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PRESS RELEASE: (from England)
BIRMINGHAM UNIVERSITY UNIONS SHOW SOLIDARITY
WITH UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA STRIKERS
PRESS RELEASE from Birmingham University trade unions
(University & College Union and Unison)
6th of September 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Members of Unison and UCU at the University of Birmingham in England will be demonstrating their solidarity with staff at the University of Minnesota on Monday the 10th of September.
The University and College Union (UCU) represents 120,000 employees in Further and Higher Education in the United Kingdom. At the University of Birmingham, UCU represents academic and academic-related staff while Unison represents mainly clerical staff.
As a gesture of solidarity, members of Unison and UCU will be handing out copies of the Minnesota AFSCME strikers' leaflets on Monday the 10th of September starting at 1 p.m., at the Selly Oak campus of Birmingham University where the University of Minnesota at Duluth runs an administered "Study in England" programme.
Over 3,000 clerical, technical and healthcare workers came out on indefinite strike on the 5th of September, the second day of the Fall Semester at the University of Minnesota, which is one of the largest employers in the state.
The strike is mainly over wages. The State Legislature was very generous with funding this year, but the university management are not passing this money on into staff pay.
Staff complain that their wages are already 5% behind inflation and that the University's current offer constitutes a pay cut rather than a pay rise.
Séamas Cain, of AFSCME Local 3801's Community Solidarity committee, explains: "The University has offered unacceptable wage increases of only 2.25% for clerical and technical workers, and 2.5% for health care workers. The proposed raise would mean only $850 a year for the typical striker who earns $34,000 a year. This worker would qualify for food stamps to support a family of four. Inflation is projected to be 3.5% next year, so the wage offer would effectively be a pay cut."
Cain continues: "In the past 5 years, frontline staff have seen wages adjusted for inflation fall 4.8%. Meanwhile, management salaries have increased an average of 27%. Today more than 1,500 Managers at the University of Minnesota earn more than $100,000 each year."
As Denise Osterholm, one of the striking members of AFSCME Local 3801, put it, "Why is it that the University always cries broke when it comes to staff salaries?"
Matthew Raine, Branch Secretary of Unison at the University of Birmingham in England, said: "I'm pleased to offer my support to the staff at the University of Minnesota. Trade Unionists face the same problems the world over and it's important we support each other in our struggle for justice in whatever ways we can."
As a gesture of solidarity, members of Unison and UCU will be handing out copies of the Minnesota AFSCME strikers' leaflets on Monday the 10th of September starting at 1 p.m., at the Selly Oak campus of Birmingham University where the University of Minnesota at Duluth runs an administered "Study in England" programme.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Dr. Sue Blackwell (BUCU Press Officer)
s.a.blackwell@bham.ac.uk
Phone: + (44)792.995.3893
Cell-Phone: + (44)792.995.3893
Office-Phone: + (44)121.414.3219
Fax: + (44)121.414.5668
UCU Office phone: + (44)121.414.6895
UCU Office fax: + (44)121.471.2460
http://www.sue.be/unions
http://www.sue.be/Public_key.html
Matthew Raine, Branch Secretary, Unison
Phone: + (44)121.415.8283
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