The Graduate Employees Organization, AFT/MFT&SRP Local 3550, supports AFSCME 3800 in their efforts to get a fair contract for University of Minnesota clerical workers.
While the University is certainly faced with a budget crisis, it is fundamentally unfair to place a disproportionate share of the burden on the shoulders of the clerical workers, who, despite the essential role they play in the life of the university, are already among its lowest paid employees. The University’s bargaining position, that the clericals should accept a one-year wage freeze, the end of step increases, reductions in severance benefits, and an increase in health insurance premiums, is untenable and unjust.
The administration has said that in times of fiscal crisis, all must share the burden of budget cuts. In light of the .6 billion in contributions netted by the recent capital campaign and the planned and ongoing construction projects on the Twin Cities campus, the bitter pill offered to the clerical workers makes it obvious that the
University is not putting this policy into practice. Indeed, it seems that the University is suffering not merely from a budget crisis, but also from a crisis of priorities.
The civic mission of public institutions mandates the fair and just treatment of employees. We demand that the University of Minnesota live up to its responsibility and return to the table to negotiate in good faith with the workers of AFSCME 3800.
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