"The strike is having a tremendous impact all over campus," the presidents of the four striking AFSCME locals said in a news release Wednesday afternoon. They cited the following effects:
• The Veterinary Teaching Hospital and Clinics are virtually shut down, and are only accepting emergency patients. At least half of the veterinary technicians walked off work, leaving some 15 specialty clinics and the animal hospital open only for emergency calls.
• Without AFSCME Local 3260 dental assistants, lab technicians and dental hygienists, two floors of School of Dentistry clinics in Moos Tower were consolidated to one floor.
• With clerical staff on the picketline, the Bursar's Offices on the West Bank and St. Paul campuses are closed for the duration of the strike.
• Anderson Library on the West Bank of the Minneapolis campus was cleared of technical and clerical workers. Anderson holds eight special collections and archives units and is the central office of the MINITEX Library Information Network. Staff at Wilson Library, the main West Bank library, was significantly reduced. No books leave a U of M Library without touching an AFSCME worker, the unions said.
• Without AFSCME dispatchers, the university police cannot handle the computerized dispatch system. City of Minneapolis dispatchers, also members of AFSCME, are handling 911 calls for the university only. Normal dispatch operations cannot be fulfilled.
• The Facilities Management emergency call center is cleared of employees. The call center answers problems with building maintenance such as elevator malfunctions and electricity failures.
University Vice President of Human Resources Carol Carrier disputed the union's claims, saying two-thirds of the staff represented by AFSCME had crossed the picketline to work.
"Despite the start of a strike, classes are being held as scheduled and day-to-day operations - from facilities management to information technology to food service - continue at the highest service level," she stated in an e-mail to all university staff.
Wages are the key issue in the walkout, which began at 7 a.m. Wednesday. The university administration has offered 2.25 percent increases for clerical and technical workers and 2.5 percent for health care workers. AFSCME said these increases fall short of keeping pace with inflation and are below the 3 percent offered to Teamsters at the university just last week.
Strikers and supporters were buoyed by the turnout at a noontime rally that drew an estimated 3,000 people to campus outside Morrill Hall, the main administration building.
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Striking AFSCME members and supporters (above) were addressed by Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, and others on the first day of the walkout.
Photos by Minneapolis Labor Review and AFSCME
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Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, lauded the strikers for their bravery and said their cause was just.
"If they (university administrators) respect you and believe in your dignity, they're going to provide you with this raise," she said to cheers from the crowd.
U.S. Senate candidates Mike Ciresi and Jack Nelson Pallmeyer also spoke and Senate candidate Al Franken joined workers earlier in the day on picketlines.
Eliot Seide, director of AFSCME Council 5, pledged the support of tens of thousands of AFSCME members across Minnesota. Other union leaders who spoke included Michelle Sommers, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, representing Twin Cities transit workers, and Javier Morillo, president of SEIU Local 26, representing janitors, security guards and window washers across the area.
Joe Rolfer, president of MAPE, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, presented a check for $5,000 to the U of M Workers Support Fund.
Video coverage of Day 1 of the strike
At the rally, union leaders pledge support.
AFSCME members speak out and participate in a rally that also features Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate John Edwards.
View more video coverage
For more information
Visit the unions' websites, www.afscme3800.org, www.afscme3937.org, www.afscmemn.org and www.d.umn.edu/~afscme/
To provide support, see www.uworkers.org and www.afscmemn.org
For information from the U of M Office of Human Resources, http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/er/negotiations/afscmeproposal.html
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