits,” Claybon said.

She also declined to share if their job duties will increase, which is a concern among employees.

“I think we’ve got to … make sure that we’re not just thinking about how those at the top are doing, we’re really thinking about those that work hard every day,” Beshear said.

Other union members who attended the meeting – including Katie Goldey, who works at UK, and Curtis Pomilia, the lead organizer for United Campus Workers Kentucky – did not share what else resulted from the conversation.

They encouraged the university community to attend the upcoming board of trustees meetings on June 29 and 30 at the Longship Club at Kroger Field, 1540 University Drive in Lexington.

Sixteen of UK’s 20 trustees are appointed by the governor, who has the authority to remove and replace any or all appointed trustees, according to state law and UK’s governing regulations.

Beshear previously said he would review the board and suggested he might invoke a power to rearrange its members or influence their decisions.

“I’m going to take a real close look at the board of trustees to make sure we’re getting real strong oversight,” he said on April 30 at a press conference.

The Governor’s Postsecondary Education Nominating Committee will meet Thursday at 1 p.m. via Zoom “for the purpose of nominating candidates to the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees,” a press release from Beshear’s office said. The meeting “may lead to the appointment of board members,” the meeting agenda said.

Borgemenke said the UCW plans to speak at the meeting and hopes the board will be receptive to their concerns, not merely what the university administration wants.

“The board of trustees should be in control, and that’s exactly what Andy’s saying, is you need to exert your power as the board … and look into whether or not something’s correct and in the best interest of the public institution,” Borgemenke said.

Most trustees historically seldom discuss the merits of an item before swiftly voting on it. It helps them appear more cohesive to the state legislature, according to Davy Jones, a former University Senate member known among faculty as a de facto UK policy tracker.

“The governor appointees are very much a cohesive unit, controlling appearance,” Jones said. “There’s no division among us that you can point to and exploit, we’re all one.”

In a rare occasion, Beshear-appointed trustees Britt Brockman and Jim Gray, part-time special advisor to the governor and former state Transportation Cabinet secretary, said at an April 24 board meeting that the board should be open to criticism and debate. Their remarks came after Beshear slammed UK administration for hiring federal Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove as the new law school dean without the board’s approval.

“I am still indebted to this university. It has always done more for me than I could ever do for it …,” Brockman said. “That debt, what we owe, should always compel us to be willing to look at ourselves, to reflect, to ask questions and to be willing to admit when we fall short.”

Gray also emphasized a need for transparency from the university’s administration.

He made a motion to create a group of university leaders that are expected to revise how faculty members are hired. The motion was unrelated to the enterprise services agreement or Integrate Blue, but its passage was an example of the board asserting more authority over its administration.

The university’s governing regulations says the board of trustees is responsible for overseeing the administration.

“This motion is about transparency. It’s about demonstrating that this body, this board, this assembly is truly an oversight and governance body, one that can openly and comfortably debate and engage, often tense and difficult and thorny issues,” Gray said.