What this deal means for Winthrop Facilities Management employees
By Kyan Feser
Staff Writer
Winthrop University President Edward Serna announced his next steps in outsourcing facilities management via an email to faculty and staff on Oct. 26.
Currently, Winthrop plans to award SSC Services for Education as a facilities vendor, with the company handling “custodial, skilled trades, and maintenance services for the next 5 years,” according to Serna.
SSC specializes in managing university and K-12 grounds nationwide, and plans for a “greener facilities future,” according to their website.
SCC should arrive on campus around Dec. 1, Serna said.
This announcement is a follow-up to an announcement made last March, when Winthrop originally began its Request for Proposal (RFP) process to search for a facilities management vendor.
At the time, high employee turnover in Rock Hill’s economic sphere left “one-third of maintenance positions vacant,” Serna said. Thus, a limited Reduction in Force (RIF) was predicted, alerting certain employees to their inevitable job loss when a vendor was located.
The email also explained that “those in higher-up positions” would keep their jobs, Butler said.
Serna’s recent email disclosed the RIF’s impact, revealing that 62 employees were impacted. Out of those employees, 39 stayed with Winthrop for the time being, while the remaining resigned.
For the former, James Grigg, the associate vice president for Facilities Management, sent letters detailing a one-time bonus on Sept. 19, Serna said.
Additionally, a meeting was held Oct. 29 to connect employees with SCC hiring representatives, initiating a potential transfer process with the company, Serna added. Winthrop representatives also discussed retirement, benefits, and unemployment options for impacted employees.
This meeting occurred six days before the contract date of Nov. 3, aiming to give employees more time for the transition, Serna said. During this transition, SCC plans to create a team to “augment Winthrop employees to maintain our campus until the ‘go-live’ date,” he wrote.
Serna stated that Kevin Butler will release more information on the transition soon.
“While we regret that we could not be more communicative with employees as the RFP process unfolded, the administrative team has been working diligently behind the scenes to negotiate the best possible outcomes for our remaining employees. We sincerely hope many of these loyal employees will seek employment with SSC so we will continue to see them working on campus.”
