(MOBILE, Ala.) - The University of South Alabama Board of Trustees are expected to vote Thursday morning on proposed bonuses and pay raises for roughly half of USA’s employees.
Under the proposal, campus employees will receive a raise, but clinical division employees, including hospital workers and nurses, will not.
The move has sparked a lot of controversy from clinical employees, who have called the proposal “shameful,” “divisive” and a case of “ever increasing discriminatory employee benefits.”
On the eve of the vote, a clinical employee told Local 15 they aren’t optimistic the board will change their mind. The employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, said “people are still very upset, very angry, and just altogether unhappy around here.”
USA Board of Trustees Chair Jim Yance sent letters to clinical employees leading up to the vote, explaining why raises for both sides are not possible at this time.
In the letter, Yance said funding for the general (campus) and clinical divisions are separate and very different. While the general division is funded by tuition and state dollars, the clinical division depends almost solely on clinical revenue. With so much financial uncertainty with Medicaid and health care reform, Yance said raises for clinical employees are simply not possible right now and the board is trying to avoid layoffs.
