Housekeepers facing substantial wage and benefit cuts under a Wittenberg University plan to change providers have offered to form a non-profit corporation in hopes of reducing costs to the university while preserving better wages and benefits.

The offer was announced at a protest rally that drew a crowd of about 200 to the university's Benham Pence Student Center on Monday during which a series of speakers challenged the university to continue to pay a "living wage" to its employees while tackling a $7 million deficit.

The rally came the week after Wittenberg announced it would replace its long time housekeeping provider, ABM, with WFF Facilities Services Jan. 1, at an annual financial savings of $600,000, a reduction of 40 percent.