University clerical workers go on strike Pickets up at U campuses around the state The impact The strike ends Photos Claiming victory University president Robert Bruininks Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

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Clerical workers strike ends at University of Minnesota
by Marisa Helms, Minnesota Public Radio
November 4, 2003

AFSCME chief negotiator Gladys McKenzie, left, and AFCSME Local 3800 President Phyllis Walker, right, claim victory after the university administration's contract offer. (MPR Photo/Art Hughes)

The University of Minnesota and its clerical workers reached a tentative contract agreement on Tuesday that ends a 15-day walkout. About 700 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Local 3800 went on strike over pay and benefits. The tentative agreement follows two days of negotiations to break the impasse.

Minneapolis, Minn. — The clerical workers went on strike after rejecting an offer that included a one-year pay freeze, a 2.5-percent increase in the second year of the contract and higher health costs for employees.

At a rally attended by dozens of striking wokers, AFSCME President Phyllis Walker declared victory. "We showed much more than our own willingness to fight. We showed that when workers stand together. When we have the support of our communities, we can stand up, we can fight, and we can win," she said.

	University president Robert Bruininks

Union leadership would not dislcose any of the details of the contract. A source told Minnesota Public Radio that the tentative agreement retains the proposed wage freeze in the first year of the two-year deal. Pay will go up 2.5 percent overall in the second year, but some of the money will get directed to "step" increases.

Union leaders had said the potential loss of these automatic raises for years of service was a key reason they rejected the previous offer.

The deal reportedly still passes on higher health care premiums and co-pays to workers, but the university increases its one-time offset payment from $200 to $300.

In exchange for the step increases, the union will accept a reduced overall wage increase in the second year of the contract.

University President Robert Bruininks also offered few details on the deal. He did say the university conceded some language issues related to job security for AFSCME members. He says none of the provisions will cost the university more than it had offered earlier.

"We've adjusted some pay ranges and so forth. But we did not put any substantial new money on the table to get this agreement. The agreement was acheived by both parties working creatively within the existing guidelines and existing resources we had available to us," he said.

Just before state mediators brought the two sides back to the table for the third and final round of negotiations, a group of 18 students staged a sit-in outside Bruininks office for three days. He says the administration listened to the students and says he appreciated their commitment. But he says the two sides had been in contact with mediators before and during the sit-in. He says the students greatest contribution was to help both parties understand a sense of urgency to ending the strike.

"The main thing is that we worked it out, and we came to an agreement. And if all the parties feel good about the agreement, I think that's a good outcome, not only for the University of Minnesota, but also the citizens of this state. So I hope everybody feels a sense of victory about this. We certainly do," Bruininks said.

The majority of the rank-and-file union members at the rally said they are pleased with the contract and with AFSCME leadership.

The contract will cover about 1,800 clerical workers. Thirty-eight percent of them are "fair share" workers who choose to pay 15 percent less than full AFSCME union members, but don't get to vote on union issues, including contracts. Many of them crossed picket lines, as did many full union members.

Picketing union members like Anh Pham say they won't hold a grudge against those who stayed on the job. "I understand. It's hard. It's going to be very hard for me when I go back and I realize that I missed a little over two weeks of my pay, and for people who basically are living paycheck to paycheck, many of us are scrambling, and working really hard at making ends meet. But I think those that did, I understand why they did it. But I have so much respect for those that went out on the line with me, especially those who could not afford it, and did it because that was what they had to do."

Union president Walker says the experience has been very moving. She says the union is stronger because of the strike, and she says the university will never be the same.

"The empowerment that I've watched building in clerical workers over this two-week period is going to spill over into every part of their lives. Their lives are changed. All of our lives are changed by this. Not just our jobs at the university, our work life, our whole lives are changed by this," she said.

The university also reached a tentative agreement with of another AFSCME local representing about 170 health care workers.

The agreement still must be ratified by AFSCME's full members. That is expected to take place over the next couple of weeks.

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