Comments on: Quotes from President Petersen http://ucw-cwa.org/2006/09/quotes-from-president-petersen/ We are the union for UT staff and faculty, graduate employees, and lecturers, with chapters on the Knoxville and Chattanooga campuses. UCW-CWA's mission is to advance and defend the interests of all UT staff and faculty, as well as promoting solidarity, democracy, and advancing social and economic justice in our workplace and in our community. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:44:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: TN http://ucw-cwa.org/2006/09/quotes-from-president-petersen/#comment-20 TN Mon, 25 Sep 2006 16:29:05 +0000 http://ucw-cwa.org/utmeritraise/?p=16#comment-20 I agree with the comments posted by BW. Merit rasies are at the whim of the supervisor. In our case, the 'supervisor' (person doing evaluations) is not the one who actually supervises the work. There are only a couple of folks who directly interact with the one who does the evals. How is it possible to give an accurate evaluation if you never see the person's work and rarely interact with them? I know for certain that there is favortism in our department. And, if merit pay was put in to place for staff, only those who interact directly with the 'supervisor' would receive anything. I am completely against the merit system. I think there are other ways to reward those who deserve it (ie, flex schedule, comp time, etc) I agree with the comments posted by BW. Merit rasies are at the whim of the supervisor. In our case, the ’supervisor’ (person doing evaluations) is not the one who actually supervises the work. There are only a couple of folks who directly interact with the one who does the evals. How is it possible to give an accurate evaluation if you never see the person’s work and rarely interact with them? I know for certain that there is favortism in our department. And, if merit pay was put in to place for staff, only those who interact directly with the ’supervisor’ would receive anything. I am completely against the merit system. I think there are other ways to reward those who deserve it (ie, flex schedule, comp time, etc)

]]> By: B.W. http://ucw-cwa.org/2006/09/quotes-from-president-petersen/#comment-16 B.W. Thu, 21 Sep 2006 20:35:59 +0000 http://ucw-cwa.org/utmeritraise/?p=16#comment-16 We have not received cost of living raises in the past 10 years. We were also promised our wages would be brought up to the associated pay scale of outside jobs but it has not happened, nor I believe will it ever happen - especially with the introduction of merit raises. Merit raises are subject to the whims of the supervisor - with favorites given raises it leaves the other hard-working, subordinates out. It also encourages good workers to leave. I don't know where Peterson gets his information, but here on this campus most people are not working for the pay. We care about the university and its students. I only stay because of the benefits of having my classes paid for and the week off at Christmas. Also, I prefer the academic atmosphere, which many can not handle. I hate to see wages used as a wedge to once again divide hard working employees and cause disruption. What kind of incentive does it provide for the person who does not get a merit raise? Does it not discourage hard work and cause a rift between co-workers? I say NO to merit raises because there is no such thing as a FAIR performance evaluation when the evaluation is done by subjective humans. We have not received cost of living raises in the past 10 years. We were also promised our wages would be brought up to the associated pay scale of outside jobs but it has not happened, nor I believe will it ever happen - especially with the introduction of merit raises. Merit raises are subject to the whims of the supervisor - with favorites given raises it leaves the other hard-working, subordinates out. It also encourages good workers to leave. I don’t know where Peterson gets his information, but here on this campus most people are not working for the pay. We care about the university and its students. I only stay because of the benefits of having my classes paid for and the week off at Christmas. Also, I prefer the academic atmosphere, which many can not handle. I hate to see wages used as a wedge to once again divide hard working employees and cause disruption. What kind of incentive does it provide for the person who does not get a merit raise? Does it not discourage hard work and cause a rift between co-workers?

I say NO to merit raises because there is no such thing as a FAIR performance evaluation when the evaluation is done by subjective humans.

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