Duke housekeepers were required to rebid for their shifts and building assignments as part of a restructuring of University Environmental Services, a process that eliminated existing schedules and reassigned workers across campus.
The changes have disrupted the routines of many housekeepers, some of whom have found themselves scrambling for positions in what East Campus Housekeeper Nahshon Blount called a “survival of the fittest game.”
The rebidding process is based on seniority, with longtime facilities staff given priority to bid for positions. Housekeepers who have not bid for roles by March will be placed on a “relief team,” where they will work without a fixed schedule and instead be assigned to random hours and buildings across campus, said Blount and Oskar Dantzler, who worked as a housekeeper at the Duke Chapel for 28 years before retiring in November…