Physical Plant faces staff cuts

IU Physical Plant workers will be laid off as the University braces for Gov. Frank O'Bannon's proposed budget cuts, officials confirmed Sunday.\nVice President for Administration Terry Clapacs said nine or 10 employees could lose their jobs within the next six months.\n"We're considering nine potential layoffs and other positions may not become filled," Clapacs said. "Right now I think the number we're working with is between nine and 10, but there also may not be positions filled through retirement or normal vacancy should they become open."\nClapacs added that the layoffs will not be limited to lower-income jobs and could affect middle-management or administrative positions within the department.\n"Right now we're looking at all levels ... not just lower income jobs," he said.\nThis announcement comes after Thursday's press conference, where IU President Myles Brand and other administrators officially announced the University would be forced to endure "painful, real" budget cuts in both spending and operation.\nThe IU repair and rehabilitation budget had already been reduced by 25 percent earlier this year, but it now faces an additional 50 percent cut, Clapacs said.\nThe University is working with Physical Plant union members in an attempt to minimize and defer any layoffs for as long as possible, IU spokesman Bill Stephan said.\n"As of late last week, he was still negotiating with union representatives to see if the number could be kept as small as possible," Stephan said.\nHank Hewetson, associate director of the Physical Plant, declined to say how many employees would be affected by the layoffs since officials were still working on "their plan."\n"I think it would be premature to give you any more information than Clapacs has given," he said.\nAlthough information technology will suffer a large cut in the governor's proposal, Karen Adams, chief of staff of the office of information technology, said until the University knows for certain the outcome of the state budget scenario, University Information Technology Services (UITS) plans no layoffs.\nClapacs said no official timetable could be given for the layoffs. \n"We don't know yet; we're looking at all our options," Clapacs said. "Our people are doing their best. We take this very seriously.\n"We're talking about eliminating positions," he said. "We don't do that often ... we're going to try to keep it to a minimum"