Shockingly, the limited funds provided to maintain our campus can still provide directors with salary raises in the Facilities Services Department.

The Sacramento State campus is falling apart; older buildings like Douglas, Alpine and Brighton halls are in desperate need of maintenance.

The funds disbursed to Facilities are not enough to repair problems on campus.

Due to flooding, the River Front Center was shut down for quite some time last month. The University Union has also had flooding.

It seems that the campus’ physical environment is of little importance. On the other hand, providing salary increases to the directors inside the department tops the to-do list.

Facilities Services Director Linda Hafar said she got a salary increase because the department “increased her responsibilities.” She was given new departments to oversee.

Hafar oversees the locksmith department, electrical shops, energy conservation department and residential life. She was recently assigned the customer service department.

It makes sense that a person with many responsibilities would deserve a raise. After all, it is a lot to deal with.

But why did some Facilities employees file grievances against her?

A grievance is not just an “I hate you letter.” It’s a written or verbal complaint filed by an employee. The complaint can root from unsafe working conditions or a hostile working environment.

Employees represented by the State Employees Trade Council,filed grievances last year against the department’s directors for “hostile” working conditions.

Joe Manzella and Bobbie Coleman are two of the workers who filed grievances due to alleged threats and reprisals from management. They have been employed for decades at Sac State and have not received significant pay raises. Monzella has been an electrician at Sac State for more than 27 years.

When I asked about the complaints, Hafar avoided directly answering the question by saying, “we have the lowest grievances filed compared to other schools in the California State University system,” and “I don’t know what they are talking about.”

Patrick Hallahan, chief negotiator and consultant to the SETC, said the grievances filed were not resolved by the department and were sent to the Chancellor’s Office for review.

The Chancellor’s Office serves like a court in order to resolve grievances.

I’m pretty sure the files will be buried under more complaints. Oops, “we are working on it” they will say.

Hafar said she recognizes our campus needs improvements, but she is only working with the funds the administration allocates.

Sac State has $132 million allocated for deferred maintenance. Hafar estimates the department needs at least $180 million to fix current and future problems on campus. Ouch!

Fee increases aren’t the only things students need to worry about. They now also have to worry about swimming in puddles of water due to ill-maintained pipe lines breaking in the future.

Our campus seems to be facing more problems as time progresses. If the directors were not given pay increases, would the funds be there?

A reasonable and logical thing to do is avoid pay increases until more funds are allocated appropriately into the department.

And why were the directors even given pay raises if employees were filing complaints against them?

It is mind boggling to attend a university that teaches the ideals of equality and freedom, while it cannot even take care of its own skilled workers.

But our reality is that the skilled workers are not likely to get recognized. After all, they’re just workers right? They can be replaced.

Vanessa Guerrero can be reached at [email protected]