The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 65, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 20, 1978 Page: 8 of 16
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Inefficiencies plague Physical Plant operations
by Greg LeRoy
"The reason for the physical
plant," remarked Russell
Sullivan, B&G Maintenance
Engineer, "is to maintain the
building and grounds and
provide a proper environment
for students and faculty. Some
long-time members of both the
staff and the faculty, however,
contend that the personnel of
the physical plant are
"insensitive to the people and
the people they effect."
Physical plant is a rather
loose name for a large group of
buildings on the North side of
campus. From plumber to
electrician to grounds worker,
a member is sent from this
complex when another
department calls in a work
request. The entire staff is
about 120 people. And this
fact—that B&G is so large—
contributes to many problems
for the department. For
example, Sullivan noted that
"(physical plant personnel)
are probably more suspect
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Village Theatre
than other people (when
something is stolen) because
they are all over campus."
During the year in which I
worked for B&G, I saw much
college and student property
being stolen—such as a tool
box and alcohol from Sid
Richardson and furniture
from Baker. While I personally
did not witness more than
$500-$600 worth of student
property 'change hands', I
heard stories and boasting
which would have come to
much more. Indeed, when I
checked for these items, they
had disappeared, although for
some reason they never were
reported to the Rice Police.
For a variety of reasons the
individual student suffers
least from staff theivery. The
University sustains the real
losses. Each year large
amounts of material are
pilfered from Rice. Occasional-
ly an expensive machine (such
as a plumbing auger or power
generator) would simply
vanish from a shop. A few
workers would recall having
used the machine, but not the
individual who had used it
last. And so it was gone.
The large supply of
materials kept on hand by
each craft department for
immediate repairs are the
most accessible items. And it
is not unusual to see a physical
plant employee unloading a
few armfuls of some Rice
material into his car from a
golfcart—and usually he is
parked right in front of the
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JENNIFER WELLES
Campus Police Station! One
craft supervisor who did not
wish to have his name used
claimed: "I've lost over $2000
in just one week.
"There may be cases like
that," said Sullivan, "al-
though I am not aware of
them. I would stop it if only I
could prove it. Anyone could
walk into the Central Kitchen
basement and take a few
lightbulbs and we'd never
know it. Things like that
happen, but there is no way of
knowing what we are
losing." Sullivan feels that a
recently implemented stock
room will allow the physical
plant to hold onto its
materials.
One problem the B&G
administration finds difficult
to combat is the amount of
time misspent by employees
on 'non-productive' work.
While student tales of lethargy
have made the ground crew
and janitors infamous, in
terms of misspent dollars they
are not the principal offenders.
Skilled workers earn about
three times as much. And as
one craftsman relatively new
to the physical plant
department remarked caus-
tically: "Often I've seen them
work two or three days on a
project that could have been
completed in two hours."
Slacking off becomes more
irskome when two other
factors are considered: l)Each
college or department pays the
physical plant $12.00 an hour
per skilled craftsman and
$7.00 an hour for unskilled
labor (plus materials). 2)While
these rates are significantly
lower than what most outside
firms would charge, the
quality of work done often is
said to be less satisfactory.
"I just don't give a shit,"
explained one craftsperson
when queried about his
attitude toward working at
Rice. "For what I get paid, why
should I care what happens to
this place?" Mr. Sullivan
agreed that the wages "are
higher on the outside."
"However," he added, "you've
got to weigh higher wages
outside with worker conditions
on the inside.". Rice offers its
employees a medical program,
free college education for those
children who meet admission
requirements as well as a more
regular pay schedule for less
competitive work.
It apears as though the
reason nost physical plant
personnel choose to work at
Rice is for job security.
Ironically, most workers lack
any such faith in their
positions. Many employees in
the B&G department claimed
that the administration would
"screw" them the first chance
they got.
One employee who had
worked at Rice for over twenty
years felt that the administra-
tion deliberately was mis-
treating him as he approached
retirement—in the hope that
he would leave before
collecting retirement benefits.
A fifty year old man said that
he had been "pushed around to
three or four different
departments in a little over a
year." "They have me over a
barrel," he said; "I can't just
quit and get another job at my
_ ' ft
age.
In the Employee's Manual
(which is supposed to be given
to each new employee), such
topics are not discussed. But
some interesting questions
may be reused. For example:
merit raises for workers who
have shown initiative and
good work are said to be
available. However, one
foreman in the B&G depart-
ment told the Thresher that
when he went to apply for one
for one of his workers, his
immediate superior told him
that there was no money in the
fund. "I don't think they've
had any for a long time,
either," he said.
While in the field of equal
opportunity the physical plant
has made great advances, a
list supplied to the Thresher
by the Affirmative Action
Office itemizes each race and
job category for employees
ft Unity
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hired within the last five
years. Of 138 grade 8 and 9
jobs (the lowest in the physical
plants' hierarchy) 121 people
who filled these positions were
non-Caucasian. This means
that 88% of B&G's lower class
jobs are filled by minorities.
More interesting, however,
are the statistics for
officials, professionals,
technicians and skilled
craftsmen—grades 1, 2, 3 and
6. Only 17 out of 138 employees
were non-Caucasian. Out of
over 130 employees in these
upper level positions, only 9%
minorities were hired by Rice
during the last five years.
As this list is not restricted
to just physical plant staff,
these figures are not meant to
be representative of the
Buildings and Grounds
Department. But the fact that
out of over 110 employees (at
least 1/3 of which are
minorities) only two occupy a
position over laborer casts
doubt to the physical plant's
employee make-up and
internal advancement pro-
cedures.
Since coming to Rice in
January of 1976, Russ
Sullivan says that he has seen
many improvements. Accord-
ing to him, Buildings and
Grounds "was very poorly run,
not organized well, and not
doing the job it was supposed
to be doing."
In the future he plans to
institute a motivational
program for employees while
procuring higher salaries to
attract an" overall higher
caliber applicant. Skeptical of
outsiders viewing B&G, Mr.
Sullivan said: "I don't think
that many people understand
what the physical plant does. I
would also like to improve our
image."
Garage Apt.
for babysitting
and
maintenance
services
528-0909
2412 University
Telesurveys of Texas
is now hiring social
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do telephone interviewing
parttime. No selling!
Good voice a plus. No
experience necessary—
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pay is $3 per hour. Alf
interviewing done during
evening and weekend
hours from our office in
the Rice University area.
524-7515
the rice thresher, april 20, 1978—page 8
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Parker, Philip. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 65, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 20, 1978, newspaper, April 20, 1978; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245371/m1/8/?rotate=270: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.