University stalls negotiations for AFSCME workers

Mediated negotiations resume Oct. 5 between the University of Minnesota and three AFSCME bargaining units after talks Sept. 19 and 20 made little progress.

“They didn’t come willing to settle,” said Candace Lund, president of Local 3937, which represents 1,000 technical workers. Lund said university negotiators claimed they “didn’t have the authority” to respond to the unions’ wage proposals.

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When the two days of talks began, the university was offering across-the-board pay raises ranging from 1.5 to 1.6 percent a year for two years. When the mediator broke off talks, the university had bumped its offer up to 1.65 percent for technical workers, 1.7 percent for clerical workers, and 1.8 percent for health-care workers, Lund said.

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“We don’t consider that movement, we consider it an insult,” said Phyllis Walker, president of Local 3800, which represents about 1,800 clerical workers.

Lund said she finds the different rates for different bargaining units puzzling. “Do they think the fact that clerical workers will get 80 cents more a paycheck will split our membership?”

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The AFSCME locals are seeking annual increases of 5 percent, in part to catch up for two years of salary freezes. “We know the university has the money because they continue to give huge lump-sum payments to middle managers,” Walker said.

The university also continues to push a new four-tier health insurance proposal that will raise premiums for family coverage by 30-50 percent, Walker said. At the same time, university negotiators continue to ignore a union proposal to create a sliding scale for health insurance premiums, based on income ? an idea that the university’s own benefits advisory committee says is worth looking into, she said.

Finally, university negotiators refuse to eliminate internal hiring policies that discourage workers from transferring to different jobs on campus. Eliminating the policies ? such as one that requires a new six-month probationary period every time a worker changes jobs ? wouldn’t cost the university any money, Walker said.

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“It’s just a matter of control,” she said. “They don’t want to work with the front-line staff, they want to control them.”

Michael Kuchta edits the St. Paul Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail him at advocate@stpaulunions.org

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