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A FRIENDLY LETTER TO AFSCME
MEMBERS CHOOSING TO CONTINUE
WORKING DURING THE STRIKE

     [Disclaimer:  I am writing as a rank-and-file member.  No one asked me to do this.  This letter contains no hostility and is not an attempt to "make" anyone feel guilty.]

Greetings to all:

     It's been a hot, tiring, interesting, empowering, unifying series of days on the picket line.  I've met wonderful folks from every corner of this campus who love their jobs and their "U" as much as I do.  The only thing missing is you, and that hurts.  The more of us that strike, the more effective and therefore the shorter this strike will be.

     You all have your reasons for not striking.  Your decision is your own.  My motivation for writing is to address a few of the concerns, fears or preconceptions you may have ...

"I MADE THIS CHOICE AND I'M KIND
OF HAVING SECOND THOUGHTS,
BUT NOW IT'S TOO LATE."

     You can change your mind and join us at any point!  If picketing, you do not need to picket your own building if that's too uncomfortable for you.

"I SIMPLY AM NOT IN A
FINANCIAL POSITION TO BE
ABLE TO AFFORD LOSING PAY."

     You're in good company; a lot of picketers I've visited with are in tight situations and myself am divorced with my kid in college.  BUT:  Our strike support fund has been growing astronomically thanks to donations large and small.  There is now an application form available on your union website to access those funds if you have a need.  During the 2003 AFSCME clerical workers' strike (and that one had less community support than this one), I understand that all members who applied for assistance got what they needed.  You may also elect to find a temp job during the strike.

"IF I'M ON STRIKE I AM REQUIRED TO
PICKET.  PICKETING MEANS I HAVE TO
PUT UP WITH A LOT OF HOSTILITY."

     Not true in either case.  Though it certainly is best if you can help in some additional way, the most important thing by far is not to report to work.  Non-picketing ways to help include working at varied tasks around strike headquarters or in the strike kitchen.

     I've picketed at several different locations and have found extraordinary support across the spectrum and almost no overt hostility.  Remember, this is Minnesota!  If folks have negative views, they are more likely to avoid rather than confront you.

"AS A LOYAL, VITAL AND CONSCIENTIOUS
UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEE, I DON'T FEEL I CAN DO
THIS TO MY CO-WORKERS/FACULTY/THE STUDENTS."

     That may be the toughest one for those of us on both sides of the picket line.  It helped a lot when I sat down and talked to my co-workers ahead of time to remind them that this action is in no way intended to punish them; that the more of us who go out, the shorter the strike will be; that once negotiations have broken down, this legal and effective tool is the one left in our kit; that I felt obligated to stand with the other union members.  Wouldn't you, haven't you, many times gone above and beyond for your co-workers' / supervisors' sakes?  For a short while now, it's their turn.  The whole point of a strike is to cause some temporary discomfort and disruption as a reminder of how vital we are and in order to apply pressure for a settlement.  They will have to try and understand.

     Many of us in AFSCME are women working in traditionally female jobs.  We are the nurturers, caregivers, relationship-builders, peacemakers (hmm? also sometimes enablers).  It may go against your grain to do something as "feisty" as striking, but we — YOU — are a force with which to be reckoned.  University Administration knows that, or it wouldn't try so hard to convince you not to strike.

"I'M AFRAID I COULD LOSE MY JOB."

     You cannot be fired for striking, nor can the U legally hire a permanent replacement for you.

"IT DOESN'T SEEM TO ME THAT THE U'S OFFER IS THAT BAD."

     I would invite you to take the long view.  The strike isn't merely about this one contract, but about precedents and trends — our wages not at least keeping up with inflation.  The U attempts to lump step increase "apples" in with contract-across-the-board-raise "oranges."  Using lump-sum offers as a panacea.  And the overall trend of trying to weaken unions on campus.

"THE UNION'S NEVER DONE ANYTHING
FOR ME, WHY SHOULD I BUST MY BUTT?"

     Well, for starters, you will get the raise that the union wins for ALL of us, certainly a better raise than you would get without the union!  If you want info about what else AFSCME does on behalf of its members, or how your dues are spent, call or e-mail the leadership of your local or of AFSCME Council 5 (please wait until the strike is over though — they currently have their hands full and are looking pretty tired).

     Even if you can't see how you individually benefit from this particular union at this particular place and time, I hope that you will consider the historical impact.  The labor movement in this country created the middle class.  They fought — and some died — not only for fair wages, but for an end to child labor, a 40 hour work week, weekends, sick leave, overtime pay, paid holidays and vacation, a safe workplace, no firing without just cause, etc.  Without their work we would not have worker's compensation, unemployment benefits, Social Security and OSHA.  Looking at Third World labor conditions today will give you a window into our own past.

     The erosion of middle-class wages and benefits we've seen in the last couple of decades is largely the result of the weakening of labor laws — we can all do our bit to reverse that trend.

     I hope that I may yet meet some of you on the picket line!

     Respectfully yours,

     Laura Dillon,
     dillo004@umn.edu
     Principal Lab Tech,
     Striking member of
     AFSCME Local 3937,
     Minneapolis, Minnesota

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EXTRAVAGANT ENTERTAINMENTS
AND EXTRAVAGANT TRAVEL

     Do the Administrators refuse or decline to accept bonuses?  Have they cut back on travel and entertaining at University expense?  Do they volunteer to give up the perks included in their jobs?  Have they given up golf-memberships in local country clubs at University expense?  Have they given up dining-out at the most expensive and exclusive restaurants at University expense?  Have they given up the use of University vehicles at University expense? vehicle insurance at University expense? excessive travel at University expense? travel with spouses at University expense? first-class travel at University expense?

     Why do they always travel first-class ? ? ?

     There are a lot of ways for the University to keep tuition costs from rising, and changes in how the Administrators abuse travel and entertainment costs would be a major one!

     Yes, I know there are costs to doing business — and travel and entertainment of future potential donors or professors or alumni are needed.  Nevertheless, couldn't they be done less extravagantly!  Couldn't they be done more realistically — or simply — at this time of financial crisis for the AFSCME technical, clerical, and healthcare workers!

     And, wouldn't the monies saved more than pay for an adequate and decent wage for these workers, the lowest paid employees of the University?

     In Solidarity,

     Rick Milanov,
     rick_milanov@hotmail.com
     Duluth, Minnesota

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A LETTER TO BOB BRUININKS,
THE PRESIDENT OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA:

     Well Mr. Bruininks, here we are again — Administration against the university “orphans.”  We seem to be constantly at your mercy during contract renewal time — we have to beg for peanuts, while you laugh all the way to the bank in your university issued vehicle.

     There’s no doubt that you work just as hard as the rest of us, trying to get the university up there in the TOP 3 but at last check, we were nowhere near top 50.  Give me a break — you need to be realistic!

     How good is your research record?  I want evidence of your “hard” work.  Are you a good role model for our faculty and staff?  How about the other administrators?  I, in my clerical position conduct research everyday for my department and unit.  Where is my research funding?  Maybe it’s time you get replaced because the U of M in your hands is not achieving the BIG goal.  I am sure with the big bucks you’re being paid, you can retire early and let someone else achieve that goal.

     I am very disappointed in everyone in top administration.  How can you believe for one second that without the little people, you’d survive and achieve said goal?  I am very proud of the job I have and the effort I put into it.  I know my pride of ownership in the department, unit and university show in my work and service.  You people may think we DO NOT matter to students, other staff and faculty but I know we DO!

     Your veiled threats are LOWLY!  And cowardly.  We, on the other hand will stand proud and strong.  YOU, Bob Bruininks are not man enough to do your own dirty work.  Not once have you sent out any communication, just your underlings.  What comes around, goes around!!!

     In Solidarity,

     Geraldine Hughes,
     ghughes@d.umn.edu
     Striking member of
     AFSCME Local 3801,
     Duluth, Minnesota

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IMPOSED REALISM AND SOCIAL MEDIOCRITY

Hi,

     I received an e-mail about your strike there and wanted to say hello, make a few points, and wish you well.  Of course I wish your strike success — but I hope you don't stop there!

     Until we are free of the imposed necessity of wage labor — work as we know it — we need some means of defending ourselves against bosses and the capitalist system itself.  For many this takes the form of unions in which they pay dues and have representatives that mediate between them and management.  The unions, far from being the radical force that they were in their early days, are often a force for solving the more obvious problems of capitalism, and making incremental reforms in the lives of workers.  While these concrete gains are important when we have so little, we must demand more.

     As long as shelter, food and the means of survival are bought and sold for the private enrichment of the elite, those who don't own the property that others work on need to sell their labor power to cope with our current living conditions.  The unions function as a guarantee that this process continues by smoothing out the wrinkles.  So in the short term, workers' lives are improved to some degree, while in the long term we all continue to work for bosses so we can pay for things that could have been freely created and distributed based on need and desire.

     Many social problems from exploitive working conditions to health erosion to militarism are symptoms of a larger apparatus that we have to eventually refuse before it destroys us and the planet.  By freeing up our time and energy from the bosses and from the commodity system — from producing things to be sold by others so those others can profit — we can get a glimpse of what a free existence might really be, beyond all the paralyzing illusions of imposed realism and social mediocrity that limit us in a thousand different ways.

     Why not consider forming an autonomous workers' nucleus outside the unions, for permanent class struggle against capitalism and its symptoms?  This would dispense with delegates and dues, and put the power back into common hands, where with cooperation and passion people can work towards an escape from capitalism and its forms of violence.
 
     Of course I wish your strike success — but I hope you don't stop there!

     In Solidarity,

     M.K. Shibek,
     poetrybeyond@yahoo.com
     Portland, Oregon

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