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Closure of A, B levels produces fears among students of job lossesBy John Digrado

Summer Bruin Senior Staff

In the latest chapter of the ongoing saga of UCLA's construction, students' association officials have closed two of Ackerman Union's most important floors for the summer months. The closure, originally planned for later this year, was made ahead of schedule to speed completion of the building.

The ground and second floors of the union, A and B level, and the departments that were once housed on those floors have either been temporarily moved to other parts of campus or have closed permanently. The closure scatters the departments and their employees around campus and, in some cases, may eliminate jobs altogether, workers said.

Departments such as the computer store and Bearwear will be housed in the soon-to-be vacated Towell temporary library. Others, such as school and art supplies, will be consolidated into existing departments on other parts of campus.

However, the newly refurbished Ackerman will no longer have an association-run travel agency when the two floors reopen in the fall. The closure of the agency may cut positions from the association, leaving students who believed they had summer employment without jobs.

"Nobody has been told that they don't have work, but it's a day-to-day situation," said Sally Amato, assistant director of human resources for the association. "We hope to keep fully employed throughout the transition."

But the sudden closure of the A level travel agency may have caught some student employees off guard, said fifth-year senior Toyin Green, a former employee of the travel agency.

"They told us two days before they closed that we wouldn't have a summer job," Green said. While the association had plans to shut down the agency months before the temporary move was announced, Green contended that they were not adequately notified of the association's plan.

"No one told us anything at all," she said. "We heard rumors from other departments, but we didn't know."

Reaffirming the association's commitment to their employees, association officials said that while hours may fluctuate, positions will still be available for those displaced by the move.

"We may have to shift around the hours, but they're not going to be losing their jobs," said Carol Ann Smart, director of retail operations and chief operating officer for the association.

But former employees of the now-defunct travel agency say that they were given their walking papers with no more than a hint of a recommendation at the association's human resources office.

"(Travel agency supervisors) said that they would let the hiring people know that we worked at travel, but that might not necessarily mean much," said former travel agent and alumnus Robert Jones.

"For most people, they said that ASUCLA has quite a few openings, and you would be more or less recommended for those. But we really had no more a chance than anyone walking past the (human resources office)," he added,

Association officials, however, said that no one would be out of a job due to the move, and that they would work to give employees hours in other areas.

"Nobody has been displaced to my knowledge," Amato said. "We are making every effort to give people hours, and coordinate people with the move."

Association officials usually give ample notice of any changes that may affect their employees. However, with Towell library's recent availability, administrators said they were required to decide on the move quickly.

"We are usually notified (in advance), but they're just trying to finish the building as soon as they can, so things are speeded up," said Chet Cohen, one of the student store's acting managers. "Everybody was notified at the same time."

While the closure of the two levels has been put together relatively quickly, students' association officials agreed to the plan as soon as UCLA Capital Programs proposed it.

"We're moving at breakneck speed" in order to finish the store in time for the first weeks of fall quarter, Smart said.

Despite the accelerated schedule, the floors' reopening date may still be in question.

In a statement announcing the association's plan, Smart recognized a "slight" possibility of construction continuing beyond Sept. 23, the first day of fall quarter.

But Smart contended that even a delayed reopening date is better than the original plan to finish construction in July 1997.

"This is a great move, not only for the store but for the campus, to have a remodeled Ackerman by September 1996," she said.