The rally will start at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 8, outside Morrill Hall, the administration building on the East Bank of the university\'s Minneapolis campus.

The protest will feature speakers addressing the union\'s wage demands and a 12-foot tall rat to challenge how administrators can "RATionalize" huge increases for themselves, while front line workers fall further behind.

"Our unions have looked at the salary information for the last five years and concluded that the wages for our jobs have fallen almost 5 percent behind the rate of inflation," said Greg Knoblauch, an activist with AFSCME Local 3937. "It will require an 8 percent increase this year to catch up, and 4 percent in the following year to keep up with inflation projections for 2008. We can\'t afford to settle for less."

University of Minnesota unions have been in contract negotiations for three months. Organizers say Wednesday\'s rally will send a clear message to negotiators that workers are not willing to watch their standard of living continue to fall.

"This is not about the University of Minnesota being broke - it is about choosing not to pay living wages to front line staff," said Barb Bezat, President of AFSCME 3937. She noted that 1,586 people at the university make over $100,000 each year.

"These folks have paychecks of around $5,000 every two weeks," she said. "If each of those paychecks had been $22.87 less, our members would not be falling behind. The administration is making choices and they are the wrong ones."

The next negotiating dates are Thursday and Friday, just a few weeks before classes resume at the university.

Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME 3800, warned, "Four years ago, clerical workers at the University of Minnesota went out on strike, rather than accept an unfair contract offer from the university," said Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800.

"This year all of the university AFSCME unions are united in demanding better wages for our members. The university\'s request for mediation has set the stage for a possible strike during the first week of classes unless a contract agreement has been reached before that."

For more information
View a short video explaining the wage gap for university workers at http://afscme3800.org/node/48