Members of MSU's Clerical-Technical Union are nervous about potential layoffs.
The 1,900-member union, MSU's largest labor organization, will head into negotiations with university officials to hash out a new deal before their contract expires in March.
Its three-year contract with the university expires March 31 and contract negotiations begin next month.
Union members will meet Wednesday to discuss issues they'd like to see addressed in the new deal, including whether recent state budget cuts will impact hiring and layoffs, union President Barbara Reeves said.
"The biggest problem is that, across the board, higher education has consistently taken hits," she said.
"It certainly has increased the possibility of layoffs and there's concern there won't be much more hiring."
MSU saw a $6-million cut in state appropriations after an executive order by then-Gov. John Engler in December. The state faces a $1.8-billion budget shortfall.
University officials were unavailable for comment Monday, but have said in the past that MSU was keeping unfilled positions vacant as a money-saving measure.
Reeves said the union has seen few layoffs so far.
"We've been pretty lucky," she said. "We haven't seen a lot of numbers that indicate we're going to have problems."
But Reeves said union members might not be so lucky if budget cuts for the next fiscal year are higher.
"The difference in the last round of budget cuts was that higher education was held pretty inviolate," Reeves said. "It didn't take a really big hit. This year it's going to be less easy.
"Who knows what's going to come up."
When a person is laid off, the union has a 60-day window to find them another job on campus, Reeves said. While that offers a lot of flexibility for clerical workers - secretaries, office assistants, cashiers and dispatchers - it is harder for technical workers - computer, laboratory, radio, television and field technicians - to find replacement jobs on campus.
Sue Cole, union member and secretary in Career Services & Placement, isn't concerned about her own job security.
"I don't think layoffs will happen in my department," Cole said. "But in others, maybe."
Reeves said she hopes negotiations are easy, but has no definite expectations.
"We've never breezed through negotiations because our goals have never been exactly the same as the university's," she said.
