U of M Labor and Community Strike Support Committee

By Jigna Desai, Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality, George Henderson, Department of Geography, Joshua Page, Department of Sociology, Eric Sheppard, Department of Geography, and Kirt Wilson, Department of Communication Studies

As we enter the second week of the AFSCME strike at the University of Minnesota, we faculty feel the need to speak out to the press and public. We write on behalf of the more than 250 faculty members who are engaging in activities that support the strike.

The administration's unwillingness to negotiate a fair and adequate contract for these unionized workers risks undermining the University's pursuit of excellence and its obligations to its employees and to the State of Minnesota. AFSCME employees perform vital functions at the University and in the broader community, but their contributions are undervalued by the administration and often invisible to the general public. One consequence of this situation is that the AFSCME employees have been offered meager cost of living raises compared to administrators, faculty, and even other union-represented workers at the University. An exemplary university needs skilled and committed staff as well as talented faculty, strong administrative leadership, and committed students. The staff must be sufficiently compensated for their expertise and loyalty, or the institution will fail to reach its admirable aspirations.

AFSCME staff provide essential services to the University and its constituents. Among other things, these employees facilitate research and design, sterilize surgical equipment, schedule classes, make medical appointments, provide library services, and maintain computing and information systems. They further the University's mission of pursuing excellence in teaching, research, and service, and yet they are among our most poorly paid workers. Administrators and many faculty have received salary increases at or above the rate of inflation over the last five years, making up for past stagnation and helping the university retain key personnel. The base pay for its unionized staff, however, has not kept pace with inflation, and the University's current offer continues this policy.

Like many state-funded universities in this and other countries, the University of Minnesota is scrambling to make up for reduced public funding, relative to the costs of delivering quality education, research, and service to the state. While the current administration suggests that it simply does not have the funding to offer an adequate cost of living increase in addition to the standard "step increases," this is simply not the case. State representatives Tom Rukavina and Mary Murphy write in a letter to the president of the University:

For the first time in many years, the Minnesota Legislature provided the University with a generous 3.25 percent salary supplement. We expected those funds to be used to benefit all University employees... We can't understand how you can justify your miniscule offer of 2.25 percent on the salary schedule for your hard working, dedicated employees.

In fact, the administration's offer is less than the raise Governor Pawlenty provided other state employees. Moreover, AFSCME workers-but not other state employees-have been asked to include their annual step increases as part of their base salary package. This is a problem because step increases are a finite supplement to base salary and are the only means to recognize staff members' longevity and experience. Further, it is often overlooked that the longest serving and most senior workers are no longer eligible for step increases, because they have obtained the highest "step" possible.

The growing discrepancy between the highest and lowest paid University employees is not ethical, practical, or reflective of a truly excellent university. In choosing to further reduce the salaries of its AFSCME workers, in comparison to other members of the University community, the administration is contributing to the current regional and national trends of increasing income inequality that disadvantage America's least well off workers, who are often female and non-white. This is happening at a time when employment opportunities are stagnating and lower income households have to work at more jobs or longer hours to retain their purchasing power. We can and should expect better of our premier educational institution. Cost-cutting on the backs of the lowest paid workers is the wrong thing to do and will undermine our goal of providing the citizens of Minnesota with the best possible education, research, and services. We ask that the University settle this strike quickly, fairly, and with the utmost respect for the dignity and rights of its staff, offering its AFSCME workers base salaries that at least match the rate of inflation.

Viewable at crookstontimes.com