UCWGA-CWA Members Release New Documents Showing How Private Dorm Contractor Corvias Pressured Schools to Reopen During the Pandemic and Forced Georgia Universities to Foot the Bill for Costs Already Covered by Multi-Billion Dollar Contract

Today, the United Campus Workers of Georgia (UCWGA-CWA), a group of employees at the University System of Georgia (USG) who are organizing for better working conditions with help from the Communications Workers of America (CWA), held a virtual press briefing to unveil documents obtained through open records requests that expose how Corvias, a private real estate construction, development, and management company that has a multibillion dollar student housing contract with USG, lobbied eight universities across the country to reopen during the pandemic and failed to provide services covered by its contract with USG.

To view the UCWGA-CWA members’ report, click here.

After it was reported this summer that Corvias lobbied USG schools to open during the pandemic to meet their financial bottom line, the research committee of UCWGA submitted a series of open records requests to USG to obtain communications between Corvias and system leaders between March and August, 2020. The documents revealed new evidence that the company pressured seven other schools in addition to USG to reopen, failed to regularly maintain and clean their units during the pandemic, and disregarded CDC COVID safety guidelines.

UCWGA-CWA members find Corvias’ activities in the University System of Georgia deeply troubling. In order to protect workers and students, UCWGA-CWA members are making the following demands of Corvias:

1. Appropriately staff the P3 operation above and beyond what USG notes were deficient FY20 staffing levels (of 57 full-time employees);

2. Pay for the cleaning and maintenance of their dorms to an acceptable standard consistent with CDC guidelines.

3. Cease pressure on the University System of Georgia to alleviate the company’s financial problems.

UCWGA-CWA members are making the following demands of USG:

1. Analyze the costs associated with exiting their deal with Corvias and transparently report the findings.2

2. Cease any similar privatization deals. Public education in Georgia should be run by the public, for the common good.

Video of today’s press briefing is available upon request, please email Amy Fetherolf at afetherolf@cwa-union.org.

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About UCWGA-CWA: UCWGA-CWA is an organization of employees within the University System of Georgia made up of workers from diverse classifications and institutions across the state. Our mission is to champion the interests and well-being of all University workers in order to build and to sustain equity, solidarity, and a common good for the University community, the state of Georgia, and the world at large. We are affiliated with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and our sister organizations across the southeast in Alabama, Arizona, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia as well as Colorado. Together, united, we win!

About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, and manufacturing.