UPDATE (18 October 2018): Ministry rejects suggestions by Staff Council (see below).
80 percent of all parking spaces are to be allocated to staff: That is the key element of the suggestions given to the University Management by the Staff Council in July 2018.
The President’s Office reacted negatively: first, they found the suggested distribution unbalanced, especially for the students. Second, it did not want to get ahead of the discussion in the Senate Committee on Parking Space Management. Now the Ministry of Science is to mediate between the University Management and the Staff Council.
The goal of the proposal from the Staff Council was to create an operating agreement in which the University Management and Staff Council set down on a permanent basis how many parking spaces the employees are to receive in which way. This was for all scientific and non-scientific staff members other than professors.
According to the proposal, the vast majority of parking spaces are to be reserved for employees. Among them, those with physical disabilities, those who work shifts, and volunteer members of fire stations and emergency services were to receive preference. For socially disadvantaged employees, a fee reduction was suggested.
Because the President’s Office is required to make a decision on these kinds of proposals within three weeks, the President’s Office decided to reject the proposal in its current form. However, the President’s Office thanked the Staff Council for making specific suggestions in its proposal.
The President and Chancellor therefore asked the Staff Council to work together with the Senate Committee on Parking Space Management and introduce its proposals there for allocating parking spaces. The Staff Council declined to send representatives to the Committee. The mid-level faculty in the Senate and other staff then made joint suggestions for the composition of the staff representatives, and these suggestions were passed by the Senate.
The President and Chancellor had announced that they would bring the Committee’s recommendations into the negotiations with the parking space management company PBW as long as the recommendations ensure a balanced allocation among the various University groups and do not require any additional resources.
Part of the suggestions will be clarified in advance through other channels. These include special parking spaces for the physically disabled, volunteer firefighters / emergency assistants, and loading zones, that is, areas for which there are legal requirements or for which the University will negotiate special conditions with Parken BW.
Upon request:
On the topic of reduced fees for social hardship cases, Parken BW announced that state-wide guidelines are being negotiated with the Working Group of the State Staff Council of Baden-Württemberg (ARGE-HPR). This procedure is included in the cabinet’s decision.
The Staff Council decided to abide by its proposal anyway. It decided to initiate the tiered procedure in which the Ministry of Science is called on to mediate as the supervisory authority.
UPDATE (18 October 2018):
In a letter on 17 October 2018, the Ministry of Science rejected the Staff Council’s proposal.
Reason: The cabinet decision determined that the parking spaces are to be managed by Parken BW, which is why the state institutions such as the University “do not have any leeway on this matter.” In contrast to this, the suggested operating agreement includes provisions that are in areas reserved for the PBW.
The Ministry stated further: “It is not possible for the state institution and the Staff Council to use an operating agreement to negotiate matters before the PBW negotiations and without consulting the PBW that in the future will no longer be under the purview of the state institution and may be determined by the PBW alone. (...) Signing the presented operating agreement would at this time be preemptive and is therefore not permissible.”
Written on: 17 October 2018, updated on: 18 October 2018
