Strike at U won't come on the first day of classes

By Jeff Shelman, Star Tribune

Last update: August 27, 2007 - 10:11 PM

There is one certainty in the battle between workers represented by AFSCME and the University of Minnesota: There won't be a strike next Tuesday, the first day of classes at the school.

Beyond that, it's anyone's guess, though both sides have said they want to reach an agreement.

While the three AFSCME locals representing about 3,500 clerical, technical and health care workers at university campuses across the state have filed a 10-day notice to strike, the union is prohibited from striking until next Wednesday at the earliest.

That's because state law requires that the 10th day of the cooling-off period to be a day other than a Saturday, Sunday or a holiday. That means that the 10th day cannot be Labor Day.

As recently as Friday, both sides were preparing for a possible first-day-of-school strike.

Jan Johnson, with the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services, said Monday that both the union and the university are willing to return to the negotiating table.

"We're just trying to find a day when everybody can make it back," Johnson said. "Both parties are willing."

Last week, workers represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees rejected an offer in which clerical and technical workers would receive cost-of-living increases of 2.25 percent for each of the two years of the contract, and health care workers would receive 2.5 percent raises each year.

Union leaders said that when inflation is taken into account, AFSCME workers are earning 95 percent of the wages they were earning in 1994. They have repeatedly said that accepting the university's offer will only make that deficit grow.

"We cannot become a top research university if we continue to keep staff wages far below inflation," Barb Bezat, president of the local representing the technical workers, said in a statement Monday. "Unless the annual [contract] increase is above the rate of inflation, we're not getting a raise, we're taking a pay cut."

One of the biggest issues in negotiations is how "step increases" for experience and expertise are handled. Union officials contend that the additional annual 2 percent raises are not to be used for adjustments in cost of living. University officials have included the "step increases" in figuring wage increases for union workers.

According to union officials, the average clerical worker at the university makes $16.10 per hour, or about $33,000 a year for a full-time employee. Four years ago, clerical workers walked out for two weeks in the first strike at the university in nearly 60 years.

While a strike on the first day of class won't happen, university officials don't relish the prospect of any strike.

"Although it's a blow to the theatrics the union had hoped for, it doesn't change the fact that a strike during the first days of class will be disruptive to students, faculty and staff," university spokesman Dan Wolter said. "This strike is completely avoidable, and the university is ready and willing to continue discussions with the union to prevent one."

Phyllis Walker, president of the clerical workers local, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Jeff Shelman • 612-673-7478

Jeff Shelman • jshelman@startribune.com

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