University clerical workers set Oct. 21 strike date

Clerical workers at the University of Minnesota say they will strike Oct. 21 if university administrators do not return to the bargaining table ?and offer something worth settling for.?

AFSCME Local 3800, which represents about 1,800 clerical workers at the university?s Twin Cities campus, filed the legally required strike notice Thursday morning with the state Bureau of Mediation Services. ?We do not want to strike, but we are willing and able to do so,? said Phyllis Walker, president of Local 3800. The notice also covers 200 clerical workers at the Duluth campus, represented by Local 3801.

?They don?t believe we?re going to do this,? said Carol Bruner, a member of the Local 3800 bargaining committee who has worked at the university?s law school for 13 years. ?We are going to do this. We?re ready. We feel we?re right, so we?re strong.?

Health insurance, wages, job security at stake
Clerical workers, who are among the lowest-paid workers on campus, rejected the univeristy?s latest contract proposal Oct. 3 and authorized a strike. Health insurance is the major obstacle.

?Just because some people have less health coverage than we do doesn?t mean we have too much,? Bruner said. ?Health care is a national crisis.?

The university?s proposal freezes wages for one year at the same time it increases workers? health-insurance expenses by hundreds of dollars or, in some cases, even thousands of dollars a year. Monthly premiums would double or triple, depending on coverage; co-pays also would double.

In addition, the university?s proposal eliminates longevity wage increases and fails to offer basic job security language and re-hiring rights to laid-off clerical workers.

The two-year proposal would replace a contract that expired June 30.

Strike date extends health insurance
Clerical workers touch just about every task at the university, Walker said. ?Without clerical workers, there would be no payroll. There would be no arts or cultural events. There would be no sporting events.?

With clerical workers on strike, she said, the university will continue to function ?at some level, but I?m not sure what level that will be.? She said the union chose Oct. 21 as the strike date because it allows employees to work Oct. 20, the first day of the pay period. Doing so extends their health insurance coverage for two additional weeks, she said.

Faculty and students are demonstrating widespread support, said Phyllis McKenzie, business agent for the local. More than 100 faculty members signed a full-page ad in the Minnesota Daily Sept. 29, and many are planning to take their classes off campus if the strike occurs, she said.

?There are conscientious professors who don?t believe in crossing a picket line and don?t want to put their students in that position,? Walker said. Other instructors are developing alternative coursework for students who want to honor picket lines.

Local 3800 President Phyllis Walker and other union members joke with the receptionist after filing their strike notice Thursday.

Union Advocate photo

A bad precedent for public workers
A strike support committee made up primarily of allies in the university committee is meeting every Saturday, McKenzie said. The St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly granted strike sanction to the local Wednesday, and support is developing elsewhere in the labor movement, she said.

Kathy Kleckner, a member of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28 who is helping in strike support, said the university?s proposal is a political decision intended to eliminate union pay scales and protections. ?This is a dangerous precedent for all workers in the public sector,? she said.

Information on strike support, hardship fund
? Strike support committee: 10 a.m. every Saturday, University Avenue Baptist Church, 1219 University Ave. SE, Minneapolis.
? Contribute to Local 3800?s hardship fund. Make checks payable to ?U Clerical Hardship Fund.? Mail them to: AFSCME Local 3800, 1313 5th St. SE #121B, Minneapolis, MN 55414.

For more information
Visit the Local 3800 website, www.afscme3800.org

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