Catherine McDonald: "We ALL need to support these very important workers of AFSCME Local 3801!"
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HEY! HEY! HO! HO!
Let's all go to the strike-line of AFSCME Local 3801 at UMD! If you are a worker in Duluth that cares about workers' rights, this is the place to go! Hey, Duluth! Honk your horns, and join the picket-line! Let's all go and support these workers in a just cause! We ALL need to support these very important workers of Local 3801! Let's ALL stand together!
See you there!
Catherine McDonald, aracrobert@aol.com Phone: 218.525.5725 Member of the UFCW Local 1116, Duluth, Minnesota
Leslie Peterson: "I was proud to stand there with all of you and I never imagined A STRIKE would bring me such great satisfaction"!
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THIS EXPERIENCE HAS MOVED ME LIKE NO OTHER!
“Character : the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life is the source from which self-respect springs.”
Good morning fellow workers,
I personally would like to take a moment to say THANK YOU to every single one of you . . . you all have inspired me . . . so much that I want to become a better person, to get more involved, I feel like telling the world I can do anything I set my mind to . . . and perhaps I inspired myself by jumping in with all the passion and energy I could muster to go down that road of uncertainty not really knowing what to expect or what was expected of me . . . only knowing there was a cause and we stood tall and strong . . . this experience has moved me like no other . . . I hope this momentum continues . . . I was proud to stand there with all of you and I never imagined “a strike” would bring me such great satisfaction . . . I will sign off saying it one more time . . . this is what it feels like to be a union . . . unified and strong.
Amanda Prince: "I am writing to thank all of the wonderful workers who are standing up for what they believe"!
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WE HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO FIGHT !
As we head into the second week of the strike, I am writing to thank all of the wonderful workers who are standing up for what they believe and for the good of ALL workers at the University. Thank you. Your efforts are appreciated!
Mary K. Cain: "I never before understood how truly important this is to a strike, for morale, for good spirits, for community!"
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THE INTENSE EXPERIENCES OF THE STRIKE!
As the strike began, I went immediately to the picket-line on College Street. I was welcomed with hugs and tears. There was a lot of emotion.
The strikers wave a lot at the passing cars, especially when the drivers honk their horns in solidarity. I have waved so much that once on the second day of the strike my fellow-picketers told me to stop waving because there weren't any cars driving by at that time! We've all waved so much that we are well-trained to be beauty princesses in a parade!
In the past, I have usually honked my car-horn when driving by a strike-line. However, I never before understood how truly important this is to the picketers, for morale, for good spirits, for community! In the future, religiously and with dedication and energy, I will honk my car-horn in support of people anywhere who are on strike! Either that or I will go and join their picket-lines for a time!
Some people think that strike-lines are grim and somber. The strike-lines at UMD are not! Our picket-lines are a focus for laughter and joy, for community, and for the determination that union-members and community-supporters are in the right!
Out on the picket-line there is so much support and bonding going on. Indeed, on the strike-line, and in the fight for a just settlement, our relationships have become very close and intense. I am sure that we will be stronger friends and co-workers — with a greater capability of cooperating with each other — because of the intense experiences of the strike!
Tom Gilliam: "Your steadfast resolve to achieve the dignity that is our right as workers inspires countless others"!
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STEADFAST RESOLVE
I am thrilled at the wonderful effort of the strikers at UMD. Your steadfast resolve to achieve the dignity that is our right as workers inspires countless others. I raise a pint of stout to you all!
In Solidarity,
Tom Gilliam, tpgilliam@hotmail.com Phone: 218.786.0175 Member of UNITE! Local #150, Duluth, Minnesota
We thank the University of Minnesota workers on strike for their courage and commitment to the cause of labor!
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COURAGE AND COMMITMENT !
We offer our greetings of Solidarity and support for the University of Minnesota workers on strike, and thank them for their courage and commitment to the cause of labor.
Gordon Flett: "Don't back down until you get what you deserve!"
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STAY STRONG!
Greetings of solidarity and support to the members of AFSCME Local 3801 at the U of M in Duluth. Don't back down until you get what you deserve! In Solidarity,
Gordon Flett, Secretary, Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), iww.vancouver@gmail.com Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Ryan Murphy: "Once you start giving they never stop taking"!
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KEEP IT UP!
Hey Duluth Strikers! Keep up your amazing activism. I am a flight attendant who was just laid off from United Airlines after we accepted the same type of crap contract the University wants you to swallow. After we “compromised,” it came out that management had put 50 million dollars in a special trust fund for their annual bonuses! This is after I took a 10% paycut, and massive health care and work rule givebacks, with a beginning salary of only $25,000 per year. Once you start giving they never stop taking. You are so smart to face the problem at its inception.
I am walking the line with your brothers and sisters down in Minneapolis. Keep up the good fight. Keep it up!
Pedro-Jesus Romero: "But you need to stand for your rights which you have earned with your hard work and dedication"!
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IN SOLIDARITY
Dear striking brothers and sisters,
As a former State of Minnesota employee and AFSCME member, I salute you and support you. I know it is hard not having a pay check while striking. As a union member I joined the picket line four years ago. But you need to stand for your rights which you have earned with your hard work and dedication. Stay united and that is how you build the power to fight for your rights. And to the ones that crossed the picket line I want to remind them that you are fighting for their benefit too, and that in a couple of years when the contract will be up for renewal again that they too will be losing more of their benefits and not to complain then. Because by them crossing the pickets now they are making the union and the negotiations weaker. I know because some of my former co-workers that kept working in the strike then are the ones complaining now of having a wage freeze and paying higher insurance premiums.
Sincerely,
Pedro-Jesus Romero, Centro Campesino, Owatonna, Minnesota
Robert Montseny: "These workers are standing together and refusing to accept a contract full of concessions and give-backs"!
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THE AFSCME EMPLOYEES AT UMD ARE MAKING HISTORY!
The University of Minnesota has 60 administrators who each make more money per year than the Governor of Minnesota, and the President of the University has been pumped-up for some time to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for a new football stadium and other frivolities — though he complains that there is not enough money for adequate and decent wages for the University's technical and clerical and healthcare workers. These workers are the University's lowest paid workers. Many of them are heads of household working two or three jobs to make ends meet. To be sure, workers are the last priority at the University of Minnesota!
Nevertheless, more than 3,000 workers have made the courageous decision to stand up and fight, including members of Local 3801 in Duluth. Indeed, this is only the second strike in the history of UMD! These workers are standing together and refusing to accept a contract full of concessions and give-backs. With this strike, workers at the University of Minnesota — and UMD in particular — are making history!
These workers need everyone's support. There are several ways we can all help these workers win their strike, but every way begins at the same beginning. So, first, show up, and honk your car-horns, and act to support them right on the picket lines!
Barb Kucera: "We are carrying daily updates on the strike and would like to hear from you"!
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YOU ARE FIGHTING FOR ALL OF US!
Hello from WORKDAY MINNESOTA! Greetings to striking clerical and technical workers in Duluth! We have linked to your web-site from <http://www.workdayminnesota.org> — the website that is a joint collaboration of the Minnesota AFL-CIO and the University Labor Education Service. We are carrying daily updates on the strike and would like to hear from you. We've also set up a forum for people to add their comments. You are fighting for all of us. Thank you!
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Please send a MESSAGE OF SOLIDARITY to solidarity_3801@hotmail.com ! ! ! !
