BY MICHAEL LATOUR/MURPHY NEWS SERVICE
Contract negotiations continue between the University of Minnesota trade unions and the Board of Regents.
For American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Locals and Teamsters, the fight is about achieving a contract that allows their members better wages and benefits.
“We’re hoping that our members can get raises that would allow them to keep up with the cost of living,” said Teamsters Secretary Treasurer Brian Aldes. Teamsters represents service, maintenance and labor workers at the university, such as cooks or lawn caretakers.
Wage increases are a large part of the discord between unions and the university. AFSCME and Teamsters are pushing for a five percent increase over the next two years, according to Aldes. ”That 5 percent goes back into the community, it goes back into housing and health care, food, things of that nature and it would create more tax revenue for the state of Minnesota and jobs,” he said.
The university countered union demands by increasing their yearly wage proposal from a 0.25 percent increase to 0.375 percent for the next two years.
According to Cherrene Horazuk, President of AFSCME Local 3800, that’s a raise of about $250 a year for a clerical worker at the top of the pay scale.
Teamsters and AFSCME are also fighting to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. According to Horazuk, there are about 475 clerical employees making less than that, and meeting that demand would cost the university about $100,000 a year.
Equitable parental leave is also at the top of their list. According to Horazuk, current university policy allows two weeks off for parental leave for union employees, while management and faculty receive six. “We think that is unacceptable and that it should be equitable across all income groups,” Horazuk said. “The needs of a new parent are the same regardless of what you’re doing and what type of job you have.”
Teamsters and AFSCME 3800 have organized two Raises and Respect rallies in the last month. Aldes said the rallies are about telling the university that the unions won’t back down. Horazak said the rallies are also about letting students know what’s going on.
“Because we do work that is invisible, a lot of times your average student doesn’t know what we do,” said Horazuk, “They don’t realize that there are workers making less than $15 an hour or that a clerical worker may be forced to come back to work two weeks after giving birth.”
Aldes and Horazuk agree that wages increases don’t necessarily spell an increase in tuition for students. “There’s plenty of money at the university for them to make it accessible for students and to make it a place where workers can earn a decent living,” said Horazuk. “They just need to make different decisions at an administration level.”
Chants and posters at the recent rallies assailed reckless spending, specifically the large sums of money pumped into the athletic department, including a $400,000 raise given to the men’s basketball coach and construction of the athletics village, which would cost $166 million.
Under university policy, the contract that establishes wages and benefits for unionized staff is renegotiated every two years. This year’s negotiations, which began in June, have yet to reach an agreement, and mediation has been brought in from Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services.
State legislature allows employees the decision to strike, if mediation fails. ”It’s a possibility,” said Horazuk. “Our union, AFSCME 3800, has been on strike twice in the past. We have to look at every tool we have in our toolbox to put pressure on the university.”
Horazuk said unionized employees represent more than 20 percent of the university’s staff.
The University of Minnesota Board of Regents declined to comment.
Reporter Michael LaTour is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.