The workers were notified by letter in March that they had 30 days to present documentation authorizing them to work in the United States. When they failed to comply, they were fired Tuesday.
"We suspect this is racial profiling," said Mark Thomas, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 171. "They only fired Hispanics, and they were all custodians in the physical plant."
Casey Nagy, executive assistant to the chancellor, said today there may be
one worker of Asian descent, but he could not confirm it.
The issue arose about a month ago when the university sent the employees back
payments for dues that had been overpaid. Several of those checks were returned
because they were sent to invalid addresses. Upon researching the employees'
records, personnel officials discovered that a number of the employees had
duplicate names and Social Security numbers. Nagy said six to eight of the
employees had the same Social Security number.
Nagy said federal law leaves the university somewhat vulnerable to such abuses by undocumented immigrants. When employees apply for work, supervisors are not allowed to examine their background beyond checking their "green card," or work permit.
"Because of federal law, we basically take that on face value" unless a reason to suspect false documentation arises, he said.
All the fired workers were classified as Custodian 2 and made $8.68 per hour, Thomas said.
Thomas said there are only 26 full-time Hispanic custodians on campus. "Now they just fired 21 of them."
"We find it all disturbing," he said.
Nagy said he would be surprised if the union's tally is correct. He said there are probably more Hispanics working in that capacity on campus.
Nagy said Spanish versions of the letters were sent out to ensure that a language barrier didn't preclude the employees from reading them.
"None of our stewards speaks Spanish, but we got some volunteers from civil rights groups to help translate," he said.
The dismissed workers all worked on the second and third custodial shift, said a UW custodial supervisor who wished not to be identified. Most had already passed their six-month probation period, the supervisor said.
According to Thomas, the union representatives met with university officials Monday to request that they extend the deadline until the end of the month.
"They responded by firing them all the next day," Thomas said.
On Monday, the union requested the names of the fired employees. The university released their names Wednesday, prompting Thomas to complain that the university hasn't been forthcoming.
Nagy said the university acted promptly, releasing the names only one day after they notified the employees that they were terminated. Initially, he said, the university didn't want to release their names because it would present them publicly as illegal aliens.
"That's not a whole lot of time to reply to a public records request," he said.
Legally, the university has 10 days to respond to such requests, he said.
Nagy said the university is assembling a task force to determine a policy when questions of the authenticity of employee documentation arise. And he said university officials would be happy to work with the unions in the effort.
For now, the union is scrambling to find the workers' addresses and phone numbers, which the university didn't provide, Thomas said.
"They're not making this any easier to help people straighten this out," Thomas said of university officials. "Even if they're here illegally, that doesn't affect their right to union representation."
Local 171 was originally alerted to the situation by the AFL-CIO, which learned of it from a Madison civil rights group. Thomas said the AFL-CIO is pushing for legislation that would grant amnesty to undocumented workers.
The union says it is concerned that the university did not meet with any of the employees before firing them, informing them of the deadline only through letter. Those letters could have gone to the wrong addresses, and since some of the workers don't speak English, they wouldn't be able to read them anyway, Thomas said.
"We're trying to get legal advice from immigration and legal lawyers," Thomas said. "We're trying to find some way the university doesn't do this again."
Kurt Ellison of the UW Greens said that although to the casual observer the university is just following the law, it seems to him like a case of union-busting and callous treatment.
"It seems like a pretty clear case of the university being discriminatory, in many ways the university union-busting. They pretty clearly don't want strong unions on this campus. I think they have denied the union and the workers access to one another," Ellison said.
He noted that most of the workers do not speak English.
"Has the university gone out of its way to explain the situation to the workers? It doesn't seem like that's the case," Ellison said.