U of M Labor and Community Strike Support Committee

President Bruininks:

The graduate students of color of Mas(s) Color stand in solidarity with the University of Minnesota's technical, health, and clerical workers in seeking respect and fair compensation for the substantial work that they do. We strongly exhort the administration to appreciate the large extent to which the skills and labor of AFSCME employees contribute to the well-being of the University. They are an essential part of the University system and deserve to be compensated as such.

We find it distressing that the University cannot reach a resolution
that will properly honor the value of AFSCME workers and provide them with means to maintain their own livelihoods. The administration's proposal is an unjust and deeply problematic offer, one that is not consistent with either the minimums set forward by the state of Minnesota or the current cost of living and rate of inflation. Indeed this offer denigrates the vital worth and work of these members of the University community; it is an insult to the dignity of AFSCME employees to expect their acceptance of this meager increase even as higher-ranked administrators and staff receive wage increases in double-digit percentages. We implore University administrators to consider these inconsistencies and recognize that in its quest to become an internationally-leading research institution, the University of Minnesota should not forget or neglect those on whom the functioning of the University most depends.

Samara Winbush, on behalf of Mas(s) Color