The University of Kentucky is ending its partnership with facilities services provider Aramark Campus LLC, laying off over 900 employees.

According to a letter sent to the Kentucky Career Center on Wednesday, April 29, Aramark will not be partnering with UK after June 30. The letter was sent in compliance with the Federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

”We regret to inform you that all Aramark employees assigned to that client account will be affected,” the letter said.

The letter directed any questions to Aramark Human Resources and listed the specific job titles of employees who would be laid off.

The attached list included a total of 926 employees working in food, catering, utilities and maintenance at UK.

These layoffs come as UK has been creating separate private LLCs such as Beyond Blue under its Integrate Blue initiative and Enterprise Services Partnership in order to “more fully integrate and align functional services across the enterprise.”

The United Campus Workers of Kentucky, a union some UK employees are members of, has protested these efforts under fears of layoffs according to former Kentucky Kernel reporting, but UK has maintained that no employees will lose their jobs as a result of the initiatives.

”It is our understanding that most displaced workers typically have continued employment opportunities with the incoming provider,” the letter said.

UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said the university cannot comment on Aramark’s internal employment decisions.

”We can confirm that UK is exploring an Enterprise Services Partnership, which includes dining and concessions,” Blanton said. “We believe the intent of any new partner will be to retain employees for these critical service areas and the University has encouraged the new partner to do so, subject to any new partner’s employment policies.”