Comments on: List of signatories to Nouse open letter

By: Ange Davison

Ange Davison — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 13:23:50 +0000

I would like to add my support to the Save our Porters Campaign.

I was a student at the Univeristy for 4 years, a sabbatical in 1999, and have worked as a Publications Adminstrator since.

Cheers
Ange Davison

By: Wills

Wills — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:24:21 +0000

I’m a current 3rd year student and am appalled at the way OUR porters are being treated by the University’s so-called “Management”. One of the things which attacted me to York was the collegiate system and the fact there was 24-hour portering. Although I don’t live on campus now, if I did I’d feel really unsafe in my college knowing that the nearest porter was maybe 20 minutes or half an hour away.

York’s local newspaper, “The Press” has now brought this diabolical situation to the Public’s attention:

“Representatives from Unison have written to Keith Lilley, the university’s director of facilities management, to air their concerns that staff are being put under too much pressure and even not finding time to eat. Porters claim their workload has radically increased since campus chiefs closed the lodges at Vanbrugh, Derwent and Wentworth colleges, due to staff shortages.”

These poor guys (and ladies) are having to work shifts lasting 12 hours, and during this time are not even entitled to an hour’s lunch break, the same as other staff would get. 12 hours non-stop covering huge areas with hugely increased responsibility for no extra pay? I ask you, would you do it? Not me!

Meanwhile, their immediate bosses, the “senior” porters, strut around looking important. Everybody I know is asking “What does a senior porter actually do?” Nobody knows. Not a lot by all accounts.

Try asking them, and even Ken Batten and Keith Lilley, to work the same hours covering the same areas as the poor porters are being forced to do. Stress? They wouldn’t know the meaning of the word.

So before something serious happens, please listen to our plea. We all want our OWN porters back in our OWN colleges. Back to where they belong.

By: Eleanor

Eleanor — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 15:51:16 +0000

I’m an ex-student at York and the porters were an integral part of my college experience. Is there any way I can sign the letter? My email was emt107.
Thanks

By: Walter

Walter — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 00:50:29 +0000

There is a definite feeling amongst a great deal of York University students, me included, that those in charge of university policy are showing increasing disregard for our basic needs and rights. I have been here about a year and a half now, and in that time the university has closed many of our bars for financial reasons, despite the fact that a profit was being made. These are the focal meeting places on campus, and allow students to relax from the otherwise stressful experience that university involves. They have also housed students in appalling accomodation in some parts of campus, where a microwave is essentially all that is available in order to cook food. Furthermore, they have attempted to reduce the amount of hours that departmental offices are open, and are seeking to reduce the amount of staff in this area. The porters crisis is an insult. It seems like a sick attempt to see how far the students can be pushed before a full-scale riot occurs.

I wish this letter campaign all the success it deserves. The university should be condemned for the gross lack of consideration it is showing its students currently. If the university is solely considering finance, then perhaps it should be reminded that generosity from alumni will not be forthcoming in the following decades if this is how they intend to treat their current undergraduate and postgraduate intake.

By: Arthur J Reeves

Arthur J Reeves — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 16:19:30 +0000

I fully endorse the open letter. The whole situation has been a shambles and heads ought to roll!