Lincoln University to cut dozens of maintenance jobs

Lincoln University in Jefferson City confirmed to ABC 17 News it plans to eliminate more than 40 maintenance and lawn care jobs by Monday.

Workers told ABC 17 they used to get 6 to 8 weeks per year of time off, and now they will just have one week of paid vacation.

Former Lincoln employees told us they’re facing this new reality as contractor Sodexo takes over facility operations.

“I mean these are people with mortgages, families, and retirement dreams,” said former LU employee Mike Romano.

Romano said he spent nearly 10 years of his life at LU.

He stayed for the benefits, like being part of the state pension system, and multiple weeks of vacation to be with family.

“Now it’s basically working for a temp service and they have nothing to offer,” said Romano.

The university told the employees it was all part of a cost saving measure, but employees said they were kept in the dark most of the time.

“This should have never taken place. In my opinion, they should have waited until after the first of the year and been good enough to do that. That puts us into full force because right now they are still working on this; the new people are. Lincoln should have waited until after the first of the year,” said another former employee.

The jobs were officially cut at the November 12 Board of Curators meeting.

Most employees are trying to stay on for the time being until they can find another job with benefits.