U employees rally for fair contract, while Teamsters review settlement

While negotiators for 3,300 University of Minnesota employees resumed contract talks Tuesday, union members and supporters rallied outside the main administration building on the Minneapolis campus.

AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, represents clerical, technical and health care workers at the university. Members said the university’s proposal to freeze wages and raise health care premiums for employees is unacceptable and unfair.

“Salaries at the upper levels of administration are skyrocketing, at the same time that clerical workers have been fighting to keep up with inflation and to hold onto vital benefits,” the union said. Union members cited a KSTP-TV report that said the number of university administrators earning more than $100,000 a year has risen from 311 in 1994 to 1,242 this year.

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Clerical worker Sandi Sherman addressed a rally on Northrop Mall Tuesday.
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Clerical workers are among the lowest-paid workers at the university, Local 3800 member Sandi Sherman said. She thanked the crowd of students and other staff who attended the rally, noting, “Anything that we can win at the bargaining table, you will benefit from, too.”

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AFSCME has scheduled a series of training sessions to prepare for a possible strike. Meanwhile, Teamsters Local 320 will hold meetings starting Sept. 10 to brief members on a tentative settlement reached Friday with the university.

The agreement avoided a strike by 1,300 workers that would have started Saturday. In a statement on its website, the union said a walkout is still a possibility.

“While the Union committee felt this proposal did not go far enough in addressing the needs of our members, it did resolve a number of issues that had lead to a strike vote,” the union said. “Because of this, the majority of the union committee felt the members should have the opportunity to vote on it, and is therefore recommending it to the membership. A minority of the committee voted to commence a strike immediately without taking an additional vote among the membership.”

The union has scheduled four meetings to explain the proposal and said it would mail a complete proposal to each member with the ballot to vote on the pact.

The university administration said cuts in its appropriation from the state Legislature and other factors had forced it to demand givebacks.

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“I want to thank the Teamsters for working so hard to resolve this contract,? University President Robert Bruininks said in a statement. ?These were very tough negotiations, but this is a fair and equitable agreement that will preserve jobs in this very difficult economy.?

For more information
Go to the AFSCME Local 3800 website, www.afscme3800.org and the Teamsters Local 320 website, www.teamsterslocal320.org

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