FSU: Healey Library actions needed
8/10/2022
Dear FSU members,
We share with you an email sent August 8th to Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco and UMB leadership responsible for facilities and environmental health. As of the sending of this email, we have yet to receive an acknowledgement or reply.
Our librarians are working in a building where their workspaces have temperatures of over 80 degrees. This is unacceptable.
Please feel free to contact the email recipients with your concerns.
Sincerely,
Caroline Coscia Jeff Melnick
FSU President FSU Vice President
Senior Lecturer II Professor
Political Science Department American Studies Department
For information on the FSU, links to our contract and bargaining updates, and a calendar of events, see the FSU webpage
From: Caroline Coscia <Caroline.Coscia@umb.edu>
Sent: Monday, August 8, 2022 12:14 PM
To: Marcelo Orozco <Marcelo.Orozco@umb.edu>; Garrett M Smith <Garrett.Smith@umb.edu>; Kathleen Kirleis <Kathleen.Kirleis@umb.edu>; Michael P Kearns <Michael.Kearns@umb.edu>; Zehra Schneider Graham <Zehra@umb.edu>; Marie Bowen <Marie.Bowen@umb.edu>; Joel Posner <Joel.Posner@umb.edu>; Joanne Riley <Joanne.Riley@umb.edu>
Cc: Faculty Staff Union <FSU@umb.edu>; Jeffrey Melnick <Jeffrey.Melnick@umb.edu>
Subject: FSU: Healey Library actions needed
Good afternoon,
The FSU writes in dismay at the continued air and elevator issues in the Healey Library.
Again, this morning, another Monday morning, the air temperature in the building is unacceptable. At 8:30AM the 8th floor employee work area was 82 degrees with the 5th floor being 80 degrees. Expecting someone to work in these temperatures, without any air movement is inhumane. No other group of employees must endure these conditions.
Our archives collection may be in jeopardy. Not keeping a set air temperature harm material. We have irreplaceable one-of-a-kind research collections including Judge Arthur Garrity’s papers. He was the federal judge who oversaw Boston’s school desegregation. It would a great shame to lose a collection because a decision is made to shut down the HVAC on weekends. Putting UMass Boston’s archival collections at risk is a financial and PR liability to the university.
We are concerned about the conditions of the elevators. An employee was trapped last Friday. Prior to that a cleaning staff employee. If an elevator is not working properly, then it needs to be shut down before someone becomes injured. Signage must be posted on each floor indicating the shutdown.
Actions needed:
Until acceptable air temperatures are met, the building needs to be shutdown.
Air temperature monitoring and recording of temperatures on each floor must be done at 8AM and every couple of hours.
The recording temperature log is to be made available to library staff and the FSU, CSU, and PSU.
Any and all repairs must be completed so that all four library elevators are in safe functioning condition. Signage is to be posted.
Meeting: We would like to meet to discuss these issues and your plan of resolution. We are available.
Sincerely,
Caroline L. Coscia
Faculty Staff Union (FSU) President 2022-2024
Senior Lecturer II, Political Science Department
University of Massachusetts Boston