Fight Back News Service is circulating the following resolution from AFSCME Local 3800.

This is another heartbreaking day in America. AFSCME 3800 stands in solidarity with the family, friends, and loved ones of George Floyd, with the Black community, and with everyone demanding police accountability and justice.

WHEREAS on May 25, 2020 a white Minneapolis police officer killed 46 year old George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for eight minutes while he pleaded to be allowed to breathe, and

WHEREAS three other police officers assisted in restraining George Floyd while he was being killed, or spewed anti-black and war-on-drugs rhetoric, or stood by and did nothing, and

WHEREAS the Black community repeatedly faces the deaths of loved ones at the hands of the police, and

WHEREAS the core principle of the labor movement – “An Injury to One is An Injury to All” – requires all working people of conscience to take a stand for justice;

THEREFOR BE IT RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 offers our deepest sympathy to, and stands in solidarity with, the family of George Floyd and the entire community.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for the immediate arrest and vigorous prosecution of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. We further call for the immediate arrest and vigorous prosecution of officers Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J. Alexander Keung for aiding and abetting the murder of George Floyd.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for an immediate de-escalation by police and an end to police violence against protesters.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 supports President Gabel’s decision to sever the University of Minnesota’s contracts with the MPD and we call upon other institutions to likewise disassociate.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for immediate and ongoing community oversight of the Minneapolis Police Department.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for a thoroughgoing review of law enforcement policies and practices by federal, state, and local authorities, followed by concrete and systemic reforms to ensure that all people in our society are granted equal treatment by law enforcement and criminal justice systems, regardless of the color of their skin.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for an end to systemic racist police terror and the murder of black and brown people in our communities.

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 will mobilize our members to safely participate in or otherwise support actions called for by those seeking Justice for George Floyd.

White supremacy and systemic oppression must end!

Black Lives Matter!

An injury to one is an injury to all!

Adopted at the May 28, 2020 Membership Meeting

#MinneapolisMN #Labor #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #AFSCMELocal3800 #Antiracism #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising

Minneapolis, MN – University of Minnesota AFSCME members confronted soon-to-be-inaugurated University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel at the September 13 Board of Regents meeting in the McNamara Alumni Center.

Steph Taylor, AFSCME 3800 vice-president, said, “We presented over 1000 petition signatures demanding that our contributions should be respected with a contract that includes real wage increases and moves people to the top of the pay scale faster, with no increases to health care costs.”

She added, “President Gabel has met with every employee group but refuses to meet with us while we are in negotiations. The fact is, this is the most important time to meet with us because what we are negotiating dictates our livelihoods – so we are putting ourselves on your agenda.”

Cherrene Horazuk, AFSCME 3800 president said, “The university likes to talk about equity and inclusion, but they refuse to recognize and reward the contributions of the predominantly female clerical workforce. When it comes time for budgeting, the Board of Regents seems content to leave frontline staff behind.”

Next week the university will be hosting inauguration activities and AFSCME will ensure visibility for the workers who do the behind- the-scenes work, every day, that makes the university run.

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #AFSCMELocal3800 #UniversityOfMinnesotaRegents #PublicSectorUnions #StudentsForADemocraticSocietyUOfMN

Minneapolis, MN – The streets were full of working-class solidarity on Saturday, February 23, when well over 100 people, including trade unionists, Latin America solidarity groups and anti-war activists gathered under the banner “U.S. hands off Venezuela!”

The event was part of a global day of action to protest the ongoing U.S.-backed coup attempt against the democratically elected President Nicolás Maduro. Protesters occupied multiple intersections in the high-density Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis, distributing fliers and speaking with pedestrians about the situation in Venezuela.

The demonstration took place as the coup attempt took a turn closer to an invasion, involving a high-profile attempt to storm the Venezuelan border from Colombia. U.S. and U.K. media spent much of the day highlighting groups seeking Maduro’s overthrow, who claim to bring U.S.-sponsored ‘humanitarian aid’ into Venezuela from Colombia.

In a speech, Gerardo Cajamarca, an organizer with SEIU who is an asylee trade unionist from Colombia, rejected that narrative, saying, “Right now what is happening on the border of Colombia and Venezuela is coordinated by an interventionist group. It is very important that you, as United States citizens, tell your government not to go forward with this intervention. Latin Americans have the right to choose autonomy, to choose solidarity, to choose our own economic system.”

In recent weeks, the International Red Cross and the United Nations had refused to participate in the U.S. plan to storm the Venezuelan border with so-called ‘aid.’ Both organizations explicitly rejected the ‘humanitarian’ label for the plan touted by U.S. officials, instead calling it politicized and concealing military objectives.

At the Minneapolis event, Cajamarca also noted the hypocrisy of Colombian President Ivan Duque’s invocation of ‘humanitarian aid’ as cover for the coup attempt in Venezuela. “Yes, there is humanitarian need; yes, there is genocide – in Colombia!” he said. “They are murdering social leaders every day in Colombia. Corporations like Coca-Cola and Chiquita sponsor paramilitary groups. This is a model that is linked with narco-trafficking and with corporate power.”

“Using aid as a political weapon is nothing new,” stated April Knutson of Haiti Justice Committee of Minnesota. “In fact, there is an organization that is very much involved in the Venezuela situation right now called USAID. And they are an arm of the U.S. government, the U.S. military, and the CIA. They are often involved in regime change around the world, and in the Caribbean, and in Central America and South America. In fact, they toppled the democratically elected president of Haiti twice. President [Jean-Bertrand] Aristide was toppled by the CIA and USAID.”

Stephanie Taylor, vice president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3800, said, “As workers in the United States we are here today to stand with you all and oppose any U.S. intervention in Venezuela. First, because we know the brutal history of U.S. intervention and colonialism in Latin America. It has propped up dictators, overthrown democratically-elected leaders, illegally funneled drug money and weapons into war-torn regions, and trained death squads and despots at the U.S. School of the Americas. Second, because Maduro, a former unionized bus driver and union activist, is carrying forward Hugo Chavez’s intentions of putting the working class at the steering wheel of governing the country.”

On February 19, AFSCME Local 3800 passed a resolution to denounce any U.S. sanctions, support for a coup, or other interference in Venezuela, mirroring similar moves by labor groups around the country and the world, including the San Francisco Labor Council, U.S. Labor Against the War, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Canadian Labor Congress, and the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).

The anti-war movement was out in force as well. “We must dispel State Department lies about Venezuela,” said CJ McCormick of the Anti-War Committee. “Maduro's election was fair until the United States saw a window for intervention. It's the U.S. that installs dictators, not the Bolivarian Revolution, and no country which has suffered U.S. regime change has ever become more democratic. It's the CIA's playbook to falsely claim a foreign leader is un-democratic in order to justify invasion.” McCormick added, “And this isn't even about democracy. It's about oil!”

The action was organized by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by a long list of progressive groups.

The coalition plans to hold an emergency response protest if the U.S. sends in troops. In the meantime, the next protest has been called for by the MN Anti-War Committee for March 15 at 5:30 p.m. in front of Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office, 1200 S. Washington Avenue in Minneapolis, to draw attention to that presidential candidate’s support for the Trump administration’s coordination of the coup in Venezuela.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Labor #Venezuela #US #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #SEIU #AFSCMELocal3800 #MinnesotaPeaceActionCoalitionMPAC #DonaldTrump #HandsOffVenezuela

Minneapolis, MN – About 100 members of Teamsters Local 320, AFSCME Local 3800, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and others rallied Sept. 8 on the University of Minnesota campus at the McNamara building to demand decent contracts for the university workers’ unions.

After the rally, workers marched into a press event that included university President Eric Kahler; the chair of the Board of Regents, university mascot Goldy Gopher, and numerous cheerleaders. Mick Kelly, a member of the Teamster Local 320 negotiating team, led workers marching into the university event with the chant, “What do we what? Decent contract! When to do we want it? Now!”

University officials we visibly shaken by the protest.

Speaking at the rally, Cherrene Horazuk, president of AFSCME 3800, stated that university workers would not be driven into poverty.

Mick Kelly of Teamsters Local 320 told the crowd, “We need to be serious. In the weeks, ahead it is not what we say that counts, it is what we do.”

#MinneapolisMN #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #Teamsters #UniversityOfMinnesota #AFSCMELocal3800 #TeamstersLocal320

Minneapolis, MN – About 150 members of AFSCME Local 3800, the union that represents clerical workers at the University of Minnesota, came together June 16 for a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the union’s founding. Early organizers of the union, past and present leaders, retirees, members other campus unions and Students for Democratic Society participated in the event.

AFSCME 3800 is well known in the Twin Cities trade union movement for the determined fights, including two strikes, that it has waged with the employer and the solidarity it has demonstrated with other labor struggles.

Cherrene Horazuk, the president of AFSCME 3800 told the crowd, “Stand up and fight. We won’t always win. But if we do not fight, we will surely lose.”

Horazuk urged people to join the picket lines of the nearly 5000 nurses who are planning to strike area hospitals June 19.

#MinneapolisMN #AFSCMELocal3800

Minneapolis, MN – More than 350 workers on the Twin Cities and Duluth campuses of the University of Minnesota braved the rain, Nov. 17, to rally and picket for raises and respect for unionized staff at the U of MN. They were joined by university students, faculty and community members in calling for an end to the two university system – one where a few administrators at the top are getting rich, while the majority of frontline workers are falling further and further behind.

Members of U of MN AFSCME and Teamsters Local 320, which collectively represent over 4000 university workers, are currently in contract negotiations with the university. After six months of contract negotiations, the university’s wage proposals stand at between 0.25% and 0.75%.

Cherrene Horazuk, president of AFSCME 3800, the U of MN clerical workers, said, “It’s appalling that the university administration has spent over $2 million on raises, buyouts and settling sexual discrimination lawsuits for 11 people – eight men and three women. It's clear that the university has money to spend on the people at the top. They need to prioritize dignified salary increases and equitable leave benefits for the workers who make up the most diverse segment of the university workforce. 84% of clerical workers are female and 22% of unionized workers are people of color.”

Horazuk continued, “$100,000 could provide $15-an-hour salaries for the clerical workers who make less than that. $175,000 could provide the six-week paid parental leave that is equivalent to what faculty and professional employees are given. $1.5 million could provide 2.5% salary increases to the more than 1600 clerical workers at the U who are living paycheck to paycheck.”

Missy Bernard, clerical worker in the College of Education and Human Development, said, “The university’s offer of 0.375% equates to $0.54 per day for me. An increase of less than 1% does not even cover the cost of the gas it takes me to get to work, much less the cost of school lunches to feed my two children.”

Mick Kelly, member of Teamsters 320 negotiating committee said, “Right now there are 400 Teamsters at the U making less than $15 an hour. We insist on our right to a decent standard of living. We are tired of making due with less. We want and expect raises and respect.”

Nasser Noor, Teamster and Senior Building and Grounds worker, said, “I clean 43 toilets every day in the dorm where I work. Workers like me make this campus a beautiful place for students to study and faculty to work. We deserve to be treated with respect and to be paid a good wage for the work we do.”

The campus unions are also fighting for the same amount of parental leave that management receives. Unionized and civil service workers receive two weeks paid leave after the birth of a child, while management receives six weeks paid leave. Janel Mendoza, clerical worker on the University of Minnesota Morris campus, said, “When my youngest child was born, I had to rely on short-term disability to supplement my income. Faculty and professional employees receive 30 days paid leave. We receive ten. Tell me again, how this is fair? The idea that we do not deserve the same paid time off as them is absolutely shameful and infuriating.”

Mendoza continued, “Instead of relaxing and acclimating ourselves to our newfound parenthood, we are worried about how to make our house payment, or searching for a daycare will take our few weeks old infant.” Mendoza closed by saying, “Our children deserve the same time with us as those of faculty and professional employees. It’s high time the university closes the gap between the haves and have-nots.”

The informational pickets ended with union leaders expressing their commitment to continue the fight for raises and respect. Teamsters return to bargain next week, and AFSCME returns to the negotiating table in early December.

#MinneapolisMN #Teamsters #AFSCMELocal3800 #TeamstersLocal320

Minneapolis, MN – More than 250 university workers, students, faculty and community allies rallied at the steps of Morrill Hall at the University of Minnesota, Sept. 29, to demand raises, respect and a good contract for frontline workers.

The rally was organized by University Unions United – AFSCME Locals 3800, 3801, 3937, 3260 and Teamsters Local 320 – which collectively represent 4000 clerical, technical, health care and building and service workers at the University of Minnesota. The unionized workers are in contract negotiations with the university administration. After nearly four months of negotiations, the administration is proposing raises of less than 1%, which amounts to 7to 15 cents an hour. AFSCME and Teamsters are calling for a $15 minimum wage and raises that will allow workers to get ahead.

Cherrene Horazuk, president of AFSCME 3800 – the clerical workers union – called for an end to the ‘two university system,’ where a few at the top get rich while those at the bottom languish in poverty. 223 administrators at the university, the vast majority of whom are white men, make more than $150,000 per year, while nearly 500 unionized workers, mostly women and people of color, make less than $15 an hour.

Horazuk said, “The Board of Regents are debating a compensation policy which would allow them to give $100,000 incentives to managers, while the raises being offered to frontline workers won’t even cover bus fare, one-way, off-peak.”

Mick Kelly, a member of the negotiating committee for Teamsters 320 told the crowd, “We will only get what we are organized to take. The U will not listen to reason. It’s what we do that counts.”

Solidarity and support for the frontline workers was expressed by prominent trade union leaders, including Brian Aldes, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters 320, and Eliot Seide, Director of AFSCME Council 5, representing 43,000 workers statewide. Seide gave a fiery speech and led the attendees in chanting, “Who does the work? We do!” Pat Guernsey, President of AFSCME Local 552 – Hennepin County Probation Officers – offered the solidarity of Hennepin County workers, who are also in a contract battle, and said, “We know as a union that we are stronger together!”

Banners and t-shirts from many other unions could be seen in the crowd, including St. Paul Federation of Teachers, Education Minnesota, SEIU, Communication Workers of America, ATU 1005, Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, MN AFL-CIO.

Heartfelt thanks was given to the frontline workers from Charmaine Chua, a graduate student in the Political Science Department, who talked about the day in the life of a grad student, and the many ways clerical workers helped make her research possible. Gratitude and solidarity was also expressed by Manu Berduc, an undergraduate student and member of Students for a Democratic Society, and Michele Lekas, contingent faculty member, who is helping to organize a faculty union at the University with MN Academics United.

Cherrene Horazuk ended the rally by saying, “In its strategic plan, the university is asking its best researchers and brightest minds to solve society’s grand challenges, and hopes to answer the question, ‘How will we ensure just and equitable societies?’ The administration should start by ensuring a just and equitable university.”

Rally participants then marched to a nearby building where clerical contract negotiations were taking place. Horazuk invited people to join the bargaining session, where rank-and-file workers would be giving their personal testimonies to the university negotiating committee. Two dozen people joined the bargaining session. Clerical workers talked about the importance of dignified wages, equitable parental leave, restoration of the regents scholarship and an end to workplace bullying.

Janel Mendoza, member of the bargaining committee and clerical worker on the University of Minnesota Morris campus, spoke about parental leave. Unionized and civil service workers receive two weeks paid leave after the birth of a child, while management receives six weeks paid leave. The unions are fighting for the same leave that management receives. Mendoza said, “When my youngest child was born, I had to rely on short-term disability to supplement my income. Short-term disability only covers 66. 67% of our already low pay – for an Office Support Assistant, we are talking $9.61 an hour. After nine months of satisfactory employment, faculty and professional employees receive 30 days paid leave. We receive ten. Tell me again, how this is fair? The idea that we do not deserve the same paid time off as professionals and faculty is absolutely shameful and infuriating.”

Mendoza continued, “We must plan, prepare, work and save up enough time so that we can have the same time off given to faculty and professionals. We must earn our time to spend with our newborns. Instead of relaxing and acclimating ourselves to our newfound parenthood, we are worried about how to make our house payment, or searching for a daycare will take our few weeks old infant.” Mendoza closed by saying, “Our children deserve the same time with us as those of faculty and professional employees. It’s high time the university closes the gap between the haves and have-nots.”

#MinneapolisMN #Teamsters #UniversityOfMinnesota #AFSCMELocal3800 #PublicSectorUnions #PresidentKaler #TeamstersLocal320

Minneapolis, MN – More than 60 members of AFSCME and Teamster Local 320 marched to the office of University of Minnesota (U of MN) President Kaler, where they delivered thousands of petition signatures from staff, faculty and students calling on the university administration to give U of MN workers raises and respect. The chant, “President Kaler hear our call, your crummy offer is way too small,” echoed through the halls of the administration building.

President Kaler is currently in contract negotiations with unionized worker at the university. After nearly two months of negotiations, the administration is proposing raises of less than 1%, which amounts to 7 to 15 cents an hour. 223 senior administrators earn more than $150,000 a year, while more than 475 unionized workers make less than $15 an hour, or $31,000 a year. AFSCME and Teamsters are calling for a $15 minimum wage, and raises that will allow workers to get ahead.

Teamster negotiating committee member Mick Kelly told the crowd “We have had enough. We are not going to beg our way to a decent contract. What we do, the action we take, will determine the outcome of this fight.”

Cherrene Horazuk, president of AFSCME 3800, said, “President Kaler's wage offer isn't even enough to pay for bus fare. Many of us struggle to earn enough money to repay student loans, buy a modest house, have a child, or to retire. The 0.375% raise being proposed to clerical workers is an insult. It's like giving a one dollar tip for a nice dinner. The money is there – the administration is just not willing to spend it on frontline workers.”

Steff Yorek, an AFSCME 3800 member stated, “With the Kaler administration rocked by scandal after scandal one has to wonder if the administration is trying to hold onto money to pay for lawsuits against disgraced members of President Kaler’s leadership team.”

#MinneapolisMN #Teamsters #UniversityOfMinnesota #AFSCMELocal3800 #PresidentKaler #TeamstersLocal320

Minneapolis, MN – The Supreme Court agreed today, June 30, to hear Friederichs vs. California Teachers Association, which aims to gut public sector unions and would make the public sector ‘right to work’ nationwide. The court will determine whether public sector unions can continue to collect so-called ‘fair share’ or ‘agency fees’ from non-members who benefit from the collective bargaining agreement negotiated by unions, and could overturn the landmark case Abood vs. Detroit Board of Education.

The court will take up the case when they return from recess in the fall, and may rule as early as first quarter of 2016.

After decades of legislative and judicial efforts aimed at weakening private sector unions, the right wing is stepping up its attacks on public sector unions.

Cherrene Horazuk, president of AFSCME 3800 – the clerical workers union at the University of Minnesota, said, “As long as workers have joined together in unions to fight for better wages, working conditions and the ability to work and live in dignity, the bosses have pushed the courts and lawmakers to restrict our rights and find ways to weaken our power.”

Horazuk continued, “Regardless of the outcome of this case, working people and our unions will continue to organize and fight to improve our conditions. Our strength does not come from what the law grants, but from our willingness to organize, to strike and to build solidarity among all workers.”

#MinneapolisMN #AFSCMELocal3800 #rightToWork #publicSectorUnions #CherreneHorazuk

Minneapolis, MN – University of Minnesota campus union workers, holding signs demanding “raises and respect“ held a press conference regarding the U of M proposed budget before testifying at the board of regents public budget hearing.

At the budget hearing, members of U of M AFSCME and Teamsters Local 320, which collectively represent over 4000 University workers, challenged the U of M budget proposals.

Cherrene Horazuk, president of AFSCME 3800, said, “President Kaler’s budget continues the fiction that the university has budget problems while it continues to prioritize high paid administrators. With all the unanswered questions surrounding the administration and the board of regents of late, frontline workers are asking tough questions about wage and benefit disparities and we expect answers.”

AFSCME and Teamsters Local 320 have come together to demand adequate raises for frontline staff. Mick Kelly, member of Teamsters 320 negotiating committee said, “Right now there are 400 Teamsters at the U making less than $15 an hour. We are holding the university accountable and insist on our right to a decent standard of living. We are tired of making due with less. We want and expect raises and respect.”

Lorraine Haley, member of AFSCME 3800 stated, “I’ve worked at the university for 28 years, but the only way I’ll be able to afford retirement is if I get a part-time job.”

Claire Thiele, a lab animal attendant and a member of Teamsters 320 told the regents, “The work we do is physically, mentally and emotionally taxing, and essential to the research done at the U, and yet we are among the lowest paid of the frontline staff here.” Thiele makes less than $15 an hour.

Horazuk concluded, “As the sixth largest employer in the state of Minnesota, and as the state's Land Grant University, it's time for the U of M to close the gap between haves and have-nots within its own workforce. This is a public university, not a private business where a few people on the top get CEO salaries while those on the bottom struggle to survive.”

#MinneapolisMN #Teamsters #UniversityOfMinnesota #AFSCMELocal3800 #TeamstersLocal320

Minneapolis, MN – Over 150 University of Minnesota frontline workers, faculty and students rallied for raises and respect outside the Board of Regents meeting, on the McNamara Plaza here May 8. University Unions united – which is made up of AFSCME Locals 3800, 3937,3260 and 380 – and Teamster Local 320 organized the rally as kickoff for contract negotiations.

Rank-and-file workers demanded an increase parental leave from two weeks to six weeks, full restoration of the Regents Scholarship, the right to use accumulated sick time and a substantial pay raise. One Teamster told the crowd that we are tired getting “scraps” from the University.

Cherrene Horazuk, president of AFSCME Local 3800 stated, “It’s not surprising, given that the regents are a group of CEOs and corporate leaders who want to run the university like it’s a corporation. The research is carried out in the interest of big pharma, agro and medical technology industries more than in the interest of the citizens of the state. And when it comes to labor relations, they want to run the U like its Walmart – where only those at the top get ahead, while those in the middle and the bottom fall further behind.”

#MinneapolisMN #UniversityOfMinnesota #AFSCMELocal3800

Minneapolis, MN – More than 100 University of Minnesota AFSCME workers came together for a spirited march and rally here, August 5. After rallying in front of Morrill Hall, the administration building, workers headed upstairs to the office of President Kahler to deliver about 1300 signed petitions demanding the university drop proposed changes to the health care plan. The administration’s proposed attack on the health care plan would have some workers pay more premiums and significantly increase out of pocket medical costs for all university employees.

President Kahler left his office shortly before the workers arrived, so the petitions were delivered to a staff member. Chanting “Hey, hey, ho, ho, cuts to health care have to go,” workers then marched to the Donhowe Building which houses officials responsible for human resources and employee benefits.

University workers, represented by AFSCME Locals 3800, 3937 and 3260, insist that the University of Minnesota drop proposed changes they claim are necessary due to provisions in the Affordable Health Care Act, and instead adopt a more equitable sliding scale plan.

“The university administration is using the Affordable Health Care Act to propose changes to our health care plans that will shift costs to employees and significantly raise out of pocket costs, particularly for people with chronic health issues. It is another example of the university administration’s decision-making that deliberately shifts costs to the most economically vulnerable workers at the U,” says AFSCME Local 3800 President Cherrene Horazuk.

All university employees would face increases in deductibles and co-pays if the changes proposed by the administration are followed through. Workers on the employee plus spouse/domestic partner benefit tier would see premium increases ranging per pay period from $22 to $35.80, depending on their plan.

Co-pays would increase from $15 to $25, and there would be a $100 deductible added. These cost shifts are devastating to the university’s lowest paid workers, while being a negligible increase for those making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

AFSCME Locals 3800, 3801, 3937, and 3260 represent clerical, technical and health care workers at the University of Minnesota.

#MinneapolisMN #healthCare #UniversityOfMinnesota #AFSCMELocal3800

The Minneapolis protest was a part of a national day of action for education rights.

The rally began with speakers from all areas of student life, including representatives from student groups La Raza, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and Women’s Student Activist Collective, the graduate student unionization effort and staff and faculty members.

Energy was high as speakers called on the administration to chop from the top as tuition and fees rise at unprecedented rates.

Cherrene Horazuk of AFSCME Local 3800 said, “We, the front line staff, see the impact of the corporate agenda of the university…we see the ‘golden parachutes’ given to leaving administrators. Last year, $2.8 billion were spent on these administrators who quit their jobs.” Connections were made between the bloated administrative salaries and cuts elsewhere, as highlighted by Charmaine Chua of the graduate assistant union drive. She exposed the university’s poor treatment of graduate workers, who “come at low labor costs, which allows the U to continue to exploit [the grad student labor] to put exorbitant salaries into pockets of administrators at the top.”

After hearing from speakers, SDS called on attendees to sign a petition to be placed on the all-student-election ballot, demanding cuts to administrative salaries and unnecessary spending and an end to tuition hikes without a campus-wide student vote. SDS member Mia Overly said, “This puts the power back into the hands of the students!”

Shortly after the rally, students led a march through campus down University Avenue, taking to the streets with signs and chants.

For more information contact SDS at: umnsds@gmail.com

#MinneapolisMN #EducationRights #StudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #AFSCMELocal3800 #WomensStudentActivistCollective #LaRaza

St. Paul, MN – Over 1000 union members from all sections of the labor movement packed the Minnesota capitol, March 12, as right-wing legislators jammed a so-called ‘Right to Work’ constitutional amendment through a Senate committee. The proposed amendment needs to pass the both houses of the legislature for it to be placed on the ballot this fall.

“This amendment is an attack on workers and unions,” said Cherrene Horazuk, chief steward of AFSCME Local 3800, “it would kill our power at the bargaining table.”

Steve Fadness, a Duluth pipe fitter stated, “We have to stop this legislation because we won't be able to get back what we lose if it passes.”

Tom Fox, a retired member of the National Association of Letter Carriers, commented, “If this anti-worker amendment passes it will pit worker against worker and state against state and will domino to other states.”

A member of Minnesota Nurses Association, Susan Kreitz said, “Without a union workers will be mistreated and patient care would decline. We want Minnesota to stay a state with a vibrant union movement.”

The proposed amendment was heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee to a standing room only crowd, while outside the hearing room union members packed the hallways chanting “Hey hey! Ho ho! Union busting has got to go!” “Right to work – bad deal! Right to work – unsafe!” and, hearkening back to the 2011 Madison union mobilizations, “Kill the bill!”

For over three hours, the power of the unions’ force could be heard and felt throughout the capitol and inside the hearing room. Tom Clark, Treasurer of Firefighters Local 82 and several of his fellow union members were outside the hearing. “Right to work is bad for unions and all of Minnesota. If this passes through committee today we must start a huge education campaign, letting everyone know that over time, ‘Right to Work’ will erode safety, bargaining power and workers rights.”

Diane Ersbo of Teamsters local 638 said, “I am here because I value my union job. Because I have a son with a disability, decent health care is really important. I make good wages; I’m paid equally on the shop floor compared to my male counterparts; I’m treated with respect. Right to work would end all of that. It’s important that we not wait until it gets to the ballot because there is too much at stake. Now is the time to do everything you can to stand up against this amendment.”

The amendment passed the committee 7-6, with one Republican voting against it. As politicians left the hearing room, they had to go through a gauntlet of people chanting “Shame! Shame!” and “We will return.” Republican Senators who voted for the amendment hurriedly walk past protesters and into an elevator, escorted by an entourage of police.

From here, the will move to the Rules and Administration Committee before going to the full Senate.

Martin Goff from UNITE HERE Local 17 commented, “This amendment is a culmination of attacks on the social safety net and unions, while also deregulating businesses, allowing them to reap unprecedented profits on the backs of workers.”

#StPaulMN #MinnesotaNursesAssociation #AFSCMELocal3800 #rightToWork #NationalAssociationOfLetterCarriers #UNITEHERELocal17 #TeamstersLocal638

Minneapolis, MN – More than 50 union activists, as well as OccupyMN participants and others, rallied outside the University of Minnesota’s McNamara Alumni Center on Nov. 8 to protest a speech by Wells Fargo CEO Jon Stumpf.

Stumpf got paid $17.56 million in 2010 in the midst of an ongoing economic crisis that the banks largely caused. The Nov. 3 New York Times reported, “The company that recorded the biggest reduction in taxes was Wells Fargo Bank...The banking company reported a total of $49 billion in profits in 2008 through 2010, yet received a tax benefit of $651 million.”

Several people inside Stumpf’s speech also disrupted his talk using a ‘mic check,’ where one person speaks then others repeat the words in a call and response so that everyone can hear it.

Police escorted the protesters out of the talk. When Stumpf left the building at the end of his speech to get into his limo, he was confronted by protesters yelling, “Hey John – when are you going to stop foreclosing on our families?”

“Many in our community and our country rightfully believe that Wells Fargo and the other powerful, dominant banks have done much harm to our economy and our future and the future of our children. We suffer under staggering debt while the real wages of working families have been stagnant for a generation,” said Carol Neiters, Executive Director of SEIU Local 284, the union that initiated the protest of Stumpf's speech.

Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800, the University of Minnesota clerical workers union, participated in the rally outside. She said, “When a CEO of a major bank that’s making over $17 million a year speaks on campus during an economic crisis, we have to let it be known that the lowest paid workers here are being attacked with wage freezes, layoffs and mounting debt. We’ve had enough of this inequality!”

Participants in the rally said that they and other community groups attempted to schedule a meeting with Wells Fargo executives but were rebuffed. They want to discuss proposals for the bank to adopt policies that lower interest rates on student loans, underwrite interest and fee-free K-12 public education borrowing, stop home foreclosures and renegotiate underwater mortgages.

#MinneapolisMN #Labor #SEIU #WellsFargo #PeoplesStruggles #AFSCMELocal3800 #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyMN #JonStumpf #SEIULocal284

Minneapolis, MN – About 150 graduate student workers and their supporters marched across the University of Minnesota campus here, March 31, to demand a reduction in student fees. The march started at the Social Sciences Tower and proceeded to the central administration building – Morrill Hall. The march and rally was joined by members of AFSCME Local 3800, which represents clerical workers.

Graduate Student Workers United (GSWU) insists university administrators reduce graduate student fees by $200. Currently graduate students pay over $500 in student fees each semester – which amounts to an average of 10% of their university pay received as teaching or research assistants. This pay cut impacts graduate students in 22 departments, from Forest Resources to Educational Psychology. GSWU argues that this fee reduction can be easily achieved by reallocating a mere $900,000. For example, the top administrators at the university, 100 of whom make over $200,000 a year, could lower their salaries by 2.8% to cover the fee reduction. Graduate student workers, a class of workers who are overworked and underpaid, urgently need this fee reduction.

In February 2009, GSWU, formally known as Emaciated Gopher, marched with 80 fellow graduate student workers demanding an end to paying student fees. The administration refused to answer their demands. GSWU is hopeful that administrators will be open to a more gradual reduction of costs for a group of workers that work tirelessly for professors and students.

A statement from protest organizers notes, “This march occurs the day before President Bruininks’ State of the University address. On March 16, 2010 Bruininks announced an official university-wide pay cut of 1.15%. GSWU is pleased to hear Bruininks calls for a higher pay cut for administrators of 2.3% Unfortunately, the pay cuts are not scheduled for reallocation where it is most needed and do not impact highly paid administrators as much as those with substantially smaller incomes. An earlier announced university-wide pay raise of 2% has been postponed.”

Video clip from the march

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Minneapolis, MN – More than 75 workers, students and community supporters rallied at Morrill Hall, the central administration building here, Jan. 21, to oppose attempts by President Bruininks and senior administrators to balance the budget on the backs of staff and students.

Cherrene Horazuk, chief steward of AFSCME Local 3800, the union that represents clerical workers, told the crowd, “We all know that we are living through the worst economic crisis this country has faced since the Great Depression. But we also all know that we – the working people of this country – did not create this crisis. Yet, when it comes time to discuss state budgets and university budgets, the people in charge want us to bear the burden.”

Horazuk continued, “It has been said and it bears repeating that the layoff of every single public employee in Minnesota would not make up the budget deficit. This problem requires a real solution. Further impoverishing working Minnesotans is not the answer and must be opposed.”

Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME 3800, stated before the rally: “One of their plans is furlough days. President Bruininks told senior administrators that he intends to make staff take ten furlough days – unpaid days off – over the next year. This is a pay cut for hourly staff at the university and we can’t afford it. Pay and holidays are negotiated with the unions on campus and cannot be unilaterally dictated.”

Students also joined the noon protest. Grace Kelly of the University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society said, “This administration continues to make education unaffordable. Between 2000 and 2007, undergraduate tuition went up over 68%. The administration wants to pit students against staff by telling us it’s either tuition increases or layoffs. This is a false choice.”

Another speaker at the protest, Kim Defranco of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout said, “As we know, corporations and banks have gotten bailed out but we haven’t. We have to suffer with more cuts and cutbacks. We are sick and tired of being the scapegoats for corporations, institutions and politicians when the economy is in crisis. Now we are all in this together, whether we are workers, staff, students, families, the poor, we need to stand and fight back together. We need to demand enough is enough! Together we are stronger.

AFSCME Local 3800, which is a part of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout, is among the organizations that will be participating in rally at the State Capitol Building Feb. 4, the opening of the Minnesota legislative session. That protest will demand an end to layoffs of public employees, the extension of unemployment benefits, a moratorium on home foreclosures and taxes on the rich to balance the state budget.

#MinneapolisMN #StudentMovement #Labor #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #MinnesotaCoalitionForAPeoplesBailout #AFSCMELocal3800

Minneapolis, MN – “Después de 15 días de huelga, nuestro sindicato es ahora mucho más fuerte y más combativo que nunca. Logramos avances reales para los trabajadores de oficina en la Universidad de Minnesota,” dijo Phyllis Walker, la presidenta de AFSCME 3800, el sindicato de los trabajadores de oficina en la Universidad de Minnesota. La huelga realizada entre el 21 de octubre y el 4 de noviembre del 2003, tuvo como objetivo intentar parar recortes drásticos de beneficios de salud y también parar la propuesta para congelar los salarios de los trabajadores. Otro objetivo fue intentar lograr mas seguridad laboral. Esta huelga fue la primera en la Universidad de Minnesota desde hace 60 años.

#MinneapolisMN #News #UniversityOfMinnesota #AFSCMELocal3800 #huelga

Minneapolis, MN – More than 100 workers rallied here March 12 against a proposed cut to the Regents Scholarship, a benefit that allows University of Minnesota employees to take classes without paying tuition.

AFSCME 3800, AFSCME 3937 and other concerned employees and students organized the rally and collected more than 1000 signatures on a petition in response to a university administration proposal that will require employees who wish to take a class at the through the Regents Scholarship to pay 25% of the tuition for their class.

Cherrene Horazuk of AFSCME 3800 said, “Given the alarming tuitions rates here at the U and the decreasing buying power of our wages, this is yet another slash in our ever-shrinking benefits package.” She added, “The Regents Scholarship allows entry-level employees to increase skills and get better jobs in the future.”

Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME 3800 said, “71% of the staff who use Regents Scholarships are unionized and civil service employees. We cannot afford to have the university budget balanced on the backs of hard-working employees while hundreds of administrators make more than the governor of the state of Minnesota.”

#TwinCitiesMN #MinneapolisMN #News #AFSCMELocal3800 #AFSCMELocal3937 #RegentsScholarship

Over 1200 University of Minnesota AFSCME workers were on strike for 18 days in September, mainly over wages. The university administration refused to give clerical, technical and health care workers the full raise that the state legislature had allotted for them and that other state workers had received. Instead the administration shortchanged the workers and dug in it its heels. In spite of the strike, broad student, community and labor support, and significant legislative pressure in support of the workers, the administration remained intransigent on the workers’ main wage demand.

Union members wanted to send a message to the Regents that even though members voted to end the strike out of financial necessity, that doesn’t mean the workers are satisfied with the settlement. A statement issued by the union and distributed to those in attendance at the Regents meeting said, “This settlement is inadequate. It does not account for the ever rising cost of food, gas and housing.” Workers are back at work, but are continuing the fight for a living wage that keeps pace with inflation.

The University, fearing a disruption of the meeting, responded to the AFSCME workers’ attendance at the regents meeting with a large police presence in the meeting room and throughout the McNamara building. However, there was no disruption, just a visible presence of union members wearing union t-shirts and buttons. About half the meeting room was filled with union members who all stood up silently together when their contract was brought up for discussion. As the regents voted to ratify the contract, many union members turned their backs on the board in a show of disgust.

After the regents meeting the AFSCME workers held a rally outside the building to inspire their co-workers to action for the continuing struggle for a living wage for clerical, technical and health care workers at the U. Speakers at the rally included Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800, Barb Bezat, president of AFSCME Local 3937, Gil Huie of Local 3937, and Jess Crary of the Living Wage Avengers.

Living Wage Avengers is a rank-and-file group of workers and students that emerged after the strike to organize in creative ways to continue the fight for a living wage. At the rally, Crary said, “We are the Living Wage Avengers, colleagues who met on the picket lines, a group committed to taking direct action for the sake of economic justice, a group that exists because of the strike. Our union leaders and active union members continue to fight, and so must we all continue to fight. Our chance to affect change has been sitting here in front of us, just waiting for us to grab it. The strike is our catalyst for action. Our time is right here, our time is right now.” Crary added, “and our power only grows from this moment.”

In an interview in the Minnesota Daily newspaper in October, University of Minnesota President Bob Bruininks stated that he thinks that, “no one, absolutely no one, wins when you have a strike. Everyone loses. And I think that was the case here at the University of Minnesota.”

Speaking at the rally, AFSCME 3800 president Phyllis Walker disagreed. She said, “In a strike it is easy to quantify the losses – all you have to do is add up the salary you lost. But the wins are there, and they definitely outweigh the losses. We were strong, we were united and that solidarity will carry us forward and keep us strong for future battles – and there will be many future battles. Our strike has put the university on notice that we are willing and able to stand and fight this union busting, anti-worker employer together and that will act as a springboard for the campaigns that lay ahead.”

#MinneapolisMN #Minneapolis #News #UniversityOfMinnesotaStrike2007 #AFSCMELocal3800 #AFSCMELocal3937 #UniversityOfMinnesotaRegents #LivingWageAvengers #Strikes